--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: For me, the day job comes first. That's…" description: "\"For me, the day job comes first. That's why I call myself a diplomat who writes, not a writer who masquerades as a diplomat. If the day job demands it,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01a/vikas-swarup-10025_call_for-me-the-day-job-comes-first-that-s-wh_2408587.jpg" --- # For me, the day job comes first. That's why I call myself… ![“For me, the day job comes first. That's why I call myself a diplomat who writes, not a writer who masquerades as a diplomat. If the day job demands it, I won't write at all. I write in what I call 'the crevices of my day job', and that comes only on weekends.” quote by Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01a/vikas-swarup-10025_call_for-me-the-day-job-comes-first-that-s-wh_2408587.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01a/vikas-swarup-10025_call_for-me-the-day-job-comes-first-that-s-wh_2408587.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01a/vikas-swarup-10025_call_for-me-the-day-job-comes-first-that-s-wh_2408587.jpg) > “For me, the day job comes first. That's why I call myself a diplomat who writes, not a writer who masquerades as a diplomat. If the day job demands it, I won't write at all. I write in what I call 'the crevices of my day job', and that comes only on weekends.” [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Balancing professional duties with creative pursuits requires prioritizing the primary job and carving out limited time for writing. **In simple terms:** Work first, write later. Key Takeaway Respect your main job, write in spare moments. Themes work-life balance creativity priorities Mood reflective determined Type advice personal When to use this quote - weekend writing - career development - personal projects - freelance work Key Concepts time management identity discipline Questions to Reflect On - How can you protect creative time without compromising work? - What small writing habit could fit into your schedule? A Different Perspective Creative output may suffer if day job overwhelms personal time. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day/) [Day jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day-jobs/) [Demand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/demand/) [Diplomat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diplomat/) [Diplomats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diplomats/) [Graduation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graduation/) [Job](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/job/) [Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jobs/) [Masquerade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/masquerade/) [Weekend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weekend/) [Weekends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weekends/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I have a pop sensibility, which I think comes from all those weekends spent in nightclubs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-cox/i-have-a-pop-sensibility-which-i-think-comes-from-all-those-weekends/) [Patrick Cox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-cox/) > [It's just endless what you can learn from a single work of art. You can fill up the crevices of your life, the cracks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-price/it-s-just-endless-what-you-can-learn-from-a-single-work-of-art-you/) [Vincent Price](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-price/) > [The sun,--the bright sun, that brings back, not light alone, but new life, and hope, and freshness to man--burst upon the crowded city in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-sun-the-bright-sun-that-brings-back-not-light-alone-but-new-life/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [The commas are the most useful and usable of all the stops. It is highly important to put them in place as you go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-commas-are-the-most-useful-and-usable-of-all-the-stops-it-is/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [There can be no barrenness in full summer. The very sand will yield something. Rocks will have mosses, and every rift will have its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/there-can-be-no-barrenness-in-full-summer-the-very-sand-will-yield/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [The landscape was snow and green ice on broken mountains. These weren't old mountains, worn down by time and weather and full of gentle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/the-landscape-was-snow-and-green-ice-on-broken-mountains-these-weren/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of your universe. Each day enrapture me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-joshua-heschel/dear-lord-grant-me-the-grace-of-wonder-surprise-me-amaze-me-awe-me-in/) [Abraham Joshua Heschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-joshua-heschel/) > [A secret freedom opens through a crevice you can barely see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/a-secret-freedom-opens-through-a-crevice-you-can-barely-see/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [“a crevice deep”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-williams/a-crevice-deep/) [Gary Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-williams/) > [If you understood a business perfectly and the future of the business, you would need very little in the way of a margin of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-buffett/if-you-understood-a-business-perfectly-and-the-future-of-the-business/) [Warren Buffett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-buffett/) > [Design is not the act of amazing an audience with the novelty of forms or materials; it is the originality that repeatedly extracts astounding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenya-hara/design-is-not-the-act-of-amazing-an-audience-with-the-novelty-of/) [Kenya Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenya-hara/) > [People are inexterminable - like flies and bed-bugs. There will always be some that survive in cracks and crevices - that's us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-frost/people-are-inexterminable-like-flies-and-bed-bugs-there-will-always/) [Robert Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-frost/) > [If you knew yourself for even one moment, if you could just glimpse your most beautiful face, maybe you wouldn’t slumber so deeply in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/if-you-knew-yourself-for-even-one-moment-if-you-could-just-glimpse/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [We still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry and grasping at the spoil of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/we-still-find-the-greedy-hand-of-government-thrusting-itself-into/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [But the moon came slowly up in all her gentle glory, and the stars looked out, and through the small compass of the grated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/but-the-moon-came-slowly-up-in-all-her-gentle-glory-and-the-stars/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) ## More by Vikas Swarup > [The slums are not a place of despair. Its inhabitants are all working towards a better life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/the-slums-are-not-a-place-of-despair-its-inhabitants-are-all-working/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [It is in the genes of cities to bounce back from disasters - whether natural or man made. The denizens of suburbia have no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/it-is-in-the-genes-of-cities-to-bounce-back-from-disasters-whether/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [That dreams have power only over your own mind. But with money you can have power over the minds of others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/that-dreams-have-power-only-over-your-own-mind-but-with-money-you-can/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [Twenty20 is cricket on speed. In an era of hectic lifestyles and falling attention spans, it gives spectators more drama and intensity in three…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/twenty20-is-cricket-on-speed-in-an-era-of-hectic-lifestyles-and/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [I want to show that the underdog can win. I believe were all the same: you, a slum girl, my mother.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/i-want-to-show-that-the-underdog-can-win-i-believe-were-all-the-same/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [“You must never take a direct route to your destination.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/you-must-never-take-a-direct-route-to-your-destination/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [The first thing you have to understand is that I was not desperate to be a writer. I was never a closet writer filing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/the-first-thing-you-have-to-understand-is-that-i-was-not-desperate-to/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [“There is some pleasure even in pain. A sweet ecstasy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/there-is-some-pleasure-even-in-pain-a-sweet-ecstasy/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [India may be the soul of world cricket, but IPL is its commercial heart. Just as 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' changed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/india-may-be-the-soul-of-world-cricket-but-ipl-is-its-commercial/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [“It's a basic rule of human nature that the promise of unexpected wealth short-circuits both intelligence and common sense.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/it-s-a-basic-rule-of-human-nature-that-the-promise-of-unexpected/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [I am neither a Bengali nor am I from Delhi's St Stephen's. I am an Allahabad boy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/i-am-neither-a-bengali-nor-am-i-from-delhi-s-st-stephen-s-i-am-an/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [“The city may have chosen to ignore the ugly growth of Dharavi, but a cancer cannot be stopped simply by being declared illegal. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/the-city-may-have-chosen-to-ignore-the-ugly-growth-of-dharavi-but-a/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [“I held my breath and wished for that moment to last as long as it possibly could, because a waking dream is always more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/i-held-my-breath-and-wished-for-that-moment-to-last-as-long-as-it/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [“Till now, my conception of love has been based entirely on what I have seen in Hindi films, where the hero and the heroine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/till-now-my-conception-of-love-has-been-based-entirely-on-what-i-have/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) > [I am not into the unrealistic realm of magic realism where birds talk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikas-swarup/i-am-not-into-the-unrealistic-realm-of-magic-realism-where-birds-talk/) [Vikas Swarup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) [Explore all 68 Vikas Swarup quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikas-swarup/) ## More Call quotes > [Some would call me an environmentalist. 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