Balancing enjoyment and WORK

I write because I love to write. But sometimes I write because it provides a check.

I don’t apologize for that. We all need to eat. Still, taking assignments you don’t love can be a slog. You take a freelance assignment because it will make you a few extra bucks — always welcome in this economy — but if it saps all the joy out of being in front of the keyboard, is it worth it?

I don’t have an answer to that.

I still throw my all into each project, even if it bores me to tears. I always strive to do my best work. And hey, I must be doing something right or I wouldn’t get hired for this stuff, right?

But let me tell you, it rips out my guts to be working on something about the latest medication for incontinent senior citizens when I could be working on my dystopian science fiction novel. Paying work has to come first every time, too, which only makes matters worse.

I wonder how other people balance the desire to write the things they want to write and the need to write the things they HAVE to write. Someone tell me!