And, in a bit of unexpected serendipity, many of my outside gigs have actually complemented my job and have assisted me in the workplace.

Soon after I started at my newspaper, I joined a bilingual sketch comedy troupe called the Latino Comedy Project. I had no way of knowing that six years later, I would be put in charge of the editorial staff for a new Spanish-language newspaper. The experience I gained writing sketches and the insight I gained into Latino culture were invaluable experience for my later job.

In 2000, I started writing for a Web site I admired, Television Without Pity (then called MightyBigTV). Not long after, I became an editor of our TV and film coverage. The lengthy TV analysis I wrote for TWOP dovetailed nicely with my immersion in pop culture at work.

And more recently, commentary I've done on technology for NPR's All Things Considered and videos my brother and I produce for Movies Without Pity have also helped me in my job. The NPR gig promotes my reporting and blogging at the Austin American-Statesman and the skills I picked up for our show Trailers Without Pity helped get me up to speed on editing video, something that has become increasingly important for my newspaper job.

A video game Web site I created with a friend, Videogamey.com has helped me learn to be spot-on creative with a daily deadline. It trained me to trust my creativity: when that deadline rolls around, I don't need to panic. I know something good will happen if I relax and start writing.

The countless contacts I've made on my personal blog, Terribly Happy, and on the microblogging site Twitter, have led to an active audience for the stories I write for my paper and for my work blog.

My editors have accepted over time that these outside jobs not only supplement my salary and help keep me creatively fulfilled, but also contribute to the work I do for my job, sometimes informing it in unexpected ways.

What's the trade-off? Having so many outside projects can sap energy from work sometimes; doing what I do requires constant, abundant energy and enthusiasm. I've sacrificed many nights of good sleep and have suffered hand cramps on weeks when I was simply writing so much that my body gave in to exhaustion.

I've had to learn to start saying no to the frequent (and always unpaid) panels I get invited to speak on and to turn down freelance assignments that pay little or that would be better off in other hands. After my daughter was born last year, I had to cut down my involvement in the comedy troupe and prioritize the other projects I was still willing to take on.

What keeps me motivated is that I've gotten to a point where I enjoy all the work that I'm doing. It took years of dues-paying and saying yes to assignments that weren't ideal to get to there, but now I have the luxury of choosing what kinds of writing I want to do and for whom.

Interesting to me has been the shift in newspapers to embracing the kinds of writing that many of us online freelancers have been experimenting with since the late '90s. Newspaper reporters are now being called upon to be bloggers, videographers and commentators. I used to have to modulate the way I wrote for the newspaper, using an entirely different style than what I might use for a recap of Smallvillle on Television Without Pity or a blog entry on my personal site. Now, the styles and voices I use in these different places have begun to blend together into one Omar voice. Of course, I'd never write a newspaper obit in the same flip fashion that I'd post a goofy morsel on Twitter, but I'm finding that the viewpoint of the individual is become more valued in the news business. Print journalists, especially those with expertise in a specific area, are becoming online personalities. Those who embrace the change are being rewarded with more engaged audiences and other opportunities to write, blog or perform online.

A lot of writers dream of quitting their day jobs to write full time. I used to feel that way, too. But I really enjoy working at a newspaper. I love my coworkers and enjoy the stability it affords other parts of my life. If I had to worry about making my freelance gigs pay enough to support my family financially, I'd probably find them a lot less enjoyable.

Working full time and freelancing at the same time is not a path I'd recommend to everyone. Work and my personal life have blended together to the point where it seems like I'm writing, blogging or researching all the time. I spend much more time working than I do socializing, traveling or going to the movies. But I feel lucky to be able to make a living doing creative things and to be offered writing assignments that are fun to write.

Creative pressure is always there, but I use it as fuel. The trick is not to slow down, or question your ability to make it work for you. You have to trust that when it's 1:30 a.m. and something's due, your brain will pull you through.

It has to if you give it no other option.

Omar L. Gallaga is a technology culture reporter and blogger at the Austin American-Statesman. He is a staff writer for the NBC/Bravo-owned Web site Television Without Pity and produces for them the Web show Trailers Without Pity with his brother, Pablo. He also is co-creator of the video game culture encyclopedia Videogamey.com and a freelancer for Latino Magazine. You can hear him contribute tech news and commentary on NPR's new technology segment All Tech Considered.