I get distracted easily.

Which is probably why I get so bored with things when I'm forced to do them for an extended period of time. Probably why I work so well under pressure. Why I'm a procrastinator at heart. Why working 9da5 desk ish (for those of you not familiar with SoFlo slang, I'll elaborate: ish = shit) doesn't seem to be working for me.

Don't get me wrong. I am INCREDIBLY, incredibly thankful that I have a job. Incredibly thankful that I have a job that pays. Incredibly thankful that I have a job where I can be myself (as in they embrace my loud and obnoxious personality, as long as I'm not too loud- which I can be). More than anything else, I'm thankful that I'm learning so much. That this is a fantastic stepping stone and will look splendid on my resume.

Future employer: "Graduated 5.09? Director of Marketing for successful internet start up 7.09? Eeeempressive!"

Really.

It was great in the beginning because, well- beyond the fact that everything is great in the beginning, I got to write. But this week, doing the same writing has been torture. In fact, I've halted all personal writing because I just can't stand it right now. That is tremendously disappointing.

I've read, in a lot of different places, to beware turning a hobby into a career. The problem with applying that theory to me is that I become incredibly passionate about whatever I'm working on. At the same time, I get bored after about, hmm...a month. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Back in early spring, I got turned on to Hugh MacLeod's brilliant sex and cash theory. I thought that meant writing at night and doing mindless stuff during the day, like transcribing or walking dogs. What I didn't take into consideration, was the fact that I might have a real job with real projects, that I really care about that would really drain me and leave me feeling less and less like I've got the right creative juices to produce real Erin writing. So, considering the rate I'm at right now...I've got a mediocre amount of cash and am celibate?

Ish.

I need to learn to balance my free time between teaching myself internet marketing stuff for work (thanks so much college, for doing such a ga-reat job at giving me the knowledge I need to succeed) and forcing myself to work on my own projects.

Except.... I'm so uneasy about my internet marketing skills for work, that I'm incredibly anxious about making personal writing goals. What do you do to balance your responsibilities to your career and your responsibilities to yourself?