Thursday, May 10, 2012

What Writers Do All Day (At Least Me)

Lots of authors write every day, but I’m not one of them.  When I draft, it’s 8-12 hours a day until I finish.  When it comes to revising, I work every day when I’m not procrastinating.  But when I’m waiting on edits or I’ve turned a book in, it’s break time.  Personally, I need that time to regroup and recharge.  So this is what I did all day yesterday (thought I’m actually proofing a copy of UNBREAKABLE today that’s headed for an undisclosed inbox or two, so I’m not a complete slacker).

This is a look at what writers do all day (if that writer happens to be me).

8:05 AM – Wake up to MTV’s behind the scenes video from the set of the Beautiful Creatures movie!  Watch the video 6x, retweet the video, and show the video to my 4 1/2 year-old (who says Zoey Deutch’s dress is pretty).

8:40 AM – Watch the glass breaking portion of the video 4 X to admire the use of physical effects versus CGI in the scene.  Discuss with 4 1/2 year-old, who does not enjoy this portion of the video because she can’t see Zoey’s dress.

9:00 AM – Answer email, tweet, and make coffee (not at the same time, though that would be impressive).  Ask myself if I should write.  Decide since my agent, Jodi, is reading my novel, UNBREAKABLE (before it goes somewhere top secret I can’t talk about yet), I can take a break.  Drink more coffee and head over to Pinterest to “work” on my inspiration boards.

* I am a complete Pinterest addict, but it’s actually an amazing tool for imagining the world of your novels and stories if you’re a visual person like me.  (You can also pin vintage jewelry you plan to buy when you’re procrastinating.)

10:00 AM – Take a shower & head to the office.  Consider taking photos of my office & Yvette assembling my Ikea bookshelf.  Then decide against it after I notice she doesn’t seem amused.

12:00 PM – Business call that would look boring if photographed, although the call was not boring at all.  Make a mental note to figure out how to make overseas calls before I have to make an overseas call again in the future.

12:45 PM – Leave for lunch with Molly Quinn, one of the stars of our upcoming film “Hansel & Gretel and the 420 Witch,” and the awesome TV show “Castle.”  More importantly, a friend and the fashion consultant for my new author photos I haven’t taken yet.

12:55 PM – Molly calls to tell me that the restaurant I picked no longer exists, but she is sitting in the new restaurant that opened in its place.  She is too polite to give me crap (Southern manners).

1:30 PM – Eat a giant plate of spaghetti while Molly eats polenta.  Talk about a wide variety of topics like why I wear so much gray, and our respective dog problems.

2:30 PM – Walk by the candy shop and stop to get chocolate butterflies, at Molly’s suggestion because the bunnies don’t have hazelnut inside.  Secretly wish I had purchased more chocolate by the time I get to the car.

3:00 PM – 5:45 PM – Return to the office.  Finish putting the Ikea bookshelf together because Yvette is annoyed with the directions that don’t actually include any directions.  Re-arrange my office to make room for the new bookshelf.  Make more business calls.  Cross-reference places on my map with places mentioned in UNBREAKABLE because my geography skills suck.

6:00 PM – Sit in LA rush hour traffic on Wilshire.

6:45 PM – Arrive home to find packages!  I do almost all my shopping online, so I get a ton of packages (this does not make receiving packages any less exciting).  New summer wedges inside.  Try them on for my daughter.

6:55 PM – My daughter tries on new summer wedges and decides they look cuter on her.

7:00 PM  – Open package #2 — Vintage necklace by Christine Wallace.  Try it on after my daughter.  LOVE it!  Plan to pin pictures later.

7:10 PM – Hang out with my kids and wait for Alex to get home.  Play with my dog, Spike, who is not supposed to be on the couch.  But like Spike from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” after whom he was named, Spike is blonde and cute, so I let him put his paws on the couch.

9:00 PM – Work on my inspiration book for UNBREAKABLE.  Journaling and inspiration boards are really important aspects of my writing process.  Read more about how I use inspiration boards HERE.

12:15 AM – Sleep.


4 responses to “What Writers Do All Day (At Least Me)”

  1. I like that your typo reads “New summer edges inside.” Summer should always have an edge to it.

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