It’s a Writer’s Life

So here’s my day.

After my morning routine of yoga, meditation, bath, dressing and a healthy breakfast (meusli and dates), I hung up washing and put another load of laundry on for my mother (who I care for).

Ah – I forgot the gardener was due today.  Have to let her in, decide what she should do today, and go on a search for the cheque book.  Oh, and case you’re wondering how a poor writer like me can afford a gardener – I have chronic fatigue syndrome, so a morning pulling up weeds would just about finish me off for the day.  So unless I want the garden to turn into a jungle, I have to employ someone.

Next on my routine is to open up the emails, and just as I’m replying to a genealogy client who wants a will transcribed, a knock at the door heralds the Pharmacy to my  Door with Mum’s latest set of pills for the week.  Mum’s morning carer then tells me we’ve run out of supplies, so I head for the website, which takes me half an hour to use because their buttons for adding items to the cart is not working properly.

But I really must read the electricity and gas meters today – the deadline is tomorrow, and first I need to pay a couple of bills.  Then I find it’s already 10:30, and I haven’t had my morning coffee yet, and I’m already feeling that the effects of my morning meditation wore off some time ago…

After coffee, I do some work for a genealogy client.  No writing yet because I have to earn a living.  Sometimes, the work is frustrating and intense, but this morning I allow myself a relaxing saunter through the 17th century registers of a nearby parish.  After a couple of hours, I rise from my hunched position in front of the computer, blink my eyes a few times and head off to get lunch for my mother and myself.

After a brief rest, and a little more meditation, I’m ready to work on my novel (at last!  hurrah!).  However, after a few lines I realise that there is a very important piece of research to be done, and I send off an email to a local solicitor to ask for advice on a legal point.  A few more lines, a little more internet research, and the time has flown by.

On another day (not today; I can’t cram so many things into one day) I will be working on a course I’m creating on researching your ancestors, which involves me talking on video.  I’m really enjoying doing this – but I can only get round to it a few days a week.

A bit of tea and cake (home-made by the way), and while I’m consuming that I’m checking how well my book sales are doing and whether my ads are delivering.  Well, that’s rather depressing, so after an adjustment it’s time for my daily bit of marketing – as an indie author it’s essential.  So, here I am writing a brief blog post, and after this I’ll be reading some advice about Amazon advertising.

I know that tonight will involve some cooking, some TV and a glass of wine.  And my final reward of the day is another episode of my not-so-guilty pleasure – Star Trek.

A writer’s life is not all about writing (unless you’re very wealthy).  It’s about juggling.

Would I change it?  Not in a million years.