I’ve already fixed the dang thing a few times. This time, the leak appears to be internal. I hate to pay for stuff like that and I REALLY hate doing anything that relates to plumbing. It appears, by looking at my wife’s face, I need to do both. (Maybe I can put the kid’s plastic pool underneath the washer and stretch a few more washes out of it?)
Anyhow, now on to today’s topic. Time and money. I’ve often heard people complain that they can’t be a writer (or astronaut or ballerina or organ harvester) because they are unable to find the time.
“Really?” I ask, “What are you doing with your time?”
Usually the answer is something like, “Well, my job takes most of my time and when I’m off, I’m always doing family stuff.”
One of those two activities is really important. The other is less so.
Can you guess which one is “really important?” If you said “job,” then I would encourage you to go home, hit yourself in the head with a hammer, and while you’re recuperating, read stories to your kids UNTIL YOU LIKE IT, or alternately, until they beg you to go back to work.
Working a regular job is only necessary because you have to pay for the expenses of living. The way you’ve managed your finances makes a big difference in determining how many hours you have to work, whether you and your spouse both have to work, and whether you lie awake at night staring at the ceiling and wondering if your car will still be out front in the morning.
We’ve all heard that time is money, and generally, that’s true.
The key to freeing up time is to AVOID DEBT. Our nation is steeped in debt. Most Americans live way over their means. And a lot of the things we think are needs are actually just wants. Things like air conditioning, eating out, college educations for our kids, etc. (Listen, it’s not like kids even USE the degrees. How many people do you know that are actually working in the field they studied [other than doctors]?)
All we really need are food, shelter and clothing. Those aren’t that expensive, really. (And if you’re a good dumpster-diver, you’ll almost never need to buy food.)
If you live well beneath your means, you’ll be able to work less and spend more time on your writing. It’s very possible. You don’t need a big house, a new car or cable. If you want time to write, give some things up.
Now let’s say it’s impossible for you to cut back any more. Your income is low – your debts are painful – you’re addicted to cheese dip (I’m looking at you, Ktown) – you have a horrible allergy to rice – whatever.
Then you need to free up time elsewhere. The two biggest time-killers for most of us are TV and the Internet. We’ve all heard awful statistics about the zillions of hours we waste in front of the tube – and it’s true. In my case, I wasted lots of time on the internet. And no, I wasn’t looking up pictures of Albanian schoolgirls with camels or that sort of thing. Generally, I was doing a lot of random reading (researching survival crops, beneficial bacteria, chemical compounds, foreign nations in which I’d like to live, fermentation, Henry’s home address, economic theory, artists, anarcho-capitalism, etc.), laughing at the headlines on Fark and watching the price of gold go up and down. Now, thanks to the fact that I’m in an office with web access, I do all my random researching at the office (when I’m not working, of course.) Consequently, I’m able to spend more time at home writing. Of course, now if I want to numb my mind I don’t take the unhealthy option of watching Star Trek online. Instead, I drink gin and read novels.
I touched on the cheapness of food before. It really CAN be cheap. Beans in the crockpot with a bit of bacon and a bunch of salt and spices go a long way. And cabbages are amazingly cheap and healthy. So are eggs (eat the yolks raw – it gives you wings!) I’m blessed with a wife who doesn’t mind cooking from scratch, so we usually have fresh bread ($0.40 a loaf or less), hot soup ($0.25 a bowl), Thai curry ($1.00 a plate), etc. Not bad. I do occasionally splurge on Limburger and beer – but I avoid expensive processed convenience food almost completely.
Now, I’m not telling you to Live Life The Vidad Way. I know I’m a total skinflint. But I also value the time I get to spend writing and with my family rather than worrying about paying the bills.
It wasn’t that I used to lack time – it was that I hadn’t learned to use the time I had. I had to cut out some junk.
Is your writing worth the sacrifice?
(Conversely, is my marriage worth a washing machine? Of course… it’s just that… I haven’t found one cheap enough yet.)
Vidad is the evil twin of this guy who leads a really nice, moderately normal life. He doesn’t own a TV, likes to paint, plays a few instruments, has four children and a loving (and hot) wife. He has written zillions of scripts, played a recurring character in a nationally syndicated broadcast, and always has a bottle of Squid Brand fish sauce in his kitchen. His favorite authors, after God (who you pretty much have to read out of obligation), are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Hardy, Ray Bradbury, Sinclair Lewis, Flannery O’Connor, Ayn Rand, Oscar Wilde and Douglas Adams. Finally, thanks to Bruce Bethke’s encouragement, Vidad is getting darn close to finishing his debut novel “Cloning Ray.”
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