The fanaticism of the writing life

"It’s hard to throw your whole self into something when that self has another job."

David Gessner seems to be arguing with himself in his NYT article Those Who Write, Teach. What's a writer to do? On the one hand, he says, "It’s hard to throw your whole self into something when that self has another job." On the other hand, having a day job does pay the bills and put food on the table. "For most of us, the options aren’t teaching or writing all day in a barn but teaching or working at the Dairy Queen."

Gessner himself gave up full-time writing five years ago and became a professor of creative writing. By taking that job he entered "the real world," according to his father. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

"My father succinctly summarized his feelings about my choice to dedicate my 20s to writing fiction. 'You’re not living in the real world,' he said. I reacted with a young man’s defensiveness, but in retrospect his assessment seems less critical than a matter of fact."

Teaching has given Gessner a bonus: other people. And having folks around allows a writer to be interactive. But then what happens to the reading time a writer needs?

Gessner, author of six books and currently an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, says that his "inner monomaniac" would like nothing more than "to tear off his collar and sabotage the job that keeps him from running wild."

What about you? Does the writing life take all you have? Or do you have a day job? How do you think of the job -- as a way of observing "real life" or as a form of captivity? Does the job provide fodder for your writing? Or do you miss the obsession of closing yourself off into a world of your own making?