How does your day job influence your writing?

[mscherer]

I’ve been asked by more than one person if my day job was in advertising or copyediting.

Nope. Neither.

I’m a mild-mannered programmer by day – screenwriter by night. Well, not exactly night -- more like every weekend (call me a weekend-warrior). But this got me thinking (a dangerous situation at best): how does my day job influences my screenwriting?

As a programmer I have to be a problem solver. I have to be creative. And when I am coding, I have to think ahead: if I code this function this way, how can I use it somewhere else? If I do this first, what has to happen next? What must I do four or five lines of code down the road? You get the idea.

Programming and screenwriting – or writing in general, for that matter – requires similar skills: understanding structure; the ability to think ahead; solving problems in creative ways; etc.

So, how does your day job influence your writing? We are now open for discussion.

Keep Writing!

[mbarrett]

Well, my day job kind of sucks and leaves me with a lot of free time to think about my story.

I don't necessarily think my job as a designer really has that much to do with how I go about writing my screenplay. Maybe in a sense it might help me see the pictures as a whole, because I do have to visualize the area that I'm going to be working on and come up with where things will fit in the day job.

You do bring up a good point Mike.

I'd be interested in seeing what others have to say.

[mybrainhurts]

Unfortunately I have been working almost 60-70 hours a week for the past six months so my screenwriting has been neglected. BUT...the projects at work are finally coming to an end and I have stories I want to tell, so it is time to make some time and start writing again!

By the way, I have missed everyone here! I hope everyone is doing well.