A Day in the Life of an Author
A Day in the Life of an Author
A Guest Post by Natasha Lester
Daydreaming - check.
Drinking cups of tea - check.
Procrastinating on Instagram - check.
Eating chocolate - check.
Procrastinating some more - check.
Instagram again - check.
Oh, and a bit of writing - check!
So, besides daydreaming, tea drinking and browsing on Instagram (all in the name of book research, of course!), what does a writer actually do all day. I mean, writers can’t spend all day sitting behind their desks typing out words, can they?
Some days, yes. Our days do vary, depending on what part of the writing process we’re at, but there is definitely a lot of sitting and typing – writing is not good for your back!
If I’m writing a first draft, I have to force myself to sit at the desk. The temptation to procrastinate is at its highest. That’s because first drafts are, for me, the hardest part of the writing process; there’s no way of knowing if my scrap of an idea will work itself out into a story. But I’ve learned to trust that, if I just sit down and write, it usually does work out.
For example, in The Paris Secret, one of the main characters, Kat Jourdan, is a fashion conservator but she started out in the first draft as a scientist. Luckily my subconscious understood that in a fashion-focused book like The Paris Secret, a different and more a la mode job made more sense, so Kat quickly became a fashion conservator – which is my dream job after being an author! – in the rewrite.
Speaking of rewriting, this part of the process is more fun for me. I procrastinate a lot less because I know what the story is and my job is to make that story as strong as I possibly can. I’m familiar with the characters, I love them in fact and want nothing more than to spend time with them – especially when they’re beautiful childhood soulmates like Nicholas Crawford and Skye Penrose in The Paris Secret.
Research is a must for historical fiction and some of my day is always devoted to research. This might mean scrolling through my collection of photographs of Dior gowns snapped at museums around the world, which was part of my research for The Paris Secret. Or it might be reading through Dior’s memoir to capture the excitement of the first showing at his couture house in February 1947, which is the very scene my book opens on.
Other parts of the writing process are editing or publicity. For the former, a day in my life looks much the same as it does for rewriting except that my desk is a lot messier. I have every research book that relates to the story open on my desk as I double-check each fact – what was the exact date that Christian Dior’s sister Catherine (a character in The Paris Secret) was captured by the Nazis? for example. My desk is also strewn with chocolate wrappers (a well-known editing necessity) and many half-drunk cups of tea. You’ll probably also hear a little bit of swearing as I cut thousands of excess words!
As for publicity, that’s when I’m finally allowed to get away from my desk – but not this year as all book events are virtual rather than face-to-face. But one of the best things about everyone becoming used to virtual events is that, for the first time ever, I’ll be doing virtual events with American bookshops so I can talk to my US-based readers at last! I’m really looking forward to this as, unlike many writers, I love doing events. I hope you can make it along to one of the events to hear more about the story behind The Paris Secret!
A Day in the Life of an Author
A Guest Post by Natasha Lester
I’m the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Paris Orphan / The French Photographer and The Paris Seamstress, as well as Her Mother’s Secret and a A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald. The Paris Secret is out now.
A Day in the Life of an Author
A Guest Post by Natasha Lester
