Seven Days in the Life of a Writer

You’ve probably participated in, or at least seen by now, the Facebook meme which prompts you to share seven pictures from your every day life, one each day for a week. I never really considered participating, until a friend tagged me saying that she wanted to see what the everyday life of a writer looked like. I mean, my life is pretty boring and mostly centers around my computer screen. It never occurred to me someone else would find it interesting.

But I instantly got stuck; how could I present the requested information, especially when the meme prohibits explanations? If I took a picture of where I spent most of my time, I would have ended up with seven pictures of my desk (and I briefly considered whether or not I could make that interesting). Either way, most of the pictures were going to have to feature my house, which is where I spend 90% of my time. I had seen lots of other people participate in the meme post pictures of household tasks or meals, which made me feel better about posting those kinds of pictures. But would they describe the everyday life of a writer?

In the end, I decided to solve the problem the same way I always do; I cheated (just a little bit). In addition to one black and white photo (presented without explanation), I posted one black and white screenshot taken at some point during my work day. This seemed the most logical way to show how my life revolves around whatever’s happening on my computer without actually breaking any of the rules of the meme (I mean, I didn’t actually post more than one PHOTO, and the only extra explanation I offered was that I had posted an accompanying screenshot to comply with my friend’s original request).

It was such an interesting experience that I decided to share the photos here (with slightly more explanation than they originally appeared on Facebook). So I present to you, a week in the life of this writer. And if you’re a writer, I encourage you to make your own series and share it with me – I’d love to see what you do differently and what we have in common!

Day One – Thursday
Usual tasks: Heavily focused on writing. In this case I was working on the re-write of Symphony of the Stars. If I have two writing projects on the go, I will often work on one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The last few hours of the work day are set aside for business related tasks. In this case, that was sending out queries for Dreamers Do Lie.

Day Two – Friday
Usual tasks: Once again, heavily focused on writing. The last few hours in the evening are set aside for scheduling social media for the next week (I use a combo of live and scheduled content on my social media platforms to free up more writing time). Also, I mourn for the fact that I can no longer buy this tea. Why would anyone discontinue a tea that tastes so good?!

Day Three – Saturday
I have forbidden myself from working on the weekends so here you see me having fun.

Day Four – Sunday
I actually meant to take a picture outside of the house for this day (we went out to dinner) but I forgot to grab my camera – doh!

Day Five – Monday
Usual Tasks: Monday is set aside for blogging and writing prompts (which also get posted on the blog). The last few hours of the work day are set aside for more social media scheduling so that I don’t have to do it all in one sitting.

Day Six – Tuesday
Usual Tasks: Heavily writing focused with time set aside in the afternoon for business. In this case I finished the re-write for part two of Symphony of the Stars (the novel determined to be a trilogy).

Day Seven – Wednesday
Usual Tasks: Heavy writing focus with time set aside in the afternoon for business. In this case I started editing Paradox Syndrome, the short for my Newsletter subscribers.

And there you have it; a small piece of what my life looks like every week. Though it might not look like it, I promise I do go outside and occasionally enjoy the sunshine!