On the sidelines...

To date, I think I've met maybe three writers who fully make their living off their novels.

One of them had worked as a professor for something like 20 years before FINALLY being able to quit a job he saw as a necessary evil (let me note here that this guy is probably one of the top-3 names in modern Indian fiction, so...bummer).

Another had worked for years in order to make it work, and it relied on a combination of hustling the things you can do because you're an author that aren't actually authorial (for example, school visits) and being willing to live pretty low on the hog.

And...nope, that's it. I don't know a third person.

Basically, even the incredibly-talented, well-received, totally "making it" authors out there aren't making much. Which means that in order to support your writing habit (which includes supporting your caffeine and bourbon habits), you have to hold down a day job.

Some people manage to do this with a lot of flexibility. In my critique group, I'm actually the only one currently working a 9-5, and I've only been doing it for a year (before that I worked retail in order to have as much free time and mental space as possible).

Some people have their irons in enough freelancing fires to keep afloat that way.

But while writing for eHow.com and a local newspaper and maybe, if you're lucky, an article or two a month in major publications (that pay actual money) may seem closer to the goal of being a full-time writer, it's worth noting: if what you want is to author novels, that version of a "day job" is just as much a job as any other. It's not you writing the thing you're passionate about, it's not getting you any closer to the goal of publication (well it may be, tangentially, but  unless you're writing exclusively on topics you plan to one day novelize, it's just as likely to do nothing much for you), and every minute you spend doing that is a minute you spend not working on the other thing, the passion thing, the weird-addiction-to-masochism thing.

So here's my question: do other creative people manage to find real satisfaction at their day jobs? I'm lucky enough to have a day job where I occasionally get the chance to work on really cool things (see: my version of company literature), but that doesn't magically transform it into my passion.

What do the rest of you do to deal with the passion/pencil-pushing dichotomy?

Seriously, I need suggestions...