A Day in the Life of a Writer

With Sanctuary for a Lady having been released for about a month now, I keep fielding questions and hearing comments about what being a big, famous, published author must be like. So I thought I'd give you all a glimpse of my glamorous author's life.

1. It's not glamorous.
2. I'm not famous.
3. I'm not big. In fact I barely  reach 5'1.

I still scrub my own toilets and clean up my dog's vomit. I still play with my kids and help pick up their messes. And book contracts or not, I'm still interrupted from my computer activities. For example, since I've started writing this particular blog post, I think stepped away from the computer to tend to the kids four times. (Heaven forbid my husband who is currently sprawled across the couch get up and find spoons so my boys can eat some yogurt.)

While I might be able to endure distractions during writing a blog post, I can't handle distractions while writing scenes for my novel. So to find distraction-free writing time, I get up at 5:00 am to write. Then I get the kids around for the day, do housework, play, fix breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner (my husband helps cook dinner certain days), and clean it all up.

On top of that, I try to sneak time for a second writing session while my youngest is taking his nap. Then I have emails to answer, blog posts to write, blog interviews to fill out, Facebook and GoodReads to swing by and chat on, and books to package, address and take to the post office.

I usually fall into bed around 8:00pm each night, completely exhausted. But I still take about an hour to read, so that I get some sort of break from the crazy, constant, motion of my life.

Would I trade my life? No. I love writing, I enjoy staying in contact with my writing friends and readers, I long to be a good mom to my children and wonderful wife to my husband. But these obligations keeps me very busy, working 14 hours most days.

Which is why I've decided to write only two blog posts per week rather than three. I enjoy each of you readers and look forward to connecting with you through my blog. The topics of mothering and balancing our other obligations are very dear to my heart, and this blog provides an opportunity for me to express that. But at the same time, as I look down the long road of blogging and realize that I'll be doing this for years to come (along with writing novels), three posts a week seems too much for me. Two posts appears a lot more sustainable over the next few years. And so I'll be switching to a Monday and Thursday blog schedule. Thank you all for understanding.

So, now that you know a little about my life, what's involved in being an author and mother, I'm curious about yours. Do you find yourself juggling multiple responsibilities? Are you the type to add too much to your plate, or not enough? How do you decide when to pull back or keep going?

Thanks so much for joining me today, and I'll be back again on Thursday.

Naomi