Day in the Life, or Living the Dream

My YA novel Pretty Crooked (Katherine Tegen) is out in about six weeks (!!!). I don’t know how typical or non-typical my writing life is, but I am seriously loving every minute of every day I spend as an author. Now, I’m not a fulltime author, mind you. I’m kind of a part timer/shift worker. It’s taking some time management, some weekend hours and a little bit less sleep to stay on top of writing, revising and promotional activities on top of a 40-hour workweek at my day job, which is freelance writing. An average day, when I’m not on a big deadline to finish something, usually looks something like this:

6:00-6:30 am: Wake up, attempt to wake up or lie in bed thinking about the ways to trick myself out of bed. The crying cat sometimes helps. As does the thought of coffee.

7:00 am: Feed cat. Make coffee. Caffeinate. Eat breakfast. Check email, answer email. Waste time on daily itinerary of websites.

7:30 am: Greet eye-rubbing husband in the doorway of my office.

7:32 am: Put on author hat. I like to think it looks like this:

On to work on current WIP, revisions or anything requiring Smart Morning Brain.

8:15 am: Take a break to answer emails, look up a recipe for dinner, and/or sign up for my Crossfit workout.

8:30 am: Back to work.

9:30 am: Husband comes into office to medicate cat and chat. If I’m on a roll, he gets a vacant stare. But usually he and the cat, pictured here with Jodi Meadows' Incarnate, are a welcome distraction.

10:00 am: Author hat comes off. Time to start freelance work—making calls, writing up copy, answering more emails.

11:45 am: Leave for the gym.

12:00 pm-1:00 p.m.: Sweat, grunt and temporarily forget everything that goes on between me and my keyboard.

1:15 p.m.: Lunch time at my desk—as long as my meal lasts is as long as I’m allowed to screw around on the internet.

2:00 p.m.: Back to work. More coffee may be needed. C’mon brain.

3:30 p.m.: Time to attend to promotional business. Manage ARC requests, update blog(s), work on interviews, plan events, contact stores, libraries, etc. Think up fun swag ideas.

5:00 p.m.: Start cooking dinner. Attempt to stay off internet for remainder of evening. [Umm, good luck, me]

11:00 p.m.: Sneak in one more peek at email, etc. Sleep, sweet sleep.