I have just moved to a new role in a new department at my day-job. I went from “I know everything at work” to “I know nothing”. Someone asked me at work whether that means writing will take a backseat until I come to grips with my  new job?

Writing is the driver of my life. It can’t sit in the backseat. Duh!

I know my day job pays my bills and more. It pays my mortgage, sends me on exotic travels, allows me to buy gadgets, magazines, books and printer paper and a fancy Mac and food. It allows me to write and hone my craft and wait for my agent over many years. It allows me to be patient.

But it has turned from a career and a calling to a job. I do it well and never treat it any less serious. I work hard, I give it my full attention while I’m there. I have emergencies at my job and there are days when I have to go early or stay late. I never refuse. I give it my 100%.

However, writing is more like breathing, or having the first morning coffee. I have to write, otherwise I do get annoyed, a bit clumsy as if my balance has been messed with. I do miss a few days. Sometimes after I’ve finished a big project, I take time off not writing. But after 2-3 days of not writing, something happens in my brain. I feel like words are having an angry fight in my head, characters are jostling for attention.

I do acknowledge that I can’t make a living out of writing, yet. I’ve also become accustomed to the luxury of having a city job and the benefits it provides. So I don’t put my job at risk. I find the time to write by making full use of it. I write an hour or two before I get into work. Some weeks I could start my day at 5 in the morning writing until 7. Some weeks I write just an hour in the morning. I write most weekends – all mornings if possible.

I’m rubbish at night. I can’t write or do anything useful. My brain gets tired. So I watch TV, play freecell on my laptop, do some chores if I can get  up from the couch. Sometimes I write -but mostly I catch up on facebook and emails and so many other things.

I used to track my writing time a few years ago. Nowadays I don’t have to do that. I know when I am being laid back and not writing. My mind knows, my notebook knows. I always succumb to the temptation after playing hooky for a day or two.

Life is always going to interfere with what I want to do. Break-ups, family emergencies, holidays, new job, illness – something or the other would come to threaten my affair with writing. But now I’ve come to work around life. I know when it feels right to write my picture book or my chapter book. I know when I want to scribble in a notebook or use my Mac. I know when I am just going to do some writing exercises or attempt a new character sketch. The muse peeps in with a new recipe each day and I try and cook the best I can with that recipe.

Do you write amidst life? Of course you do. Tell me all about it here.