Nov. 7th, 2010 02:49 pm
Hmm. Hadn't thought of that.
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I get very little fiction written during the school year. I'll putter with something, but I rarely feel like I have the time. It's true that I use free time for other things--TV, video games, etc.--as well as playing with Tegan or just hanging out with Elli. But even when I have time, writing just doesn't feel like something I want to do during the school year, with rare exceptions when the "mood" hits me. Most of the time, though, I simply don't feel like I have the energy to devote to it, and if I try, nothing comes of it.
John Scalzi would say I'm full of shit and that I should just give it up, that it means I'm not actually invested in writing, that I'm just kidding myself when I say I want to write. But as much as I like the man's work, including agreeing with a large chunk of what he says on his blog, I think in this case he's full of shit. Lots of folks work 9-5 jobs and then write, but I seem unable to do that most of the time. Elli hit on what I think is actually the answer: I'm a teacher, not a cubicle farmer.
I'm not in a 9-5 office job, here. My job--teaching high school, in the completely unlikely event you're new to this blog, which hasn't happened in quite some time, so I'm not sure why I did that--requires a lot of creative energy. Teaching is more art than science, no matter what politicians say, and I expend a lot of creative energy in the regular course of my days. When I get home, the last thing I want to do is MORE of that, primarily because I'm just out of "juice." It sounds awful, I know, but it's sort of like my talking--I talk all day long, and when I get home, as much as I enjoy talking to my family, I don't want to anymore--I'm just tapped out. Most of the time I can ignore that, but at times it makes me a little cranky, and I'm thankful my wife often chooses to tolerate my shit.
Anyway, it's a theory, and I'm going to ask a bunch of fellow teachers about it. I'll let you know if they're the same or if I'm the only idiot in the field. :)
John Scalzi would say I'm full of shit and that I should just give it up, that it means I'm not actually invested in writing, that I'm just kidding myself when I say I want to write. But as much as I like the man's work, including agreeing with a large chunk of what he says on his blog, I think in this case he's full of shit. Lots of folks work 9-5 jobs and then write, but I seem unable to do that most of the time. Elli hit on what I think is actually the answer: I'm a teacher, not a cubicle farmer.
I'm not in a 9-5 office job, here. My job--teaching high school, in the completely unlikely event you're new to this blog, which hasn't happened in quite some time, so I'm not sure why I did that--requires a lot of creative energy. Teaching is more art than science, no matter what politicians say, and I expend a lot of creative energy in the regular course of my days. When I get home, the last thing I want to do is MORE of that, primarily because I'm just out of "juice." It sounds awful, I know, but it's sort of like my talking--I talk all day long, and when I get home, as much as I enjoy talking to my family, I don't want to anymore--I'm just tapped out. Most of the time I can ignore that, but at times it makes me a little cranky, and I'm thankful my wife often chooses to tolerate my shit.
Anyway, it's a theory, and I'm going to ask a bunch of fellow teachers about it. I'll let you know if they're the same or if I'm the only idiot in the field. :)
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