What does a day in the life of a full-time author look like? For this author, every day tends to look a little different…

6:00: Craaaaaaawl out of bed. Coffee coffee coffee.

6:30: I spend some time reading through my favorite blogs, scrolling through Pinterest, and geeking out over the BBC miniseries North & South on Twitter. (A friend rec’d it over the weekend and I was up way too late watching it. OH THE DRAMA, THE ROMANCE, THE GOWNS!)

Make the bed. Brush my teeth. Etc.

8:15: Head to the gym for a yoga class.

9:30: Grab a fruit smoothie and head back home.

10:00:  I write a long, detailed email to my editor all about the new Secret Project we’re working on. (Secret Projects, you guys! I love them. I’m SO EXCITED about this one and I think you guys will be too. *GIDDY*)

11:15: I write a blog post: From Idea to Finished, Step 4: Simmering Periods.

12:15: Post is up, time for lunch. Grilled cheese sandwiches for the win.

1:00: I’m behind on emails (kind of the story of my life), so I set a timer for an hour and try to whip through as many as I can.

2:00: Woohoo, I managed to get my inbox… er, slightly more under control. I celebrate by… starting a load of laundry, and updating the event listings on my web site’s calendar!

2:40: With a few minutes to kill, I open up Scrivener and start going over my notes for Heartless. I finished the third draft last Thursday (yay!) and I’m already itching to get back into it and knock out Draft #4 (double yay!). However, since my blog post this morning was all about taking breaks in between drafts, I decide to make small edits for now and research things that need researching. I’ll probably start real revisions again on Wednesday.

3:00: I sign in for a 20-minute Skype visit with Williamsburg Regional Library in Virginia. *waves from the west coast*  This is the first Skype visit I’ve had in months, so I’m relieved that it goes so smoothly!

(FYI, I’ll be opening for Skype visits again soon. If you would like to host a 20-minute Q&A session with your library, class, or book club, check out the details on my connect page.)

3:30: Change the laundry. Walk down to get the mail. Get back to making edits in Heartless.

6:30: After making about 2/3 of the smaller changes I wanted to make throughout the book, it’s time to go curl up on the couch with a good book. I’m really enjoying The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn, a memoir about cooking from scratch and trusting your taste buds that has so far been super inspiring! (Though I might be biased, given that I love pretty much anything that has to do with food…)

And that’s been one more Day in the Life.