One of the biggest challenges I have as a writer is that I am not just a writer.
Like so many, I am only a writer for a few hours each day. Ignoring the time I spend as cook, cleaner, housekeeper and general secretary, I also have another job – one that pays. It’s a necessary evil. I tried giving up work so that I could write full-time but found myself so worried about the fact that I was not bringing in any money that I ended up with a nasty case of writer’s block. As a compromise I took on a part-time job.
The Universe must have been in a good mood the day I went browsing the jobs website because as luck would have it, I managed to snag a position doing the other thing I love to do: dance. So by day I write and by night I teach people to dance. Most of my students need help preparing for their wedding dance. Others just come along for fun. Either way, I love teaching them and it earns me just enough to take the guilt out of the time I have spent writing this infernal novel that never seems to be done.
Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? I suppose it is, on the face of things and believe me, I am well aware that I am one of the lucky few (although I do believe we make our own luck). But sometimes it is really difficult to switch from one to the other. After a good day of writing I have to wrench myself away to put on my makeup and dance shoes and head out to the studio for the night. Conversely, after a particularly engaging period of dancing, such as the weekend I just spent away at a competition, it is incredibly challenging to turn off the music in my head and immerse myself in writing.
Some days it is hard to tell if I’m a dancing writer, or a writing dancer.
Then again… does it matter? I can think of far worse dilemmas.
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