Groundhog Day…

Being An Average Day in the Life of a Writer

(Not including domestic dramas or farm!)

7 AM – Dogs let out to harangue world and remind us that we exist for their pleasure.

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7.45 AM Breakfast – porridge, banana and brown sugar. Washing on, then load and activate dishwasher. Hang washing on clothesline.

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8.30-9.30 AM Catch up with emails and Facebook. Try to have a quick instant chat with readers and writers in the northern hemisphere before they all go to bed.

10 AM Morning cuppa and maybe a cookie to gird loins for morning.

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10 30 AM Disappear around the garden, throwing tennis balls for JRT’s whose life revolves around destroying said balls.

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Or perhaps I am in the kitchen cooking. Or ironing. Or vacuuming up the dogs’ hair, or clicking on links for research for Tobias.

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11 AM – A walk round the beach with one or both dogs. Takes as long as I want it to take. Thinking time. Story-plotting time. Chill time as well.

Midday – Meet husband on porch for lunch. Chat about the government and what we get annoyed about. Solve the world’s problems in an hour. We have a saying ‘What’s the plan, Stan?’ which can be anything from how we individually want to spend the rest of the day, what our commitments are and what we might want to have for dinner.

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1 PM – Which way is the wind blowing? Might have a kayak.

If not, settle to write for the whole afternoon. Most often for me that is transcribing what I’ve written by hand. And often flicking back through research to get a word, a description.

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Or tracing the etymology of a word so that it is in its correct timeframe. EG: Tomas said he could eat an ‘oliphant’ but did the word exist back on the cusp of the thirteenth century. In fact, yes! Vast relief.

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3 PM – Cuppa. Camomile tea. And continue working. Relishing the fact that a dormant word-count has finally woken and is moving forward and that I actually have a novel on my hands!

4.15 PM – Old Dog has been pacing since 3PM. She knows dinner is some time in the afternoon so just keeps mobile (she has doggy dementia) and so I prepare two bowls for them with their relevant medications.

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Young Dog gets his stuffed into Kongs because it keeps him occupied for 30 minutes as he eats.

I do dinner preps at this point. It’s all ready then for cooking.

Pour a chardonnay, breathe deep and seek the peace as I sip!

5 PM – a bit more Facebook, or maybe Pinterest.

5.15 PM Taichi and then meditation for 30-45 minutes. This, like dogwalking, is a commitment.

6 PM – Cook dinner.

7 PM Walk Young Dog for 30-45 minutes.

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7.45 PM – Cuppa, choccie and settle to TV and embroidery.

10 PM – A final good morning/evening to FB friends.

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10.30 PM Bath and story-thinking time. BEST ideas in the bath. (By the way, image is NOT me. I am a blonde and this is a RF image from the net!)

11 PM – Bed, read through what is un-transcribed and start writing what was thought up in the bath. Then read whatever novel is by my bed. Lights out at about midnight.

3 AM Wake. Write. Fall asleep again.

Begin the whole procedure again the next day. It’s a bit like GroundHog Day really. The only changes are in the weather and the food eaten…