A Day in the Life of a Writer
One of the most common interview questions I get is “what’s a typical day in your life like?” The answer is impossible to pin down.
Unlike most other jobs, there really isn’t a routine. I may be in the middle of a draft, totally immersed in writing, barely aware of what hour it is. I may be struggling, acutely aware of how much time has passed without a single word written. I may be revising. I may be juggling multiple projects. I may be tearing out my hair because I have no projects. Who knows?! I certainly don’t. I can barely plan my year out — more than once, I’ve agreed to do a conference or speaking gig without realizing that it’d line up exactly at the same time as an intense deadline, and it’s always a recipe for a disaster…a disaster that is my life that I have to live.
Still, it’s an interesting question, and one I think about often. In my dreams, well before I was published, before I’d even written, I thought a writer’s day was luxurious. Awake at a decent hour. Coffee with a book while sunlight played on the breakfast table. Words tapped on an old typewriter with another cup of coffee beside me.
Reality’s much different.
A day in the life of a writer working on her first book
I was still in college when I wrote my first book. I started a short story, but it grew and grew, and I thought, I can do this!
I also thought, naively, foolishly, How hard can it be?
My first book was most definitely a fan fiction with the serial numbers filed off, but I didn’t know it. Or, at least, I didn’t want to admit it. I tapped away between classes and on weekends. It’s worth noting that I couldn’t afford a television while in college, and I worked as a Resident Advisor to make ends meet — so I lived alone and was distinctly not invited to any parties.
So, the daily life of writing my first book was fairly straight forward. I worked on my computer in my dorm room, like the nerd I most definitely was. The only real thing of note here is that when I typed the words “The End,” I truly thought I was finished. I did a quick spell check, read through the manuscript to see if I caught any errors (I was, after all, an English major with decent grammar), and almost immediately started sending it to agents.
A day in the life of a writer working on her tenth book
Ten years later, a lot had changed. I got my BA, then my MA. I started working as a high school teacher. And I was still writing. One book a year, on average.
But one thing hadn’t changed.
I still wasn’t published.
I had learned quite a bit over that decade, that’s for sure. I’d learned to do more than just spell check and proofread my manuscript. I’d paid thousands of dollars for classes, conferences, and critiques. I’d gathered together a group of writer friends as beta readers and critique partners.
And I’d gotten achingly close to publication. I’d had phone calls with agents and editors. I’d flown to New York to meet one-on-one with professionals.
But still, after ten years, ten manuscripts, a million words, thousands spent and nothing earned, all I had to show for it was a stack of nearly one thousand rejections from editors and agents.
And that wears on a soul.
So, daily life had changed. I wasn’t bright-eyed and hopeful. I was jaded.
I was on my Hail Mary manuscript.
If this one doesn’t sell, I told myself, I quit. And while close family and friends are firm in their belief that I was serious, even now I know I was. I was done.
But I was going to give my last manuscript the best shot I could.
Daily life for this manuscript was something along the lines of:
5am: Wake up, get ready, drive an hour to get to the school where I worked. During the drive, don’t listen to the radio — instead, think of what to write.
6am: Work for an hour on the book, writing as quickly as possible before students came.
7am: Make copies and prepare lessons for the day.
8am-4pm: Work as a teacher.
5pm: Drive home. During the drive, don’t listen to the radio. Instead, try to stay awake.
6pm: Maybe eat something?
7pm: Still too poor to afford a television. Depending on the time of the school year, this time to the end of the night is spent either grading papers, working on my manuscript, or staring at the wall because my brain has rejected life.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
When I finished writing “The End,” I knew now it wasn’t the actual end. I printed the manuscript, tore it up with a red pen, rewrote it, sent it to critique partners, got notes back, rewrote it, sent it to different critique partners, got notes back, rewrote it, paid for a professional critique on a sample and the query, rewrote, and then began a staggered querying process based on months of meticulously researching the right agent.
And this time, after ten years, the result was different.
A day in the life of a NY Times bestseller
That book was Across the Universe, a murder mystery set in space that launched my career. It not only snagged me my dream agent, it got me a deal at my dream publishing house and debuted at #7 on the NY Times bestseller list. The book deal also enabled me to become a full time author, so I was able to quit teaching and focus solely on the career I’d been striving for.
And daily life, once more changed.
The book was already done, but I discovered that professional edits at a publishing house were far different from critiques I’d gotten from writing buddies. I had to learn quickly about writing deadlines, what “stet” was and when to use it, and how to balance expectations.
I learned that a whole writing day could go by where I did nothing but promo and marketing. I was very used to writing a book a year, and I thought having a publishing schedule of a book a year wouldn’t be that different, but I was wrong. Publishing a book a year is different from writing a book a year. Publishing once a year means if you start writing in January, you need to finish in a few months so that you can get it to the editor — forget the months of revising with writing buddies at a leisurely pace — and then you need to dive into edits that are often on a time crunch.
So, while I’d written the first book of the trilogy in one year, once I got the book deal, I had one year to:
— completely edit the first book, which means an edit letter of big picture changes (one month deadline to execute), line edits of prose changes (one month deadline), and copyedits (a few days — maybe a week)
— write and complete a first draft of the second book
— pitch a proposal of the third book
— work on promotion of the first book, including a national tour (which is awesome! but also stressful!)
Here’s what a typical day of national tour looks like:
5am: Wake up in a hotel, try to remember what city you’re in.
5:30am: Oops, breakfast hasn’t arrived yet, that means you don’t get to eat.
6am: Picked up by a fancy car and taken to the airport.
8am: Airports, man.
10am: Arrive at another city, one you’ve always wanted to go to, but you’re only going to see it for less than 24 hours, so don’t get attached.
11am: Picked up by another fancy car. It is, actually, amazing to be the person picked up by the man or woman holding a sign at the bottom of the escalator with your name on it, don’t get me wrong. But also it’s been seven hours and the only thing to eat or drink has been a cup of coffee and a Biscoff on the plane.
12am: You want a nap, but it’s too early to check into the hotel, so you sit in the lobby and type until any room is available. Fortunately, there’s maybe food here. Of some kind.
3pm: There’s a room, but you remember you’re under deadline. Also your publicist asked you to film a short promo video for their social media and get that in before the end of the day. Also you should probably share the bookstore stuff on your social media? But don’t forget that deadline.
5pm: Crap, you were just getting into the swing of the story and have a great idea for that plot twist, but you need to find clothes to wear to the event tonight.
6–10pm: Arrive at the bookstore, present to the audience, sign books, smile, smile, smile, because this actually really is awesome and amazing even if you’re in a fugue state. If you’re very lucky, there will be someone in the audience who gives you a piece of fan art, or who whispers how much your book meant to them, or who is so nervous they can barely talk but wants to hug you, and your heart will burst and you will gain enough love and energy from that one experience to drive to the sun and back.
11pm: Rush back to the hotel and order room service before the kitchen closes. Your options are: caesar salad, a lukewarm burger that inexplicably has blue cheese on it, or chicken alfredo.
Midnight: Finally sleep.
5am: Start all over again, except this time when you leave for the airport, you accidentally forget your phone charger at the hotel.
A day in the life of a NY Times bestseller working on a book that will not be a bestseller
The thing about a career in writing, though, is that it’s never the same. While my first books were bestsellers — and while I’ve had some after that as well — not all of them are.
There are times when I’m working on a book where I know things are not going to go well, at least not in terms of capitalism. I know I won’t be on a tour for that book. I know it won’t have my publicist calling me for promo videos, because there’s a chance I won’t even have a publicist for this one. Sometimes, when I’m working on a project that’s very early in the process, I’m not even sure if my agent will like it and want to pitch it. It may never see a publisher. It may never be read past her desk. That has happened before.
There are times when I work on a book, and I think that I may be the only person in the whole world that will ever love that book.
There are times when I am right.
And during those times, it’s harder to get up and work on the book. But I do it anyway. Even if I don’t have a contract, I write. Maybe not every day — I still have the habit, born from writing while a teacher, of working in bursts, long weekends cancelled out by days of fallowness.
But I’ve also learned that it’s important to diversify my career.
So now, my daily writing life will include writing and editing my own books. But it also includes editing others for paid critique services. Developing craft and publication workshops. Hosting online writing sessions. Building a larger social media platform and newsletter base that I own and control, not my publisher. Researching media and revenue outlets. Working with other writers in joint projects to teach classes or host workshops or develop writing retreats. And always, in between everything else, writing, writing, writing. More stories, more books, more.
I have yet to find that idyllic breakfast table with playful sunlight and a steaming cup of coffee. Most days, the coffee’s cold by the time I remember to drink it.
But I still show up for work every day. And I still desperately love this job.
