Sunday 24 November 2013

On Having Two Jobs and Meeting Deadlines...

While my dream of being a writer sits happily in the possible-future-time of my life, bills still need to be paid. So, during the day I have a shop job. The pay isn't great but the work isn't too demanding and when I leave of an evening I don't have to think about it again until 9:30 the next morning.

When I finished my degree in May I had the idea in mind of becoming a Librarian. Now, don't get me wrong, it's still my go-to occupation of choice and if I had to pick a career goal outside of writing, that would be it. Anyway, when I finished uni I got on the job application band wagon and went for the circular tour straight back to Where I Started, but I did come away with a casual position at my university's library. I didn't hear anything much from them after my training until I got the email asking me to work for them over the busy Christmas assignment period. This was originally just Sunday afternoons but, as of tomorrow, I'll be doing three evenings a week as well. This means as well as my full time 5-day-a-week job, I also have another 12 hours of library work.

Yay bank balance! Boo writing!

About 2 months ago I set myself a target within the story to reach by Christmas. It's about half way through the book, ties up the story line nicely and sets the scene for the major happenings in the second half. After hearing about the extra hours I'll be doing, plus the looming threat of the holiday season, I've been glued to my computer to still try and reach that target.

Today marks ONE MONTH until Christmas Eve (oh bottoms) and I have every hope that I can still make my goal. I've had a very productive November of writing (even if it's no where near as impressive as all the NaNoWriMo-ers out there. I doff my hat to you people: 50,000 in a month is just bonkers), so hopefully it'll make up for the lost time in the last month of the year. Here's hoping it does and that I'm not a cranky mess by the time Christmas Day rolls round.

Fingers crossed!

2 comments:

  1. Hello Alys! Can't believe I haven't stumbled across your blog yet...especially as you have mine in your sidebar! /DOH/ (and thank you so much for that!)

    I'm so excited that you're writing a book, or at least trying to write a book, and I really really hope you meet all your goals and enjoy every step of the way. Even if it never makes it, you'll have the experience of doing it. I wish I was as motivated as you - I can't seem to nail down a good arc/plot to write anything longer than flash fiction!

    Anyway, I'll definitely be keeping up with this blog now I've found it and wish you all the writers luck :D

    Sarah xxx

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    1. Hi! Honestly, I'm quite glad you didn't see it before:I only just got the design worked out to a reasonable standard yesterday and it looked a little like the blog of a 14 year old (ha ha). Your blog (and previous ones, I'm a bit of a creeper) is so professional. I really like SOTI by the way, its already gorgeous.

      Thanks very much! I'm still flailing round in the shallow end of the writing spectrum at the moment, but I'll try to improve. Am I right in thinking you used to be a copy editor? Because if so I shall have to pick your brains at some point...

      Alys xxx

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