Writer with a Day Job: About the Blue Curlers

August 25, 2011 | By | 8 Replies More
Author Aine Greaney

The cop walked around he road construction signs to my car.  He looked miffed at my questioning expression through my rolled-down window.

“What’s next after this detour?”  I asked.

Even when I’m not rushing to work, it’s become one of my pet peeves: The clatter of road-construction sign that detours you down some unknown road, then the signs magically disappear and leave you doing U-turns in someone’s farmyard.

“You go up this hill,” the cop said. “Then you’ll see–” He stopped.

Aine Greaney's Dance Lessons, is a novel rooted in Irish landscape and sensibility, about loss, regret, and transformation.

Standing there at my car, his lips twitched. He was trying not to laugh. At me.

Once again, I was driving to work with a head full of large, blue hair curlers.

He mustered his cop-serious voice. “–Then you’ll see the signs after that.”

“Thanks very much,” I said.

“Yeah. Good luck!” he said, with a dip of the head that said that a woman like me needed all the luck  I could get.

Driving to work, I imagined his  after-work anecdotes, how he’d entertain his fellow officers with the tale about the middle-aged woman (me!) all curleredup like his old Aunt Millie on Saturday nights.

In that imagined conversation, I tried to explain myself. “Officer, the curlers are really for art. You see, I’m a writer with a day job.”

My hair curlers buy me some extra time in the morning.  They’re just one of those tradeoffs, one of those tweaks that I make to the time clock of my busy life. The tradeoff goes like this: Curlers in the car equals no blow-dry  which equals more morning writing time.    Simple enough. Right?

Aine Greaney book Writer with a Day Job

Just published! Writer with a Day Job provides is for creative writers who also hold down a job.

It  wasn’t always like this–at least, not until that day when I woke up–really woke up–to the fiscal realities of a post-recession, downsized America. For me, this also meant waking up to the financial realities of being a creative writer in a culture that has a hard time funding its public libraries or school arts programs.   Before I went out there and got me a salaried day job, I loved writing  and publishing. And my favorite way to finance that writing-and-publishing life was to take on a hodge-podge of freelance gigs.

In hindsight, I put off the real job thing because I was in love with that Hollywood image of the bohemian woman at her writing desk. I was Flannery  O’Connor and Iris Murdoch and Virginia Woolf. I was a woman who was supposed to care about far deeper things than how my hair looked.   But as much as I loved that writer thing,  I also loved eating three square meals a day. I  liked staying out of debtor’s prison.  And I adored sleeping.  And trust me: Sleep eludes those who worry about Visa payments.

Mind you, I’ve never been one of those grunge writers, either. I’ve never been one of those authors who gives a public reading or teaches a workshop or sits on a writers’  panels in a faded T-shirts and crumpled chinos.  In my pre-day-job days,  my public appearances merited a good long primping session before the bathroom mirror.

But not anymore.   Now, I was one of the thousands of creative writers who dances that waltz between making art and making a living. Or for many of us, it’s a delicate little three-step between parenting, writing and working.

I generally avoid those gender-based axioms that say men and women spring from different planets or will react antithetically to the same life situation. But I believe that women have a talent for seeing and assessing the entire galaxy of our lives–the big stars and the small.  Then, once we’ve mapped the entire constellation, we find ways to fill in the black spots–to make life better.  In other words, we make tradeoffs.

For me, I could choose to make beautiful words or I could choose to make my hair pretty.

The words won. They had to.

So I grew out my hair and I stopped blow-drying and I bought those blue Velcro hair curlers. I also bought some easily coordinated work clothes that I usually  set out the night before.  On those days when I have an  early morning meeting at work, I  shower the night before. I apply my lipstick and eye-liner in front of the mirror in my office. And, although my softening midlife midriff could use it, I will not join a gym because I know that those clanking machines would short-circuit every creative thought from my mind.

So finding and making time to write means taking a hard and deep look at your own life and lifestyle to figure out what works for you.

Oh, and here’s a writer’s tip that really works:  Remember  to take out the hair curlers before you walk into your workplace.

What about you?  What have you given up to buy yourself some personal writing time?

“Wearing my hair curlers to work. Hey, it’s art, ya know?”

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Dance Lessons. Writer with a Day Job. Find out about Aine’s other books.

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, Irish Women Writers, Multinational Women Writers, On Writing, US American Women Writers

Comments (8)

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  1. Jo Carroll says:

    I live alone, and am – now – retired. Writing was so hard when I was working – Child Protection takes over your head, and looking after myself took priority.

    Now – I approach time differently. But I still take short-cuts in order to maximise glorious writing time. I hardly ever iron. Grocery shopping is done on line. Anything which resembles housework is fitting in, so I almost don’t notice myself doing it. The one thing I don’t skimp on is time with my family and friends – the people I love. A few crumbs on the floor don’t matter; my grandchildren do.

  2. the line about sleeping and visa payments made me laugh out loud! you are NOT kidding! great great post! made me laugh, nod, and think hard about my trade offs! loved it!

    • Aine Greaney says:

      Hi Terri,
      Thanks for your kind words on the blue curlers post. Yes, I’m afraid worrying about money never enhances our writing. And I’m sure it’s not just us writers who make constant trade-offs. If there’s one upside to the economic downturn, it’s that we’ve had to learn that we can’t have it all –and maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Thanks for visiting.
      Aine

  3. What a great post, Aine! I’ve always had a day job so it took three long years to get a novel written. Like you, I set my alarm early and wrote before commuting to the office. Hair needs to be an airdry style, or it gets washed every other day (better for it anyway!). Makeup is powder, mascara, and clear lip gloss (much more forgiving than color). My office is casual so I can slip into a pair of jeans and a blouse and that’s become my signature style.

    Mostly, I’ve given up dating! Between trying to write a new book, promoting my current release, walking the dog, grooming the horse, grocery shopping, blogging, and the day job, who has time to date?!?! Maybe like one of my heroines, my hero is just around the next corner. No online profile needed.

    • Aine Greaney says:

      Monica,
      Thanks so much for your comment. You’ve given up dating? Yikes! Now, *there’s* a sacrifice to be made for writing. But I do hear you. As much as we value personal relationships (or not), it’s always a balance between how much you give or commune or chat (“how was your day dear?”) and how much you retreat into that personal, deeper side of you. I believe that this is a key challenge for writers. That said, I once listened to a very accomplished poet who said he can only compose at the kitchen table, right in the middle of the household and family action. NOT ME.
      Love the comment about the “airdry style.” That’s what I’m moving toward, but it’s the growing out, in-between hair phase that’s tough–all those little bits that keep popping out of their barettes …. sigh. But it sure saves money.

      Thanks again,
      Aine

  4. Aine, Wonderful to have your guest post. Impressive to see how many books you’ve written. Your most recent, Writer with a Day Job, sounds like one many of us would benefit from reading.

    Love the story about the Blue Curlers. So they still sell those anymore?

    You ask us what we’ve given up to write? That’s a wonderful question and I look forward to seeing what others share.

    As a microbusiness owner now, (I own my own work and my computer!), I work from home, so rarely have to dress up. Curling my hair involves putting it in a pony tail wet for the drive and rolling it. (No curlers, but they would be more effective!) The days of having time to blow dry my hair, put make-up on, color my hair, get my nails done, own and wear stockings, polish shoes, shop for new pretty clothing… went out when the full time professional job disappeared one surprising June day five years ago. Instant retirement from corporate life. Instant life long self-employment.

    Thank you for your fun post! – Anora, editor

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