Plot Twists and Pay Slips: The Life of an Author with a Day Job
By day, I’m a functioning adult. Answering emails. Smiling politely. Possibly holding a coffee cup like it contains the meaning of life.
By night? I’m whispering arguments between imaginary people into the void of a Word document at 1:43 AM while my cat judges me from atop a pile of laundry.
Welcome to the glamorous double life of a writer with a day job.
Writing Between the Lines (and Lunch Breaks)
The myth: Writers sip tea in sun-drenched libraries, typing profound sentences with soft piano music playing in the background.
The reality: I once wrote a dramatic kiss scene wedged between a stale chicken sandwich and a passionate discussion about colonic cleanses. Romance, baby.
Plot holes? Fixed in the staff kitchen. Character arcs? Sketched on the back of old receipts in the coffee shop at lunch. Existential dread? Booked in for 5:30pm, right after closing time.
Mental Gymnastics
Juggling a day job and a dream means becoming a master of context switching. One minute you’re in a staff meeting nodding at targets, the next you’re frantically texting yourself “Add a scene with betrayal and sword fighting???” like a caffeinated cryptid.
Bonus points if your coworkers have no idea you moonlight as the keeper of fictional kingdoms or emotionally scarred pop stars.
The Struggle Is… Surprisingly Funny
Being a working writer means accepting that sometimes your muse shows up at the exact moment your shift starts. Or that your best ideas strike during the least convenient moments, like:
• Standing in line at the post office
• In the shower (where all pens fear to tread)
• While pretending to understand an Excel formula
And let’s not forget the deep despair of having the energy to write but not the time, or the time to write but not a single functioning brain cell.
But Here’s the Thing…
We show up. For our jobs, our bills, our characters. We sneak our stories into the in-between moments, the cracks in the day.
And when those stories finally take shape? When someone reads them and feels something? That’s a kind of magic no paycheck can replicate.
So if you’re out there working a 9-to-5 (or 7-to-7) and still making space for the worlds you carry inside you, I see you. You’re doing amazing.
Even if your novel currently lives on your Notes app and your antagonist is named “big bad evil guy???”.
In Conclusion:
Being an author with a day job is a little chaotic, a little caffeine-fueled (who am I kidding, my barista texts me „you okay babe?” When I don’t show for my morning coffee), and a whole lot of showing up for a dream that doesn’t always have room in your schedule, but definitely lives in your heart.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got characters to emotionally traumatise and some clothes to de-hair.
Both are equally important. Probably.
With Love,
Eleanor