These “A Day in the Life” posts are my attempt to answer the frequently asked question: “What does a typical writing day look like?” Because the answer is that there is no typical writing day.
In October I talked about a very busy day in which I didn’t actually get any writing done. This day, during National Novel Writing Month, was the polar opposite!
7:00: YAAAAAWWNN…. and coffee.
7:30: I answer emails, check Twitter, and pause to watch the newest Emma Approved episode. Mr. Knightley is always a good way to start the day.
8:30: Phone call with my agent. We chat about my progress with WINTER, thoughts on what we might do with the Levana novella I’m working on, and all the great promotion ideas that Macmillan is coming up with for the big CRESS release. I also inform her that Scarlet has made it to the Final Round of the GoodReads Choice Awards – super exciting stuff.
You can cast your vote for that here, by the way, if you haven’t already. *nudge nudge*
9:00: Skype interview with a college freshman who’s writing a paper for her communications class. Lovely girl!
9:30: I’m hosting a writing date with Lish McBride (Hold Me Closer, Necromancer) at my place today, so I spend some time cleaning up the dining room so we actually have a place to work.
10:00: Writing, writing, writing…
11:00: Lish arrives! Cats wonder who this stranger is and run for cover under the bed. We drink more coffee.
11:14: Writing, writing, writing…
12:57: Order pizza!
1:04: Writing, writing, writing…
1:33: Eat pizza and commiserate over how much it sucks when you write yourself into a corner. We both stare sadly at our laptops for a while.
2:24: Writing, writing, writing…
2:47: Break open the wine!
2:50: Writing, writing, writing…
4:13: Cannot figure out how to get out of this chapter. Beat head against table.
4:16: Writing, writing, writing…
5:20: Finally, a breakthrough! Chapter wraps up pretty quickly after that.
5:41: Lish leaves. (Bye, Lish!) I eat more pizza and decide to keep writing until either my husband gets home or Agents of SHIELD comes on, whichever happens first.
7:16: Husband gets home, but I’m in the middle of an exciting chapter, so I keep writing anyway.
8:00-10:00: That’s enough writing for today. I move into the living room and watch Agents of SHIELD and Supernatural, while answering fan questions on a GoodReads forum where I’m the week’s guest author.
Total word count: I’m not telling! But it is my second-best writing day so far this month.