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A moonlighting project can also help people perform better in their day jobs. Twentieth Century Fox Television's vice president of comedy development, Nicholas Weinstock, who just published his third book, The Golden Hour (HarperCollins, 2006), notes that his writing lets him set aside his ego when it comes to creative control in the workplace. "It keeps me from being that a--hole executive who pitches their own jokes," he says. "I sort of have my own creative pressure valve."

Those kinds of perks can keep employers from feeling cheated by employees who go home to write by the light of the moon. The advertising agency Fallon, for example, sees workers' outside projects as beneficial for the company. "We encourage it," says Rob White, Fallon's president. "We believe our people should have the opportunity to flex their creative muscles in different ways. It makes you a happier, more productive individual." In fact, Fallon goes so far as to offer a "Dreamcatchers" program, in which the agency gives employees paid sabbaticals to pursue their projects, and it created a gallery space for its novelists and artists to hold events.

No matter how supportive the environment, coexisting as two different selves isn't easy. To make time to write the political thriller that had been brewing in his head for years, Schechter, the crisis PR guru, worked out a deal with his partners that lets him commit two mornings a week to writing. The rule: No clients, no emails, no Internet. In return, Schechter insisted that he take a 23% pay cut, thinking it would be "psychologically helpful."

Weinstock--who has "reprogrammed" himself to get up at 4:30 a.m. every day and write for two hours--seems to have struck the best balance between the two worlds. He had tried once to turn his passion for writing into a full-time job, leaving his career for five years and writing two books. But with a growing family, he needed stability. So he discovered the benefit of doing both at once. "If it becomes your hobby, it lets you take bigger risks and be more passionate about it," he says. "For me there's a real yin-yang thing… and I've never been happier doing both."