I couldn't ever give up writing
I am a lazy human being. The fact my free time is spent either in front of a monitor or a TV or a silver screen 95% of the time is good evidence of that. Plus the fact that my dream job is to write more of the things that will keep other people in front of a monitor or a TV or a silver screen. Any profession where I don't have to put on jeans or god forbid, trousers is a dream profession. Unless we're talking sex work, which is not the work for me. I'd prefer to make people laugh standing up, not in a horizontal position.
No, writing is definitely the thing I'd wish could just be the thing I could do for fun and profit. If I took the money I've made from writing fiction and writing "journalism" I'd probably be able to live for one month. And being 30, that's not exactly gonna cut it.
So, until I've cracked the code or seriously buckled down, or charmed the world to give me money...It remains a hobby, a pursuit, but not a career just yet. As such, my office is wherever I put my laptop down. In this generation, of course, that means writing in a Starbucks.
Here's the thing about writing in a Starbucks. It's cliche, it costs money (well, one coffee if you can afford it), and it's a symbol of having not quite made it. And working at a Starbucks is sometimes the same. You've seen La La Land, they'll even put a random coffee shop in a studio for people to work and they still haven't quite made it.
To think I used to joke about seeing people lined up in Starbucks, sitting by the window, all on their MacBooks, all writing screenplays or whatever. Now here I am, in a Starbucks, doing the exact same thing.
The true insult to injury is that this particular Starbucks is within my place of work. I've just got off 11 shifts in a row and I felt burnt out and not really wanting to be productive. If I was like, a nurse or a doctor, sure, give me the time. There's a major world event still happening.
But I am not in the medical profession or otherwise in a profession big wigs would rather encourage clapping than a payrise. I work in a cinema. A place, I myself admit, is the chillest place to work ever.
Yet, I am still exhausted and so done with it and glad I now have time off.
To then come right back, sit in our Starbucks, and write.
If this isn't your first time visiting Club Groucho, you might have notice I've not written something in a while. You can thank James Bond for that. Cinemas are finally back, customers are finally coming in, and that's brilliant, but without a day off, I've not exactly been wanting to head onto the laptop. Peak first-world problems, but goddamn, people need to rest.
God needed to rest after 6 days of creating the entire universe, if you believe that. Christianity, or the fact it only took 6 days to make everything. If it did all happen as writ, though, I understand needing to take a break after creating the horror that is Man. Coulda spent more time on not making them the absolute worst, then again, the platapus seemed like an afterthought too. No idea why the deity put a time-limit on themselves. We created the Guiness Book of World Records.
Rest is good. Taking time off is good. At the end of the week I've got some days away where I can just chill, get some fresh air, channel my creativity again. A good reboot to the system.
As much as I take time away from writing, however, whether that's because work gets in the way, or being lazy gets in the way, I know I'll always come back to it. There's always something more to say. However much I can be lazy and I can be quiet, I'm just observing, generating ideas, and getting ready to find the opportunity to put them on the page.
I think that's just how people are. If you're someone that has a certain goal, or a certain thing they like to do, however much the universe pulls them away from them, they'll come right back, if it's right for them. I envy those who don't get pulled away, or drop everything else to stay on that path. The people who draw every day, the Jerry Seinfelds who don't break the chain, the photo a day people, the 1 second video people. I spent one year being creative every day and as soon as I was done I took a break. Then I came right back and made more things.
That's how it is.
So I couldn't give up on writing. I could definitely stand to do more writing. Or point myself towards better writing, or writing that would make money, but the universe presents itself eventually.
Til then, I'll be a little less sporadic now the relentless shift pattern has ended. But I'm still taking a holiday in a few days.
I've got a date at Mr Darcy's house.
That...that'll make sense when I write about it. Pretend it makes sense right now.