To Blog or Not to Blog? Is Regular Blogging Worth It?

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June was a busy month for me: I got back into working on my Secret New Novel draft (which won’t be Secret for much longer!), I had a few editing jobs that needed finishing, and I’m *still* unpacking and organizing after my move back in April.

As a result, I realized that I needed a blogging break, and took the last two weeks of June off.  For several years now, I’ve been blogging regularly every week with very few weeks missed, but during June, blogging felt less important than the other, more urgent matters demanding my attention.

Of course, the world didn’t come to an end because I didn’t blog for two weeks.  Instead, I felt more in control of my workload, and felt like I was prioritizing based on what needed to be done.
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Here’s What I Got Done in 2022

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So I’ll admit, I’m a little behind on the blogging game: after taking some time off from writing and creative work for Christmas and New Years, I returned to But I Also Have a Day Job last week to write about my New Years Resolutions.

Thinking about the coming year also got me reflecting on the previous year and what I’ve been getting done (I made a similar post for what I got done in 2021 too).  In a lot of ways, 2022 was my biggest year ever as a writer, both in terms of accomplishments, and making positive life changes.  However, it’s easy for me to forget that when I’m busy or having a stressful time, which is why in this post I decided to list out my accomplishments for 2022.

In total, that list came out to 8 different accomplishments—and as much as I love Top Ten Lists in the David Letterman sense, it didn’t seem right to force two more in just for the sake of aesthetics.  It also didn’t feel right to put these accomplishments in order of importance, so instead I’ve listed them out chronologically to form a mini-story of what my creative work year looked like.

So without further ado, here’s what I got done in 2022… Continue reading »

Reflections on Six Years of Blogging

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Hard to believe that I started working on the But I Also Have a Day Job blog six (!) years ago this week.  At this time in 2016 I was testing designs and playing with WordPress formatting while I drafted the very first posts on Day Job Basics, and from there, it was off to the races.

This blog represented a really big step for me: back in 2016, I’d finished grad school, was trying to sell one novel and finish another, and made a major life change by moving out of Nebraska, where I’d gone to grad school and stayed an extra year working in the Agriculture department.

I knew I had to start taking my writing more seriously and figuring out my next steps, and the But I Also Have a Day Job blog was a HUGE step in clarifying the direction I wanted to take my creative work and my life in general.  Before this blog, I didn’t have much of an online presence at all, had very little published work, and it felt like I was just barely starting out.

Fast forward to six years later, and I’m…pretty satisfied with how how far I’ve come.  I haven’t done as much as I’ve liked, but I’m overall Continue reading »

Every Creative Person Has Their Bad Days—Even Me

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Part of the reason I keep this blog is so I can keep people in the know about when things are going well or I’m working on cool stuff.  But, I also want to be honest about when things aren’t going so well.

In the past few years I’ve become more aware of online performance—as in, that idea that people only put the best version of themselves online to create an idealized narrative of who they are and how things are going.  We all do this to some extent when we post about great stuff (“Hey, look at my awesome vacation/car/girlfriend/boyfriend/new job/house/really cool hobby!” etc.) but don’t post about our not-so great stuff: For example, how many posts about breakups, massive debt, job loss, or lingering malaise have you seen, unless they were deliberate cries for sympathy?

I think creative people can be susceptible to this as well, especially when they shy away from talking about their setbacks online.  In the long run, this can create an idealized version of the creative life, where it seems like everyone is getting life-changing publishing deals and drawing every day and getting roles in movies and putting amazing art into the world, when in reality they also have the same setbacks and low points you do Continue reading »

What Do You Compromise On When You’re Busy?

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I didn’t post last week (d’oh!) because I had a lot going on and needed to catch up on some things.  Fortunately I caught back up (yay!) and things look to be more chill this week, but the experience made me think about what I cut back on when I’m busy, and how I prioritize my time.

Here’s a quick list of things I’m likely to stop doing if I’m busy so I can focus on what’s more important.  The ones at the top are less important (and thus more likely to get dropped!) while the ones farther down down are things I’ll cut out more reluctantly.

Making this list has helped me understand some of the prioritizing I’ve been doing naturally, and I’m planning on keeping it as a reference to guide me through future busy weeks.  As such, it might be worth making your own list of compromises for your own benefit—if you can spare the time of course ;-) Continue reading »

A Very Special Thanks for the Support

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Hey everybody,

After I posted about getting the contract to publish MFA Thesis Novel I received a FLOOD of comments and messages from people saying congratulations, that they were happy for me, that they couldn’t wait to read it, and more.  Some came from people I hadn’t talked to for literally years, and getting back in touch with them felt really good too. I took the time to reply to everyone individually (and if I missed yours I sincerely apologize!) because that kind of personal response is important to me.

In the meantime, though, I also wanted to say a collective thank you to everyone who sent messages, commented, replied, Liked, or otherwise reached out in support—it means a lot, makes me SUPER optimistic about getting MFA Thesis Novel into the world, and provides a genuine confidence boost Continue reading »

Giving Sagelike Advice vs. Sharing Your Vulnerabilities: The Blogger’s Dilemma

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When I first started this blog my main goal was to write about aspects of the Creative/Day Job life I knew super-well and wanted to share with the world.  I knew my perspective on balancing writing with earning actual, folding money would resonate with a lot of people, and I wanted to help younger creative types who were just starting out and weren’t as grounded in how to achieve their goals.

I jotted down a bunch of ideas for topics I felt like I was a master of, and for my first year of blogging I mostly shared my wisdom about stuff like this:

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Why I Blog About My Shortcomings

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A few weeks back I was talking to a friend about this blog, and he summed up the entire thing like this:

“It seems like you’re always talking about some problem you’re going through, and how as soon as you’ve dealt with it you’re FINALLY going to get some work done for serious this time.”

As usual I’m exaggerating, but his point was basically the same: I often sound like a procrastinator who’s vowing to finally get down to work as soon as the latest distraction is out of the way.  Especially in the wake of my last post about kicking bad habits in Japan, I’ve been thinking: have I fallen into a pattern of letting one distraction after another interfere with my work?

Here’s an even crazier thought: have I fallen into a pattern of blogging about these same distractions so that everybody can see how inefficient and easily distracted I am?

To supplement my point, here’s a list of distractions and difficulties I’ve written about since I started this blog: Continue reading »

Reflections on a Year of Blogging

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Today’s a big day.

It’s been just over a year since I posted the very first entry to this blog and began a long journey into what it means to be a creative worker.  It’s also been a year and change since I started setting up the site design, and thirteen months since I bit the bullet and bought the domain, which happened the same week I made an even bigger life change Continue reading »