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My schedule as a fulltime author
Oct. 26th, 2008 11:44 pmI frequently am told that I am "lucky" that I get to work at home. That I am "lucky" that I'm living my dream occupation. Some people are jealous of the fact that I get up at 9am instead of the normal 8-5 working class time of 6am. Some people joke that it must be nice to stay home all day and "work." They say the word "work" as if I'm watching TV and eating bon-bons all day. (I would say I wish but really I don't. That sounds like a boring life to me.)
My normal daily schedule goes something like this:
* 9am-ish (it varies): Get up
* 10am: At the computer. Do my normal tour of the internet and start answering emails.
* 11am-6pm: Write/work. This means RPG contracts, Amazon/Tech writing contracts, and personal writing projects – TEoP, the current novel, the contracted short story, etc... I will take 5-15 minute breaks in there. Sometimes to go down and clean the kitchen, do laundry, get food or the like. This is 6-7 hours of solid writing, editing and research.
* 6pm-10pm: Spend time with the husband. Watch some TV or play video games.
* 10pm-Bedtime (by midnight, I hope): More internet, emails, random editing or story writing.
And I do this every day – regardless if it a weekend or not. Sometimes, in the evening, I go out with my husband or out to an event or a LARP. But most evenings are home with the husband and then back upstairs to work. I generally don't intend to work after 6pm but it happens. A lot. Especially since my Grants Pass co-editor lives in Australia. 10pm+ is the optimum time for me to work with her.
This sort of schedule is both liberating and damning at the same time. I work even when I feel like I should be resting but sometimes I will do only 2 hours of work and then take the rest of the day off because I need the break and because I can. I am the only one in charge of my schedule and it is my responsibility to meet my deadlines. I'm the boss and if I fail at anything it is solely my fault.
This often leads to me not actually knowing what day of the week it is. All I know is if it is "This Week" or "Next Week" because that's how I run my schedule. What do I need to get done "This Week" and what is coming up "Next Week." I actually break up my week on Saturdays only because I have a weekly Saturday night LARP and that is the end of "This Week."
So, there you have it. My life and schedule as a fulltime freelance author.
My normal daily schedule goes something like this:
* 9am-ish (it varies): Get up
* 10am: At the computer. Do my normal tour of the internet and start answering emails.
* 11am-6pm: Write/work. This means RPG contracts, Amazon/Tech writing contracts, and personal writing projects – TEoP, the current novel, the contracted short story, etc... I will take 5-15 minute breaks in there. Sometimes to go down and clean the kitchen, do laundry, get food or the like. This is 6-7 hours of solid writing, editing and research.
* 6pm-10pm: Spend time with the husband. Watch some TV or play video games.
* 10pm-Bedtime (by midnight, I hope): More internet, emails, random editing or story writing.
And I do this every day – regardless if it a weekend or not. Sometimes, in the evening, I go out with my husband or out to an event or a LARP. But most evenings are home with the husband and then back upstairs to work. I generally don't intend to work after 6pm but it happens. A lot. Especially since my Grants Pass co-editor lives in Australia. 10pm+ is the optimum time for me to work with her.
This sort of schedule is both liberating and damning at the same time. I work even when I feel like I should be resting but sometimes I will do only 2 hours of work and then take the rest of the day off because I need the break and because I can. I am the only one in charge of my schedule and it is my responsibility to meet my deadlines. I'm the boss and if I fail at anything it is solely my fault.
This often leads to me not actually knowing what day of the week it is. All I know is if it is "This Week" or "Next Week" because that's how I run my schedule. What do I need to get done "This Week" and what is coming up "Next Week." I actually break up my week on Saturdays only because I have a weekly Saturday night LARP and that is the end of "This Week."
So, there you have it. My life and schedule as a fulltime freelance author.