At last, a practical approach to giving up your day job to write. I gave up my day job about three years ago after spending about four years planning and saving to finance it.

You have encapsulated the lessons I have learned since then so well. Fortunately I didn’t remortgage the house or cash in my superannuation to fund my writing ambitions.

Now, I spend 4 months of the year in my day job and the rest on my internship. And I still have a long way to go on that.

I’ve been working full-time for close to three years now and I’ve never been more productive with my writing.

What having a “real” job does for me is:

1. Gives me a reliable paycheck.
2. Gives me healthcare benefits and pension options.
3. Keeps me on a schedule.
4. Bores me silly.

Numbers 3 and 4 are more important than they look.

With too much unstructured time on my hands, I won’t stay focused on anything. Furthermore, the creative part of my brain gets ideas like crazy when forced to shut up and allow the analytical part to be in charge. It’s no accident that I wrote my first novel-length fiction in graduate statistics class! When I’ve got scads and scads of time in which to daydream and be creative, ideas won’t come.

So for a whole lot of reasons, I need the day job. And I would need it even if I wanted to do more with my writing than just pursue it as a hobby. My muse only whispers in my ear when I’m deep in contemplation of mathematical matters. She urges me to quit worrying about percents and ratios and tell stories instead!

My brain is a rebel.

And here I thought you were going to say MONEY! Only a writer would recognize the rich potential in being around fiction fodder all day long. This is actually the one thing I miss most about being a freelancer. Though I love that I am writing much of the time–whether fiction or non–I am isolated, too. No cube buddies. No lunch with nutters. No eavesdropping on extreme dramas. No getting to hear what real guy talk sounds like.

Great post, Dave!

Great post, Dave!