August 4

A Day in My Life; Reality vs. Fantasy

14  comments

This week’s topic for Marketing for Romance Writers (MFRW) is A Day in My Life. I wear many hats, and a ‘day-job’ day, differs from a ‘freelance/ghostwriter day’ to an ‘author/writer day’. But I’m assuming you care more about the glamorous writer’s life that most non-writers envision it to be. Spoiler alert—they’re usually not all that glamorous.

Granted there are days like that. The fantastic magical ones that come as close to resembling that ‘cabin in the woods’ (the good kind, not the one where an ax murder shows up) as you’re going to get. Then there’s reality.

A Writer’s Life-Dream a Little Dream

We all have them. Whether we write them down and meticulously check off the boxes, or mentally follow them in our mind. Our To Do list. We start each day with the grand intentions of wrapping up the day with a sense of accomplishment and a plethora of completed tasks. Snuggling into bed with a satisfied smile. That’s my fantasy writers day. It would go a little bit like this…

Magically Kicking Ass 

fantasy writers life
If this is the fantasy writers life- then I’m at the beach writing 🙂

A fantasy—aka Fantastic Writer’s Life—occurs every now and again. Those days when I’m up at my usual weekday time of 4:30 a.m. with my muse before the world is awake. The words flow onto the page like magic. I spend the morning writing new material.

 

Then I devote time in the afternoon to either:

  • editing another draft story
  • writing blog posts
  • scheduling promotion on twitter and Facebook
  • Working on an upcoming newsletter
  • and/or completing freelance writing assignments

I plan an easy dinner in the crockpot so I’m not interrupted from my writing too much. Perhaps I take my laptop down to my DIY treadmill desk to edit, or complete other tasks to keep my back from complaining.

I wrap up the day before the family starts returning home around 3- 3:30 p.m. by clearing out most of my emails. I feel a huge sense of accomplishment for my day. Then my family looks around at the empty cupboards and the unclean house and says, “What did you do all day? Nothing?”

Magic Doesn’t Clean The Bathroom

Most of my writing days dance to the beat of a different drum. The day starts out the same way, with an early rise at 4:30 a.m. and a To Do list just waiting to be annihilated to succeed in my writers life, but then one of two things happen. Life or Procrastination.

Scruff interrupting writers life
Scuff demanding all my attention.

I’m interrupting my writing/editing because I have to go to an appointment, or get groceries, or take the dog to the groomer.

Then I get sucked into the black hole of social media and unknowingly lose hours of my day.

Or I realize the house isn’t going to clean itself and end up working out story plotlines as I’m cleaning toilets, or doing laundry. These days often result in a happier, well-fed, clean-clothed family, but restless fictional characters.

One Common Element

Although my days are awkwardly balanced between family, writing, freelance, day-job and life they all have one thing in common. I’m constantly thinking about writing. It’s not part of my day, it’s part of me.

Whether it’s a story I’m working on, a new one brewing, a blog post, or freelance articles, my muse never rests. It wakes me up at night, drags me from bed and fills my day with stories.

For more news and updates on my life as a writer and fun stuff, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter here. Don’t worry about me spamming your inbox. I’m far too overwhelmed most days to send one out unless I have something to share.

Check Out A Day in The Life Of the Other Authors

MFRW Blog Challenge on writers life


Tags

Authors, blog hop, Books, writers life, writing


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  1. Maybe it’s a case of misery loving company, but I’m appreciating the reminder that none of us lives a fantasy writer’s life. We all seem to fight the same problems. Good to know we are not alone! Enjoyed your post.

    1. You had me at self cleaning house and less social media- it’s a win! win!

  2. I distinctly remember back in girl scouts, when I first went through Brownies them talking about the fairies. They have never shown up to clean my house not once! My husband doesn’t usually say anything about the unclean house. Since going through cancer treatment though, he has had to pick up a lot of what I did. He actually said “You know, I would come home and see the dust still on the tv and the carpet not vacuumed, and the clutter and think you didn’t do anything. I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate all of the other stuff you’ve been doing.” Guess I’ll keep him!
    Anyway, thank you for sharing this very real post!

    1. How sweet of your husband! I hope you re doing well with your treatment. Sending you positive, healing thoughts.

  3. I sometimes wonder if *rich* writers live the fantasy life. You know, folks who pay people to tackle the grunt work of life. I suspect not — being rich, I suspect, requires a lot of time to stay rich — but one can dream.

    1. Ahh… I do dream of having someone do the ‘grunt work’ at least once in awhile. Dreaming is good for the muse.

  4. A self-cleaning house would be awesome! Like the Weasley house in the Harry Potter movies!

    Maureen, it’s great that your muse is so active and always present. Mine likes to take long vacations without telling me where she’s going!

  5. I’m waiting on that magical house that cleans itself too. Or I win the lotto (I have to start playing) then can hire a maid to do all that stuff for me. Talk about a real fantasy.

  6. I love your post and the difference between the magical and typical LOL. It would be great to have the magic to clean house but why stop there lets magic the social media and marketing too LOL!

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