Slice of Life | A Day in the Life of a Young Writer

Hello, hello, all you beautiful people!

I'm going to be honest: it took me forever to come up with this week's post 😬. But, I'm here, and with a post I'm really excited about. Today, I thought I'd give y'all a peek into my daily routine (because no, I don't believe in schedules XD) and maybe inspire you to go create one of your own!

Anywho, let's get to it, shall we?

THE MORNING

My days can look really different, depending on what I have in store for them, what I need to get done, and what wonderful, lovely rabbit trails God decides to take me on. But one thing remains the same: my desire to get up at 6:30. And usually I'm pretty good about it, as long as I actually get out of bed at that time and get to work, and not lay in bed considering the cracks in the ceiling, and how much they look like Russia.

But usually after my alarm goes off, I have enough sense to get up and steal the bathroom ahead of my siblings (who usually wake up anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours after me, so I really shouldn't worry, right?). After freshening up, and brushing through the birds nest of brunette locks that is my hair, I grab my Bible (and sometimes tea) and sit down on the couch to read a few chapters (anywhere from three to twelve 😉). Usually, my mom is in the living room with me, so I end up talking to her as well, snuggling with my kitty, changing notetaking markers three times, and deciding I need a thicker pair of socks before I actually get done reading (hehe . . . 👀).

Normally, this is the part where I say, "Then I proceed to be tortured by Algebra's various ex's, trace the entire continent of Antartica (and various surrounding islands), and get transported to Revolutionary War Era America (thank you, Mom, for letting me do literature-based history! 😍)." But, something has changed. Mainly, the weather. When it's so beautiful outside, I don't want to be inside all afternoon on the computer, and would rather be outside int he sun, or hangin' at the trapeze bar (pun intended 🤭). So now, after my time with Jesus, I jump directly on the computer for about an hour to get done everything I need to do online, which mainly constitutes the below items:

• Checking YDubs notifications

• Adding books to Goodreads and trying to find more Contemporary Romances to read (the clean ones are rare, y'all! 😭)

• Chatting with my amazing friend Reece (who has an equally as amazing email list that y'all should REALLY check out!!)

• Creating graphics for some of my favorite quotes

• Checking my email

• Editing some of my short story

• And occasionally editing for a really cool organization I'm apart of

After my internet time, it's time to go get a snack and clean my room. (Oh yeah and get dressed. XD) Then I go and make myself a delicious, iced latte, to sip on. NOW it's time to get tortured by Algebra's various ex's, trace the entire continent of Antartica (and various surrounding islands 😉), and get transported to Revolutionary War Era America. (But seriously, who decided to put letters in math?!) It's been so beautiful out lately that I can usually go sit out back and do all my homework!

Usually I can finish school before noontime, and when that happens, I'll jump on the computer for a while (sometimes half an hour, sometimes three) and edit my medieval novella! (Just yesterday I got 8 chapters line edited! 🤯)

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AFTERNOON

Ah yes, one of the most beautiful times of the day: the afternoon! So far this spring, my afternoon has majorly consisted of pulling weeds in the back yard (I swear, that dandelion wasn't there yesterday!) and trying new tricks out on the trapeze bar in my back yard. After about an hour of stabbing weeds with a screwdriver and trying to pry them from the earth, it's lunch timeeee!!

After stuffing myself with whatever delicacy Mom has prepared for me, it's chore time. (Don't worry, I won't bore you to death with details of me scrubbing toilets and getting bit by my cat. 😉)

Now, I know what you're thinking. "This is all great, Deigan"—upon which I'd say, 'I know, aren't I just lovely?'—"but what about the writing?"

Achem. Yes.

The writing.

Okay, listen up. Lately, I . . . haven't been writing.

*A collective gasp from the audience*

But hear me out!

*resigned silence from the audience*

Lately, I've decided to dedicate most of my writing energy/time to editing my novella. And also, I don't really have a WIP I'm in the mood for writing (because if I don't have a deadline [*cough* NaNoWriMo *cough*] for writing, I write what I'm the mood for, because #moodwriter).

B.U.T.

Then yesterday happened.

And I had a story idea. (Okay, actually, I had the inspiration to work on an idea I already had, but you get the point.) At first, I told myself, "Okay, stop, now we need to plot it, and find face claims for aaaall the characters—plus that random stranger on the sidewalk—know the story inside and out . . ." You get the idea. My left-side brain told me I needed to have all the details worked out and I couldn't just write for fun.

Buddy, have I got news for you.

I told my left-brain to fly a kite, sat down on the front porch, hemmed and hawed for ten minutes about the first sentence, and landed on this: "If my life were a novel, the first sentence would be, 'Tessa Collins was quite certain that Mondays were the bane of her existence.'" (Which, by the way, is a first line I'm quite proud of.) And you know what happened?

I couldn't stop writing.

The words were just . . . flowing. I didn't even want to stop to eat dinner.

So yes, my afternoons are going to be filled with writing from now on.

*collective cheer from the audience*

And, terribly sorry for that very writerly ramble. Back to your regularly scheduled program. 😉

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EVENING

Ah, yes. That glorious time of the day filled with food, kitchen duties, and more writing (plus reading, too, if I'm lucky).

We usually have dinner around 6:30-7:00, and after that my siblings and I clean up the kitchen, complete with the Dirty-Dishes Dance-Off (for which I always place last), intense vocals of "Don't Tread on Me", ankle-breaker dance moves to "No Trouble", and periodical knife-tossing tricks from my sister (who almost chops off my toe each time). Oh, yeah. Good times.

After our session of "Clean the Kitchen, Step in Time", my sister and I steal away to our bedroom where we both write together, pass notes in a falling-apart notebook, and completely lose it over random movie lines. Then my brother comes in and we all talk to each other in movie/book quotes and my sister sometimes reads some of what she's written that day to us.

After praying together as a family, us siblings stay up (usually to around 9 each night) with the lights on and I either write more, read a book to myself, or read some aloud to my little brother. Then my sister, the Light Police, tells us all to shut off the lights. So, we unplug the fairy lights that illuminate our room (and are beautiful, by the way 😍) and snuggle into our beds. And all is quiet.

For about .23 seconds.

Que the dramatic reciting of Joshua Giraffe, opera vocals of The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, and brilliant 10 o'clock brain quote from yours truly. (They're awesome.)

After about an hour or two (or three, or a hundred, or a thousand), we finally all say goodnight to each other in between giggles and finally—FINALLY!—drift off into the beautiful world that is SLEEP.

Well, there's my first attempt at a "Day in the Life" post 😆. What did you guys think? Did I absolutely nail it? Or did I completely miss the head and bring a screwdriver to the party instead? 😂

Should I do more of these posts int the future? Is this what you expected my day to be like? XD What did you think of the evening session of "Clean the Kitchen, Step in Time"? What was your favorite time of the day to read about? I'd love to know!

Cheers!