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I'm a bit of two minds on whether you can do writing (or other such creative work) while holding a grueling day job. On the one hand there's the notion that writes _have to_ write, e.g. as Bukowski explains in "Air and Light and Time and Space" (
https://wordsfortheyear.com/2014/10/15/air-and-light-and-tim...
):
no baby, if you're going to create you're going to create whether you work 16 hours a day in a coal mine or you're going to create in a small room with 3 children while you're on welfare, you're going to create with part of your mind and your body blown away, you're going to create blind crippled demented, you're going to create with a cat crawling up your back while the whole city trembles in earthquakes, bombardment, flood and fire. baby, air and light and time and space have nothing to do with it and don't create anything except maybe a longer life to find new excuses for.
OTOH, of course, there's the reality of finding the stamina to work on a creative endeavor totally unrelated to how squabble to earn your living. And, despite the commonly romaticized image, writers have to spend _a lot_ of time honing their craft and works.
When I read about these seven writers I notice that most don't have kids and sometimes are _inspired_ by they day job, rather than being hindered by it. Take the best example, Bud Smith (
https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/bud-smith/):I
get a sense that the stories that his coworkers tell daily is a main source of inspiration for his writing. And, BOY, does the following resonate with me: "I get up at dawn, drive in, get dirty, have a good time, sparks flying, squeeze in art, come home, shower, make more art. A simple and privileged life." I've often fantasized about being a blue collar worker, get home and work on my writing, as opposed to going over email.
So, what do you do if your job is, say, a Senior Product Manager, you have to go in meetings where people ascertain the obvious and say they love new ideas but explain to you why they cannot be done "in our company"; you have a kid, who you love and ant to give your attention?
I don't have the answer, except for the following time-worn message: If you're so inclined, make sure to spend time on such thipursuitsng when you're young and relatively carefree.
I admire the sentiment but I doubt many books or paintings have been created by active duty soldiers or people currently mining coal
On the contrary, powerful stimuli like war have always been a driving force for people to create, e.g. here are some examples of paintings done in WW1 by soldiers:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/remem...
. And, of course, there's "Dulce et Decorem Est" (
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-decoru...
):
Wilfred Owen, who wrote some of the best British poetry on World War I, composed nearly all of his poems in slightly over a year, from August 1917 to September 1918. In November 1918 he was killed in action at the age of 25, one week before the Armistice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill_as_writer#Wr...
Stephen King began writing _Carrie_, his first published novel, when he was working as a janitor:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_(novel)#Publication_his...
(although by the time it was actually published, he was a high-school teacher).
I don't want to romanticize physical and/or repetitive labor, but in some ways that's the perfect kind of job for a writer/composer/artist.
I worked a number of different jobs during college: farm laborer, busboy, janitor. The thing all these jobs had in common was that once I learned the ropes I was bored and my mind roamed far and wide. I always carried a notebook with me, and I would work extra hard (physically) make time for writing down the crazy literary and musical ideas that popped into my head. I had time to mentally explore and develop ideas. If I wasn't going to school I would have gone home and worked on those ideas.
Nowadays I write software during the day and my mind often feels drained at the end of the day and I have to be their for my family. I find myself looking back on those earlier jobs with a bit of wistfulness, but I could never afford to live on the pay they offer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Sassoon#The_Western_...