The Biggest Downside of Writing for a Living

What does it mean to treat writing like a full-time job?

Photo by Jodie Cook on Unsplash

Do you want to write for a living? If so, I have to warn you: It’s not always as glamorous as it sounds.

After writing on and off for well over a decade, I’ve spent the past four months making a serious go at writing full-time.

Read more: Can I Make It As a Professional Writer?

For the most part, it’s been going well. I’ve been selling freelance content, steadily growing my newsletter, and posting almost every day here on this blog. My income has grown each month, although it’s still nothing to brag about. I’m getting by, but I’m not getting rich.

Overall, I’m optimistic about this path, and I certainly hope that I’ll continue to grow into the new year.

However, despite this success, I’ve experienced one huge downside to my newly chosen profession, and something that I wish I had been warned about:

Writing has taken over every minute of my life.

It’s not as if I’m literally working every minute of every day. I’ve actually been very good at forcing myself to stick with a normal work schedule and take weekends off.

However, despite this, I can’t stop thinking about writing. With everything I do or learn, I’m asking myself how I can turn it into content. I’m also constantly going over my projects in my head, thinking of ways to edit and improve them.

Lastly, every single time that I read or watch anything, I want to do the same thing. I read a couple of Michael Connelly books last month, and the whole time was thinking to myself about how I could write a crime thriller. I listened to a podcast this morning while working out, and couldn’t stop thinking about what type of podcast I could write.

My constant thinking about writing could be great for generating ideas, but the truth is I already have more than enough projects going. So, instead, it just distracts me from having fun during my free time.

I’ve always been a huge believer in the separation between work and free time. I don’t like taking my work home with me or spending the weekends answering emails. However, since starting…