Typical Day in the Life of a Writer

7 AM – Wake up early, roll out of bed, and go for a walk. This is part of the writing process, you tell yourself; the beauty of nature opens your mind and allows your thoughts to combine in new and creative ways…

8 AM – After doing a few floor exercises to tone your saggy writer’s butt, shower and don your lucky writing sweater. Sit down to a breakfast of oatmeal with walnuts and raisins. You can’t concentrate on writing when you’re worried about the state of your ass or when the grumbling of your stomach is louder than the whisper of your thoughts.

9 AM – Read both newspapers cover to cover. That way, if you don’t have any luck writing your novel, the anger inspired by the jackasses who share your world will lead to a passionate blog post.

10 AM – Call a friend to vent your frustration about the jackasses who share your world. “Can you believe the Sanitation Head staged a work slowdown during the blizzard but the Mayor fired the EMS Director because his guys couldn’t get through the unplowed snow to save people’s lives?”

11 AM – Feeling a bit peckish, but the sorry state of your ass prevents you from eating again until at least noon. Start to get ready to write. Assemble your BIC 4-color pen, multi-colored college-ruled notebooks, a Papermate mechanical pencil with pink eraser, AlphaSmart Neo word processor, lap desk, the latest draft of the novel, notes to self, list of scenes, various pages of scribblings, and your winged, Goth, fairy girl figurine, a tangible representation of your Muse. Set everything up just so on the living room sofa and coffee table. Grab a throw in case it gets chilly. Satisfied that all is in order, look at the clock. It’s noon. Yay!

12 PM – Open refrigerator and stare at shelves. Close door of refrigerator, open door of pantry, and stare at shelves. Repeat three times. Sniff a few of the leftovers, pick one, and pop it into the microwave. As lunch heats, stare out the back window and allow nature to continue to form your thoughts in new and creative ways. Beep beep beep. Chow time.

1 PM – After using the bathroom, because there’s no concentrating with a full bladder, look in the mirror and notice the patch of dry, flaky skin between your eyebrows. Apply some moisturizer on the spot. Smile wide. Hmmmm. Get out the expired box of Crest Whitestrips and apply them to your top and bottom chompers. And while you’re still in the bathroom, grab your tweezers and get rid of that stray hair that’s ruining the arch of your right eyebrow.

2 PM – As you pass the computer in your home office on your way down to the sofa to write, sign in to Twitter and tweet “The Mayor is a boob.” Sign into Facebook and watch the video of GloZell using Nads to rip her armpit hair out. Laugh hysterically. Fool. You should know…you tried that once with Zip meltable wax and it hurt like a bitch. Not to mention what it did to your college roommate’s soup pot. Shhhhh.

3 PM – Get comfortable on the sofa, lap desk in position. Stare into space. Tilt your head the other way and stare into space some more. Write the date at the top of the page. Draw a few speckled amoeba at the bottom-right corner of the paper. Stare out the window. Aaaaah, let nature do its work. Meet the contemptuous gaze of your cat. The little furry bastards always let you know exactly what they think of you, don’t they? You lookin’ at me? Giggle. Jump up and run to mirror and say that line over and over again in a DeNiro accent. Giggle some more.

4 PM – Tea time at the inn. Yay!! Put the kettle on. Warm the tea pot. Select the right tea. Will you be writing an Earl Grey kind of scene or maybe the White Pomegranate is the one? Set up a tray with a china tea cup, tea strainer, tea cozy, Demarara sugar cubes, festive napkins, and a plate of…open pantry door, stare at shelves. Close pantry door. Open pantry door again and have another look. Climb up on a chair and find that stale box of Scoobie Snacks and arrange the dog-biscuit shaped cookies on a delicate china plate. Carry the tray into the living room and settle down with your throw and steaming cup of tea. Stare out the window and sip. Feel the creative thoughts permeate your brain with the help of the steam drifting up your nostrils. Organic writing at its best.

5 PM – Holy Cow. Dinner time already? Yay!!!

6 PM – Realize it’s been just about a week since your last blog entry. Crap! Run upstairs to computer and whip up a quick blog about how ripping out your armpit hair with hot wax is a lot like writing.

7 PM – Stand, stretch, yawn. Gather up all the writing materials for your novel from the living room sofa and put them away. Everyone knows you can’t summon up creativity at night. That’s a morning pursuit.

44 comments on “Typical Day in the Life of a Writer

  1. Richard Huttinger on

    From my latest contribution at Inked-In:

    An un-named source has revealed that a global shortage of words has caused a sudden drop-off in the production of blogs across the internet.

    “We’ve seen this coming for some time now. Even the limiting of word usage at twitter has proven ineffective in stemming the profligate waste of this precious resource.” the source said.

    “Many useful words have disappeared entirely, which may account for the rise in alternate spellings of some common words such as their, they’re, there, here, hear, your, you’re, where, wear, whether, weather, etc.”

    ” Much of the waste can be attributed to texting and social network status postings as well as ‘news’ stories revealing the details of ‘celebrities’ lives. Advertising has also played a big part, as has talk radio.”

    “Public figures have taken to inventing new words or simply leaving blank spaces, knowing that readers and listeners will let their imaginations fill in the blanks. Many former writers have turned to using images to get theirs messages across, thereby saving thousands of words, making youtube what it is today.”

    Reply
  2. Richard on

    This is really funny and painfully accurate. With personal variations on activity and beverage (not to mention method for creating beverage), this is a routine most, if not all, writers can relate to. Whether they admit it or not. 😉

    Great post! 😀

    Reply
  3. Roberto on

    You know, I’ve been looking for a good way to remove my armpit hair. Thanks for the advice! I’ll try that now. (Oh, and keep drawing speckled amoeba. I have always found them quite wonderful!)

    Reply
  4. Melissa Murphy on

    This is SO me. With one exception. After totally wasting the whole day telling myself I’m going to write, but finding every excuse not to, I usually get the most done late at night after the kids are in bed.

    Reply
  5. bronxboy55 on

    I could have sworn you’d been watching me through the window, somehow — until you got to the part about the armpit hair. So does confessing to being a procrastinator make it all right? I think yes.

    Thanks, Margaret. Excellent post!

    Reply

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