A Day in the Life of a Writer

What does a day in the life of a writer actually look like? The answer might surprise you.

I’m a horrible procrastinator. Large swaths of my day go by and I find myself asking, “Isn’t there something more important you should be doing right now with your time?” Then another voice usually chimes in and says something like, “Possibly, but how about you mind your own #$%! business?”

Back and forth dialogues like this go on all the time inside my head. But because I know I’m a procrastinator, usually I can take preemptive actions ahead of time to keep myself from sabotaging an entire day. Some of the most helpful actions include developing habits to help me make the most of the time I have for writing every day.

In addition to being a writer, I also wear the hats of employee, father, husband, son, brother, and community member. I derive an incredible amount of satisfaction from writing, but I also realize it’s not the only aspect of my life that makes me who I am. All the roles I play are equally important, both to me and to the ones who know me.

So what does a typical day for me as a writer look like and, more importantly to you dear reader, how do I actually get my writing done? When I thought about this topic, I discovered I had much more to say than I originally thought.

My day starts very early. Like, o’dark thirty early. Way too early for me in fact. But it’s not by choice and it’s not because I have some amazing internal motivation going on. The truth is that my daughter attends early morning religion classes before school and this year happens to be my turn to drive her. During the school and work week, this means we’re up by 5AM. I get ready for work and grab something for breakfast and we’re out the door by 6AM. I drop her off at 6:30, then I drive to work. Now, when I say “drive to work”, I don’t mean that I head over to the local Starbucks and plop myself down with a cup of gourmet hot chocolate (no coffee for me) and spend my day cranking out thousand of words of prose on my laptop. For me, “driving to work” means commuting to my full-time corporate job, which pays the bills and keeps a roof over our heads and buys medicine when the kids get sick.

I’m usually at work by 7AM and typically don’t get done until 5 or 6PM. After I get home, it’s time to make dinner, visit with the family, help with chores, and try to get in a little reading or game playing before bedtime. By the time the day’s work is done and all the children are in bed, I’m way too exhausted to even think about writing. So when exactly do I get my writing done?

I’m a big believer in a concept called “chunking”. Not sure where I first heard about this technique, but I know it definitely works. For me, chunking means taking advantage of all the small chunks of time that come along during my day, eliminating as many distractions as possible, and making the most of what little time I get.

There are basically three chunks of time I have available during my day and I guard these fiercely. The first two are my morning and evening commutes to and from the office, which take about an hour each. I hate the long hours driving and the wear and tear it puts on my car. But since I don’t have any control over that right now, I’ve learned to make the most of it. My daughter likes to listen to the radio as we drive together in the morning before school. But as soon as I drop her off, I switch the radio off. My commuting times are usually split between listening to audiobooks (I usually get through twenty-five or so novels every year this way) and taking dictation for my current project. I believe it was Stephen King who said if you want to be a writer, you have to read a lot and you have to write a lot. I believe that’s absolutely true. I’ve always loved reading and getting lost inside someone else’s fictional world. And I've also read an awful lot of stories written by people who claim they love to write, but clearly never did much reading. It’s immediately obvious they have no idea what a compelling story is even supposed to look like.

The dictation is a fairly new habit I picked up from Kevin J Anderson. I went out and purchased a decent digital recorder, and during those long hours of commuting, I draft copy while I drive. During the third chunk of my day, I’ll plug in my earphones and copy what I recorded into my laptop. That third chunk, by the way, is my lunch hour at work. I almost always pack my lunch and work while I eat. Then I head over to the library on my lunch hour and write. It’s not always the library. Sometimes I’ll head over to Starbucks and order that hot chocolate if it’s cold outside. Or if I didn’t pack a lunch that day, I’ll head to Panera and sit in front of the fireplace and write over a bowl of soup or a salad. But I always spend my lunch hour writing.

Those are the three hour-long chunks of time I get during the day to write -- two hours commuting and an hour for lunch. I wish I could sit down for three or five hours at a stretch and write, but that’s simply not an option for me, so I take what I can get.

In addition to the three chunks, there are also lots of other tiny little slivers of time that randomly pop up here and there throughout the day. Inspiration often strikes when we least expect it, so I try and take advantage whenever it comes up. Anyone who writes knows exactly what I’m talking about. I always keep a pen with me and something to write on. I have writing journals on my nightstand, pads of paper in my desk drawer at work and in my day pack, and I always keep blank sheets in the back of my day planner. And of course I always have my handy recorder in my car, along with a fresh set of batteries just in case.

Because I’m constantly taking notes and jotting down thoughts and ideas for whatever story I happen to be working on at the time, I always have something to write about when I sit down at my laptop during my lunch hour. In my opinion, writers block is the result of an unproductive imagination, and I simply don’t have time to be unproductive when it comes to my writing.

In a nutshell, that’s pretty much a typical day for me. Do I get to write three hours every single day? Of course not. Some days it’s only an hour. Some days it’s not at all. Whether I actually get my lunch hour depends really on what’s happening at work. But most days it’s between two and three hours and I usually write between five and six hundred words each day. Sometimes I might feel extra productive in the evenings or on the weekends and get some writing in. But my weekends are usually crammed with things to be done that didn’t get done during the week and there’s not much free time. Would I love to have more time for writing? Sure, who wouldn’t. But I don’t beat myself up about it. The important thing is that I do the best I can and make the most of the time I get without squandering it. I think spending too much time on social media kills more writing careers than it helps. We all play many roles in life and I’ve never known anyone who comes to the end of theirs and says, “Gee, I really wish I would have spent less time with my family and friends.” Stephen King also said writing is a support system for life, not the other way around. So I can only hope I have my priorities straight. I think I do.

One last thing I want to mention is the importance of taking care of yourself physically. As a writer, the most important tool you have is your brain. You can’t write well if your body and your brain simply aren’t in good shape. A sports car isn’t going to win any races if its fuel tank is full of sugar and its tires rest on blocks all week out in the garage. Because I’m always in the office an hour early every day, I also get that extra hour to exercise. We’re fortunate to have a fitness room right down the hall from my office and I usually spend an hour most days running on the treadmill, stretching, and lifting weights. But even if you don’t have access to a gym, get outside and go for a walk. Stephen King and Kevin J Anderson are both avid walkers. My wife and I love to go backpacking. Our family also loves to go camping. Whatever you do, just get out and interact with the world on a frequent basis. Not only will it be good for your mind and your body, but the world is a great place for finding new ideas for future stories.

Less glamorous than you thought? Not as ethereal as you were hoping? Sorry, but that’s the reality for most writers. Even if my writing paid enough to let me do it full time, most people I think are kind of disappointed to learn that writing is really hard work. There’s a reason why so many writers are unpublished, and guess what? It’s not because they have bad luck or because the industry is unfair or because Fate simply has it out for them. If you’re serious about writing a publishable story -- a story that someone is willing to actually pay you for and people are willing to read and recommend to all their friends -- you have to read a lot, you have to write a lot, and you have to spend a disciplined amount of time actually putting words to the page.


Did you enjoy this article? Recommend it to your friends and check out my other articles on life and writing.