Is This A Dream Or Did That Really Just Happen?

So, as I have mentioned a few times in my young blogging life- I am trying to become a writer. Today was my first interview as a freelance proofreader. And yes, even though this wasn't a writing gig I thought- hey anyway I can get a foot inside a publishing company couldn't hurt...right?

I scheduled the interview during my lunch break (as I am still working full time to pay the bills) and thought even if nothing came of it I would still gain valuable experience in the world of publishing. Needless to say I will probably not hear back from this publishing house. I show up extremely early (about 45 minutes) which for me is a blessing from God, since I am usually about 10 minutes late to everything! They did not like this...at all. Now, before the interview I did all of the research- went to their site, researched their authors, but somehow after all of this I missed the part of them being an erotic book publisher. I don't know how I missed this, but I did. I am not a prude by any means- in fact I LOVE romance novels (historical, paranormal, regency, contemporary, etc.), but when you are not expecting erotica it can throw you off. I think I turned bright red about 4 times in a 5 minute period. I only wish there was some way I could have captured the moment I found out I was in an erotic publishing house. Not a very good showing by any means.

I also had to rush through the interview, as my lunch break is only an hour long. My boss had scheduled a meeting for this afternoon that I was not expecting.

So- the experience as a whole was not so great.

The question of the day you ask? Where is the balance?? Now I would have loved to have taken the time to really delve into the history of the publishing company. Maybe then I would have noticed what I was getting into. But by the time I got home yesterday from work- I was tired, hungry, and on the whole I have about 1 hour before I slip into a comatose state in front of the television. Then, my boss plans an afternoon meeting, and since this is the job that's paying now, it is the priority. How do you balance what it is you want to do in life with what you are doing at the moment? How do I juggle this and at what point do you say "you know what writing is what I want to do, therefore everything else is on the back burner". I would like to know how others have done it, and how I can go about doing it better, because another interview like the one I had this afternoon and I can kiss my dreams goodbye.

The one positive: this adventure does make one funny ass story. And being that life is a series of stories I guess the next step is finding the working balance between living them and writing to tell about them.