I’m secretly writing a novel during work time at my boring council job

In our Money Secrets series, we ask people to confess their furtive money-related secrets which they are hiding from loved ones or that people do not know the full extent about. Today, we speak to Charlotte, whose name we have changed to protect her identity. Charlotte has found herself trapped in a job which she finds boring and uninspiring – so she is filling her work time with writing a novel and screenplay. Ever since I was little, I have adored reading and love escaping into a fictional world. I totally devoured books and my family would be astounded by how many trips to the library they had to make so I could stock up with fresh reading material. Shorts As well as reading, I’ve always loved writing and English was always my favourite subject at school. After achieving an A star in my English A-level, I studied English literature at university. I graduated with a first-class degree two years ago and had all these hopes of getting a creative job where I could use my writing skills. But that’s where the problem started – trying to get a job. Like so many graduates, I found it extremely difficult. Although I love reading and writing, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with these skills as a job. The problem with an English degree is that it is a bit vague with no clear-cut career path or specific role. I knew I didn’t want to go into teaching. I quite fancied journalism, but would have needed to do further training to qualify, and I realised the kind of writing I wanted to do was more creative. After a few months of trying to find the perfect writing role, I realised I needed to be earning money, so began applying for graduate roles thinking I could do something as a stopgap. I ended up accepting a job with a local authority which involves administration and communication because it pays generously for a graduate role, has a great civil service pension scheme and scope for progression. It is all those things – but it is also the most brain-numbingly boring job in the world. The thought of doing something like this for the rest of my life makes me want fry my own eyeballs. It has also made me realise how inept and useless so many people working at local authorities are and how much time-wasting, faffing around and procrastinating there is. It might sound very disloyal, but when the Government talks about wanting to save money, they could easily cull hundreds of public sector roles at local authorities and no one would notice. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of people who work incredibly hard but there’s also a lot of people who are just floating around just trying to look important, but not actually achieving anything. And wasting taxpayers’ money in the process. I soon got to grips with what I needed to do with my role – I can get it all done quickly and efficiently. My line manager has been very pleased with how I am doing and is always praising my work. In contrast, there are people on the same team, many of whom have been working there a lot longer than me, who achieve around a quarter of the workload I do and take a lot longer doing it. For the majority of my days, I would finish everything I needed to do and be sitting around with nothing to do. If I told my line manager, I would probably just get given someone else’s work too, but why should I pick up their slack when I already do more than them? As a result, for the last year or so, I have been secretly writing a novel during working hours and I’ve already managed to write 40,000 words. It is a psychological thriller and I feel like it is going really well and even though it is a dream, I would love it to become a bestseller. I feel like it would also translate well into a blockbuster film, so I have also started writing a screenplay version and in my head I already have envisaged the actors and actresses who can play the characters in my head perfectly. My job has hybrid working so I work from home a couple of days a week, which makes it easy for me to carve out time in my day to work on my novel. But even on the days I am in the office, I simply get the work stuff I need to get done as soon as possible and then devote the rest of the day to working on my novel and screenplay. If anyone sees me, I just look busy working on stuff behind my computer screen, which is fine. I know some people might think it is dishonest of me to spend my work time on my personal pursuits. But if I am getting everything I need to get done to a high standard and outperforming my colleagues, where is the harm? I am making a dull job more exciting for myself and hopefully, if I achieve my dream of getting a book deal, it will give me a permanent escape route into a career that is more fitting for me. Share your Money Secret by emailing: Aasma.day@theipaper.com. Identities will be protected.