Friday, March 23, 2012

Guest Post by Julianne Donaldson: A Day in the Life of a Romance Writer


There is so much to post about! I should have posted this yesterday but got busy with a certain movie premiere! Which I will post about later. Then there's the winner to random.org find for the Dark Divine giveaway! But I wanted you to all read this fabulous post. If you comment you might just be happy that you did tomorrow. Just sayin.

Julianne is the author of EDENBROOKE, a new regency romance that came out early last week. Julianne Donaldson grew up as the daughter of a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. She learned how to ski in the Italian Alps, visited East Berlin before the wall came down, and spent three years living next to a 500-year-old castle.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif After earning a degree in English, she turned her attention to writing about distant times and places. She lives in Utah with her husband and four children. Edenbrooke is her first novel. You can find more about here at her website HERE.

8:00 a.m. I awake suddenly, look at the alarm clock, and try not to swear. I shouldn't have stayed up so late last night reading that book! Now the kids will be late to school unless some morning miracle happens.

8:00 - 8:45 a.m. Chaos. Three kids to feed, dress, and get ready for school. Papers have to be signed and returned (why can I never find a pen?), shoes have to be found (have you looked in your room? by the front door? in the car?), backpacks packed and hair and teeth brushed. Finally, the front door is slammed, and it's just me, my three-year-old, and my dog. Oops! Forgot to let the dog out. Clean up the pee on the carpet. And on with the day.

10:00 - 12:00. It's Tuesday, so my three-year-old goes to my neighbor's house, where he plays with friends while I get some computer time. The first hour is spent answering emails, posting on my blog, and corresponding with my agent and publisher. The second hour I sit down, take a deep breath, and try to enter the world of romance and history. The dog barks. The doorbell rings. Someone calls to chat. I look at the clock. Fifteen minutes of writing time left! I scramble to reach my goal of 800 words. It's all a mess, but there might be some gems in there I can use.

12:00 - 3:30 p.m. I pick up my three-year-old, give him lunch, and we spend the afternoon cleaning the house, doing laundry, watching PBS, and playing with Legos. Don't forget to let the dog out!

3:30 - 6:30 p.m. The older kids come home, with friends, until the house is overrun with at least ten kids. There's homework, snacks, after-school activities (it's time to go to gymnastics! do you have your scout uniform? get in the car, everyone! hurry, we're late!), dinner prep, and drama.

6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Husband comes home, we eat dinner, finish homework, run to basketball games, pick up from gymnastics, juggle church meetings, and in general act like chickens with our heads cut off. Finally the kids are in their beds (but not necessarily asleep).

8:30 - 10:30 p.m. It's time to unwind and spend some time with my husband. Dishes are optional, as is folding laundry. We like to sit on the couch together. He surfs the TV while I do research on my laptop. This is not writing time--I can't write with the TV on and kids coming downstairs (i'm thirsty. i can't go to sleep. everyone's talking and keeping me up. what's the deadliest insect in utah?). But I research the historical aspect of my books, look up photos of England, catch up on blogs I follow, email, write blog posts, etc.

10:30 - midnight or later. My time. I will pick up a good book or sit and dream of my own book. Late-night writing, if I'm not too tired, can be my favorite kind. As I drift off to sleep, I imagine my heroine falling in love, I dream of smoky looks and passionate love letters. I jump up to jot down a phrase or two, but all too soon the day has worn me out. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get more writing done.

Snooze.

1 comments:

Deb Cushman said...

Thanks for the chuckle. It sounds so much like my life when my three boys were younger!