Life, the Universe... Episode III
More about addiction...
I've been thinking about this over the weekend. To me, and totally in my opinion, here are the points that would constitute an addiction: (IT being whatever your addiction might be.)
1. Can not get enough of IT
2. Would rather do IT than anything else
3. Calls in sick at the day job to do IT, not once, but often enough for your boss to be suspicious
4. Does IT while at the day job, ignoring all other work or doing your work quickly and with the minimum of effort so you can do IT
5. Gets grumpy if you can't do IT every day
6. Does IT when you wake up in the morning and before you go to bed at night
7. Forgets to eat while doing IT
8. Gets irritated if interrupted while doing IT
9. Plans vacations around doing IT
10. IT is always on your mind
11. Your idea of a productive day is to just do IT and nothing else
12. You have spent an entire weekend doing IT and nothing else
Okay, I'll admit. Out of these eleven points, the only ones I can say I don't do is half of #6, #3, #4, and #7. I don't usually write in the mornings before I head to work, but I do write before I go to bed at night. I don't call in sick to write, but I would if I had a pressing deadline or something like that. I don't write at work unless I don't have any other work to do. And I rarely forget to eat. *g* That's not a problem, there.
I do get grumpy if I don't write every day or if the story isn't working, for whatever reason. I have written all day long and done nothing else and felt productive. I have written for an entire weekend, but it was a special case (The 3-day writing contest.) Writing is always on my mind. I am constantly storing bits of my daily life away for further use. I've always done that. (And let me tell you; I have some great scenes for character arguments now...)
And I'll admit; I can't get enough of writing. If the story is going well, I'd rather sit at my desk or with my Visor and write. That is bliss to me. And yeah, given a career choice, I'd rather write than do anything else. I'd even drop the dollmaking, or cut it way down if I had to. As for the plans vacation around... well, you already know I do that. *g*
But. I don't think the right word is addiction at all. I mean, are artists addicted to art if they are tuned in all the time? Are writers addicted to writing if they think about it constantly? I think not.
If I gave writing the same amount of time I give my day job, I'd be working two 40-hour a week jobs. But in essence, most of the time I write about 3 hours a day during the week, which comes out to be about 15 hours a week, not counting weekends. Counting weekends, and it's up over the course of a normal part-time job.
Back when I was doing Ebay to keep us afloat, I was, in essence, working three jobs. The full-time day job, and two part-time jobs. I didn't keep track of my time, but a good guess would be that I worked on ebay-related stuff at least 12 hours a week. Add on the trips to the PO and the waiting in line, etc., and packing everything, and it probably would inch up over 15 hours a week.
So. Let's see here. A couple of months ago: (weekdays only)
40 hours a week day job
15 hours a week writing (average)
15 hours a week ebay (average)
2-3 hours a week (other)
-----
73 hours a week, working three jobs, or four, if you count the miscellaneous other jobs.
AND HE WONDERS WHY I WAS SO STRESSED OUT?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!
*pant, pant*
Gee, looking at this, I'd say it's quite clear where my time was spent, no? And some weeks didn't work like this, of course; life throws us curveballs at the worst times, but I tried to stick to the schedule a bit.
But someone had to do it, or we would have been sunk. And I wasn't willing to go out and get a second job; I made more money on ebay per week than I would have at a low-paying part-time job. And I was not willing to give up my Goal of writing full-time, even for a minute. It's that important to me, yes.
What was he doing while I kept our finances out of the depths of Hell for almost three years?
Watching TV.
Oh, I'll admit, every once in a while he'd make a motion towards helping. He posted a couple of auctions, but then he would forward me the winning bidder notifications so I could contact them. He took in a couple of jobs on the side at one point. He made schedules and split up the house for housework, and then decided he wasn't going to do a thing until I got my stuff out of his way.
Gee, who has the short end of the stick here?
No wonder I have gray hair. Sheesh!!
More later. Have to write. :)
More about addiction...
I've been thinking about this over the weekend. To me, and totally in my opinion, here are the points that would constitute an addiction: (IT being whatever your addiction might be.)
1. Can not get enough of IT
2. Would rather do IT than anything else
3. Calls in sick at the day job to do IT, not once, but often enough for your boss to be suspicious
4. Does IT while at the day job, ignoring all other work or doing your work quickly and with the minimum of effort so you can do IT
5. Gets grumpy if you can't do IT every day
6. Does IT when you wake up in the morning and before you go to bed at night
7. Forgets to eat while doing IT
8. Gets irritated if interrupted while doing IT
9. Plans vacations around doing IT
10. IT is always on your mind
11. Your idea of a productive day is to just do IT and nothing else
12. You have spent an entire weekend doing IT and nothing else
Okay, I'll admit. Out of these eleven points, the only ones I can say I don't do is half of #6, #3, #4, and #7. I don't usually write in the mornings before I head to work, but I do write before I go to bed at night. I don't call in sick to write, but I would if I had a pressing deadline or something like that. I don't write at work unless I don't have any other work to do. And I rarely forget to eat. *g* That's not a problem, there.
I do get grumpy if I don't write every day or if the story isn't working, for whatever reason. I have written all day long and done nothing else and felt productive. I have written for an entire weekend, but it was a special case (The 3-day writing contest.) Writing is always on my mind. I am constantly storing bits of my daily life away for further use. I've always done that. (And let me tell you; I have some great scenes for character arguments now...)
And I'll admit; I can't get enough of writing. If the story is going well, I'd rather sit at my desk or with my Visor and write. That is bliss to me. And yeah, given a career choice, I'd rather write than do anything else. I'd even drop the dollmaking, or cut it way down if I had to. As for the plans vacation around... well, you already know I do that. *g*
But. I don't think the right word is addiction at all. I mean, are artists addicted to art if they are tuned in all the time? Are writers addicted to writing if they think about it constantly? I think not.
If I gave writing the same amount of time I give my day job, I'd be working two 40-hour a week jobs. But in essence, most of the time I write about 3 hours a day during the week, which comes out to be about 15 hours a week, not counting weekends. Counting weekends, and it's up over the course of a normal part-time job.
Back when I was doing Ebay to keep us afloat, I was, in essence, working three jobs. The full-time day job, and two part-time jobs. I didn't keep track of my time, but a good guess would be that I worked on ebay-related stuff at least 12 hours a week. Add on the trips to the PO and the waiting in line, etc., and packing everything, and it probably would inch up over 15 hours a week.
So. Let's see here. A couple of months ago: (weekdays only)
40 hours a week day job
15 hours a week writing (average)
15 hours a week ebay (average)
2-3 hours a week (other)
-----
73 hours a week, working three jobs, or four, if you count the miscellaneous other jobs.
AND HE WONDERS WHY I WAS SO STRESSED OUT?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!
*pant, pant*
Gee, looking at this, I'd say it's quite clear where my time was spent, no? And some weeks didn't work like this, of course; life throws us curveballs at the worst times, but I tried to stick to the schedule a bit.
But someone had to do it, or we would have been sunk. And I wasn't willing to go out and get a second job; I made more money on ebay per week than I would have at a low-paying part-time job. And I was not willing to give up my Goal of writing full-time, even for a minute. It's that important to me, yes.
What was he doing while I kept our finances out of the depths of Hell for almost three years?
Watching TV.
Oh, I'll admit, every once in a while he'd make a motion towards helping. He posted a couple of auctions, but then he would forward me the winning bidder notifications so I could contact them. He took in a couple of jobs on the side at one point. He made schedules and split up the house for housework, and then decided he wasn't going to do a thing until I got my stuff out of his way.
Gee, who has the short end of the stick here?
No wonder I have gray hair. Sheesh!!
More later. Have to write. :)
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