Writing, Jobs, and Happiness

The past two weeks have not been productive for my writing at all. Besides a few thoughts that pass through my head on a regular basis (always the same thought), besides jotting these thoughts down in my notebook, and besides reading?

No words.

No plotting.

Just questions, which is good, don't get me wrong, but how is it good when I don't even feel like starting to answer them?

It was a revelation when I discovered my writing productivity, i.e. my happiness, was related to the job I was doing. About a month ago, I was temporarily hired to a company and my job is to put data from emails I am sent into a database. The schedule was much better than my previous schedule at the grocery store, always shifting and changing. After the initial excitement of the job wore down, I realized something was wrong. Was it me? My attitude?

This week, I recognized what it was: The Job. 

I wasn't sure what picture to put here.
I took this laying down on my back on
the deck, in summer. 

This job (that I am unsure of when it is ending) is not challenging, I don't talk to anyone, it doesn't involve something I like doing (such as organizing or writing), and I sit there all day, typing. It kills me that I am doing it just for the money--not that I have a choice, really, since I have debt to pay off from school and am saving for a new vehicle. Doing something for the money, not for my happiness, is my worst nightmare.

Happiness is what matters the most to me in my lifetime, and to everyone. Through all this, I have reached a conclusion: The type of job I have will affect the writing I do in my free time. 

Having a job that destroys what I want to do most in the world, writing fantasy, is...Unfathomable. As said in Kerri Majors' This is Not A Writing Manual, anything that kills my (or your!) writing is not worth doing. But discovering what job I enjoy and feeds my writing is another task in itself. Discovering a job that keeps me healthy sounds impossible.

And yet, I find myself up for this task. If my happiness is at stake, if my writing is at stake, then I am willing to go as far as I can to gain it.

What about you? Do you find a particular job feeds your writing and your health?

#FP - Week Three

Week Three

The lion woke up surprised to find a small child standing before him. She pulled at his mane. “Get up, our adventure won’t wait.”

The man cried, “Aid me! Kill the most evil man in the land!

The wizard smiled. “It’s done. You already drank the poison this morning.”

Her headache grew worse and worse until finally she took off her head and threw it against the wall. Much better.

In a heartbeat, the assassin feel dead at her feet. Stumbling back, alarms ringing in her ears, she looked towards the trees.

Her fear outweighed her common sense. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears. She held her breath, closed her eyes, and let go. #WIP