Does having a day job help or hurt writers?

I just read a post that asks the question, "does having a day job help or hurt writers?" The author had recently read another post asking the same thing so I'm jumping into the fray. Like anything else, it depends. It depends on what the day job is. It depends on the writer's other commitments. It depends on the writer's age and energy. When I was younger and when my job was less stressful, I wrote all the time. I'd come home from the day job and stay up till midnight and after to write. I'd do that night after night, week in, week out. I thought (maybe wrongfully so) that anybody could write if they wanted to badly enough. That was before I gained more responsibility at work, before I had such an exacting task master at work, before I had 13 other women to supervise and be a good example to. That was when I was younger. It was also before my daughter was on three softball teams concurrently and my home became the softball field. I still believe that we can find time to write (or do anything we want to) if we want to badly enough, but can we mass produce? Will our day job necessarily give us story fodder? Maybe. Maybe not. Most of our employers and co-workers would kill us, or at least fire us, if we based stories on them. Many employers would dismiss someone if they learned they were a writer, especially an erotic romance writer. Personally, a steady pay check keeps my stress level down which allows my artistic side to come out and play. When I'm not too tired. I also write a lot more in summer than the other months of the year. Why? Because in my case, DD#2 takes a break in the summer from her sports. Summer is very hot in South Florida so we play our outdoor sports during the other three seasons of the year. You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)