Good read and I too thought you really had been sacked! I think side hustles can be viewed negatively by employers. At present I am not in work and writing sharpens my focus, and gives me something to get up for. My life has positively changed since starting writing on Medium. I have no illusion it will replace a job but as I don't have one anyway, it doesn't matter. I find at interviews, that unless employers are very open minded, mentioning writing or anything which isn't 110% focused on the job they are interviewing for, turns the interview bad very quickly. That being said many jobs I apply for or interview I had are based on work I did many years ago, so either way no matter what I mention, I don't have a great chance of being offered the job. Hence writing for me is a totally new direction. Nothing to loose.