A Day In The Life of an Author: A Guest Post by Kate Stollenwerck
I’m on maternity leave! During this time, a few of my favorite authors offered to step up and write guest posts so that this blog would remain active while I adjust to my new role as a mother. I may also be a bit slower to respond. Thanks for understanding and for being so supportive of me, my family, and my blog. Want to donate a few dollars to keep this blog running or perhaps contribute to my diaper fund? You can do so on Venmo or Paypal.
A Day In The Life of an Author: A Guest Post by Kate Stollenwerck
My typical day is all about finding a balance between my two jobs – mom and author. It’s a delicate balance and I definitely fail more than I succeed. These past two years have been particularly challenging as I have three kids (ages 15, 12, and 10) attending three different schools with three different start and end times. What does that mean? A LOT of time in the car for this mom!
I try to write four days out of the school week. One day must be dedicated to all my “mom duties” – Target and grocery runs, meal planning, scheduling and attending appointments, paying bills, and other kid-related errands and volunteer work. I used to try and do some of these tasks on writing days but found the to-do list would distract me from writing. So now I save it all one day and find that this works best for me. I also use this day to do business/publicity work. I do try to write on the weekends as well. Saturdays are tough with sports, but I can normally find a few hours on Sunday to squeeze in some writing.
Here's a rundown of my typical workday:
4:45 am – My day starts early three days a week. I’m up to get my oldest ready and out the door for 5:30 am swim practice. Copious amounts of coffee are involved on these early morning days!
5:45 am - Drive back to the house (15 min); catch up on email for 30 minutes.
6:15 am – 6:45 am – Make breakfast and pack lunch for my son and drop him at the bus stop.
6:45 am-7:15 am – Possibly squeeze a 30-minute workout in, otherwise, I’m back to catching up on email and news.
7:15 am -7:45 am – Get my youngest ready for school and to the bus.
8:00 am – 9:00 am – I take a quick sweep of the house to load the dishwasher, wipe down counters, sweep the kitchen floor, make beds, and throw a load of laundry in . . . and drink another cup of coffee!
9:00am-noon – WRITE! I allot this time for writing and editing. I generally try to aim for a thousand words and save editing for later in the day.
Noon-12:30 pm – Lunch and check email and text messages; glance at the newspaper.
12:30 pm-1:30 pm – Go for a walk and listen to music. I really believe walking is where my creative juices flow the best. I have different playlists for different moods; music really helps me tap into characters and dialogue. I will take notes on my phone throughout the walk and then when I return home quickly type them up.
1:45 pm – 6:45 pm – The afternoon craziness of picking up kids from school and shuffling them to activities begins. Oftentimes, if I’m sitting in my car at soccer practice, I’ll work on social media or listen to podcasts on writing. If feeling ambitious, I’ll bring printed pages and edit while in the car. When driving between activities, I’m thinking about the scene I wrote earlier in the day. I voice text notes on my phone in the car and then type them up the next morning.
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Dinner, family time, and putting kids to bed.
9:00 pm – 9:45 pm – watch a little TV or read a book. Sometimes if I’m excited about that day’s writing, I’ll continue to edit the pages in bed with pajamas and a glass of wine!
10:00 pm – LIGHTS OUT!
A Day In The Life of an Author: A Guest Post by Kate Stollenwerck
