Numbers, Words & #Writemotivation
Originally published at K.T. Hanna - The Scribble Muse. You can comment here or there.
It’s what I do for a living. Well - in a way. Numbers and some words are my day job and like the vast majority of writer’s or aspiring authors out there, I juggle my day job with my passion.
I’m a Human Resources Manager. Title sounds kind of nice, doesn’t it?
I work for my husband’s family business and I actually don’t mind it for the most part. But my job doesn’t just entail HR (employee paperwork, payroll, health insurance, company credit cards etc etc), it also includes elements of accounting.
Now, to clear up any confusion. Just because I hate math, doesn’t mean I’m not good at it. I’m fully capable of working on payroll, and balancing the accounts receivable. The latter I do on a daily basis.
The point is: I despise it.
I never wanted to do maths. In Australia it’s compulsory to take a mathematics subject (well technically it’s not, but the ‘line’ options most schools give you to choose from include one line that is ONLY Mathematics. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out.) However I avoided any other type of maths related subject. I took Modern and Ancient History, Legal Studies and German, English and of course Advanced Maths, because well… I could do it.
Numbers just don’t make me care. Words do. Some of my job includes drafting letters, notices to employees and a heap of other things that use my English comprehension skills. Those are the parts of my job I enjoy.
But the accounting parts - the numbers, those are the reasons I require motivation to work on my books. Because by the end of the day (like most people who work a day job) my brain is mush. I’m mentally exhausted and my eyes droop. Sitting down to do paper edits, is difficult, because all I’d like to do is curl up and a)sleep, or b)watch tv and cuddle a corgi.
Notice I don’t say the writing is hard? If I’m in the middle of writing a novel I find it difficult NOT to write. It’s all I want to do and work annoys me by getting in the way. But the writing process itself is rarely the long part. For me, it’s a flash in the pan. It’s the refining and the edits that kill me after work.
Anyhu! This is why I’d like to thank everyone who’s going to take part in the January 2012 #writemotivation month. People have chosen realistic goals I truly think we can help each other achieve. Depending on how we go with it, I’d like to run them on a regular basis. Everyone needs motivation - especially after a long day at work, or a bad day - or hell… waking up.
So, what about everyone else? Do you have a lot of trouble juggling both work and writing? What helps you knuckle down and do it? I’m really interested in how other people juggle the day job and the writing
And look at what Quinton made for me (us)- because he rocks
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Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sahlgoode/