As of late, I’m increasingly beginning to refer to writing as my second job. It was inevitable, but when my coworkers are so interested in why I hold to such a strict schedule at work they deserve an answer – my second job is calling.

Anyone working with me will quickly learn that I’m a very regimented person. I like my life to be very orderly and I like to be in total control of my schedule. I don’t like changing plans and do everything in my power to arrive exactly when I say I will. I’m not perfect. I misjudge traffic too, and I know other people are far from perfect so I’ll never hold someone being late against them.

But I hold myself to it and it kills me to show up at 7:02 when I said I’d be there “by 7:00.”

It kills me to show up at the parking lot at work at 6:32 when I know damn well I should be pulling in around 6:28 to get into the office at 6:30.

That is how I work.

My life is wake up, drive to work, work, eat, work, drive home, make coffee, do my Irish lessons, write, eat, write, shower, TV, and then sleep.

Day in.

Day out.

I like this. It actually does a lot to keep me calm and collected. But it means that at this point my life consists of two jobs: Ford and Writing. I obviously treat Ford more seriously, but writing is also a serious endeavor for me. If I don’t take it seriously others certainly won’t either.

So I call writing a second job, a second career. Hopefully “real” work will understand. I don’t spend time at work writing, I don’t spend time at home engineering.

Basically my writing schedule has not lessened at all and it’s starting to consume more and more of my time. Generally I’m okay with this. Video games were not a terribly important part of my life and I was becoming increasingly bored with many games. Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV are my two go-to games, but recently I start up and my thought is, I’d rather be writing.

So I write.

Because I’d rather be writing.

So I’m going to go write some more.