Extras

No I don't mean the ones who stand in the background
I mean the stuff we do to push our careers

I came home from my part-time job on Saturday and thought
"Ah it will be good to relax!"
Thought that I would check my email, catch up with some friends
Then I saw them, all those wonderful audition notices that I did not have time to respond to this week
Lots of potential for another role - the General Auditions for theatre are this time of year

Then I started thinking about the monologues that need preparing
There are few projects I have on the go and I've four scripts to read
Taxes are more time consuming with my "Self employed" actor status and take more time
There was an email regarding a post I should read about the business
A network request
Various shows to check out
Various shows to post for and support other artists
and the list grew.

I took a deep breath and thought
"Wouldn't it be nice if my full time job was acting!  Then I could respond to all this and do all the reading etc and I could relax tonight."  
But none of that extra work I do on top of my day job pays the bills as of yet.
So I sat down and put in another six hours that night.
Still have two plays to read and a plethora of emails to read.

Yup, us artists have two jobs, the one that pays bills and the one that we hope one day will.