Ramblings of a Writer on Night Shift

Tonight was the first night since I started working the night shift, that it was exactly as I imagined. Although as I pen this, there are still several hours to go and it could erupt into chaos. When I took the job (Originally two nights a week) I was the fill in person, working alone. I imagined it to be quiet, because, you know, people sleep. This job has been anything but.

Most nights that I am here I do find time to write, and I started thinking about blogging. This could be my way to get back into it.

You’re probably wondering why I, a D-List established writer, would take such a job.  I always dreamed of being a writer. I remember years ago when I started, was all that I wanted to do was be a full time writer and live off my writing.

I am blessed and fortunate that I can pay my bills with writing. Some months are great, some suck. It’s the game with sales. But unlike a lot or even most writers who ‘claim’ to live off of writing, I don’t have a spouse or partner. I am sole provider for my family and especially my grandson. That’s a lot of pressure.

Financially, that’s not why I took the job. Sanity and health are. 

What?

Sanity? Health.

This job I have, only a couple days a week, sometimes more, has an official title of Night Laundry Auditor. I audit nothing, and fold sheets and towels. Most of the laundry can be completed in two hours. I spread it out. It’s not glamourous, but it keeps me moving. 

The life of a writer isn’t glamorous either. Most writers drink. We don’t eat right or regularly, and when you don’t feel the need to get up, shower and actually dress, there are issues.

I started Lunch Lady work because as a writer,  I packed on the pounds. That’s not healthy.

Is night shift at the hotel hard work? Nope. Not at all. In fact, I actually love the job.

When an irate guest tried to run me over with his car, yeah, that got a little scary, other than that, it’s perfect for a writer. I don’t need my fit bit to tell me to get up and move every fifty minutes, the buzzer on the dryer does that.

Other than the eating, forced to shower at normal times and not wear my famed red ugly sweatpants, the best part of this job ... people.

It can do nothing but help my writing and have dialogue realistic. Although, the people here are pretty interesting.

Hence, why I decided to just start blogging about it. Because it dawned on me, the reason I stopped blogging was because I was buried in my office, buried in my books, never really going out and truly had nothing to blog about any more.

Now I do.

The people in his hotel, most of them live here. Permanent residents, so it’s a community. They hang in the lobby at all hours.

From the drunken construction workers, naked senior men airing it out in the laundry room, to the woman who uses a walker to carry her super large breasts and the man whose feet are so hideous someone called corporate about them.

All of them are real and here and will give me stories to share on a blog. I wouldn’t meet them in my writing room, then again, I probably would, with in the depths of my writer mind.

I took the job for the quiet nights and prospect of endless writing, And now that I have experienced a quiet night that is giving me the prospect of endless writing, I want the insanity back, because that gives me prospect of endless ideas. As a writer, as long as you have ideas, you can write.