A Writer's Tale

A Day In the Life

TO THOSE WHO OBSERVE ME FROM AFAR, I APPEAR TO BE ON permanent vacation.

Unlike most people, I’m not shocked awake each weekday morning by an alarm clock. I don’t commute. I don’t seem to have “a real job” at all. I am running loose when nearly everyone else is busy at work. Ann and I go out for breakfast or lunch at restaurants whenever we feel the urge. We can and do go to movies on weekday mornings or afternoons. We can and do spend a month or two traveling every year.

It’s a great life.

I have more freedom than just about anyone I know.

And I have no doubt that some of my friends and relatives resent it. The way I see things, however, I achieved this lifestyle because I aimed for it and worked hard.

They probably could have been writers, too, if they’d had the urge and been willing to do what it takes.

While they’re busy envying me, however, they mostly see only the surface. They see how free I am. They can’t help but notice that large, new books supposedly written by me appear with somewhat startling frequency. But they haven’t much of a clue about what really goes on during my daily life.

Here is a look at what happens in addition to all that freedom.

During the years that I did have a “real job,” I worked full time for my employers, but I also found a couple of hours almost every weekday to devote to my writing. On nearly every Saturday and Sunday, I wrote for four to five hours per day.

Now that I’m a free man, things are different.

But not that different.

On most days, I get out of bed whenever I wake up which is usually about 7 a.m. I like to be up first in the house. I make my coffee, bring in the morning newspaper, then usually sit around in the living room, drinking coffee and reading a book for about an hour.

Two or three times a week, I take a four-mile hike after I finish my morning read.

At around 8:30 or 9:30 a.m. (mostly depending on whether I take a walk that day), I go up to my office above my backyard garage and start working.

Usually, the work involves writing a novel.

I begin by reading and revising the pages (on my computer screen) that I wrote on the previous day. This not only gives me a chance to repair any sloppy writing, but it pulls me back into the story. When I reach the end of yesterday’s pages, it’s usually a simple matter to write the next sentence, and the next, and just keep going.

Usually, I write until about 11:30. Then I go into the house for lunch. We may watch half an hour of television while we eat. Then I may read for half an hour, or take a quick nap.

At about 12:30, I return to the office. To get started again, I read the last couple of pages written that morning. Then I resume writing and continue until about 3:30 p.m.

That’s the end of the day’s writing.

It usually adds up to about five hours.

My minimum goal for a day of writing is five manuscript pages. It doesn’t always happen.

If a story is going really well, however, I might write eight to ten pages in a single day.

I usually don’t push it. (And I like to quit when I still know what’s supposed to happen next.)

When I’m done with writing for the day, I return to the house, sit down in my armchair with a beer and a novel and stay there until about 5:00 p.m., when we eat supper.

Ever since the invention of the VCR, we have eaten our supper in the living room and watched a tape of the previous night’s David Letterman show. When we can’t watch Dave (after all, he’s only on five nights a week) we usually watch news shows.

After dinner and Dave, I spend most of my time reading until we settle down to some serious TV watching at either 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. We usually watch TV (network shows, cable, movie rentals, news, whatever) until about midnight.

That’s a typical day.

It involves about five hours of writing, at least five hours of reading (mostly fiction), and about four hours of watching television shows or films.

Naturally, every day isn’t like that.

At least one day each week, we go off on a shopping trip of some kind (to buy office supplies, a new lamp, new paint for the porch, or whatever) and usually have lunch on the road. At least once a week, we go out to a movie. On Sundays, we have our “traditional breakfast” and I usually don’t start writing until about noon. And I sometimes lose a morning of work because I need to run errands: get the car washed, get a haircut, go to the bank or post office or dentist.

Every so often, an entire day or two goes by without a ‘word being written by me. This might happen if I need to read and correct proofs, if I have a book signing, if we go to the County Fair or Disneyland, if we attend a convention or go off on some other sort of small excursion.

The schedule gets thrown out the window completely whenever we go on a major trip.

We might go away for a week, or even three weeks at a time. During those periods, I usually manage to get a bit of reading done, but I don’t write at all. Except to take notes.

Some of my best ideas come while we’re traveling.

If we go on a long trip before I’ve finished a novel, getting started again after returning home can be extremely difficult. Once or twice, I’ve actually been unable to do it, and have gone on to a different project. Usually, however, I can get back into a novel by rereading the entire manuscript. It’s much better to finish a “novel in progress” before leaving home for any significant period of time.

Also before embarking, a professional novelist will almost certainly have to deal with “page proofs.” Publishers seem to have a psychic awareness of every writer’s approaching trip.

They may have been in possession of the manuscript for a year or longer, but they carefully time the galleys to arrive at the writer’s door just a day or two before he is scheduled to depart. He then finds himself in a mad rush to reread his entire book, mark every mistake, send off the corrections and finish packing.

You see, a writer’s life is more than writing.

Among other things, it includes all the chores that surround the creation of a novel.

I not only frequent bookstores, but I’m also a regular visitor to office supply stores, my local photocopy shop, and the post office. I also spend a lot of time at computer stores, replacing and updating my equipment.

If you’re a writer, you don’t need to be on the internet.

But you really should have a good computer and printer. (A fax machine speeds up communication with agents and publishers, but is hardly essential.) You must also have a big supply of ink and paper and envelopes and mailing boxes.

Thus, you are regularly forced to take breaks in the writing schedule (whether you want them or not) to deal with the somewhat prosaic matters involved in maintaining a workable office.

There are a lot of necessary interruptions.

Sometimes they are nuisances. Other times, they come as welcome relief. After a few days of full time writing, I often start to feel a little stir-crazy. I need to get away from the computer, away from the house, and do something anything other than sit alone in the office and continue chugging ahead with my book.

I love writing.

I have to write.

If I’m away from it for very long, I start longing to get back into action.

But it is work. Even if everyone I know seems to think I’m on permanent vacation (and I encourage the image by making cracks about being on early retirement), there is a need for me to sit down almost every day and focus on a story and write pages.

Five pages a day.

Thirty to forty pages per week.

Probably about 1,500 pages per year.

Year in and year out.

When I’m not writing, I’m often thinking about it. Toying with plot ideas. Keeping my eyes open for unusual characters, places, and situations that I might use in a novel or short story.

Even when I’m on trips, I’m constantly on the lookout for fresh material.

The “permanent vacation” is no vacation at all. I’m a full-time writer. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, I’m always on the job.

But I’m doing what I want to do.

In spite of all the drawbacks, the writer’s life is a great life. If you can manage to pull it off. And I believe that anyone can. All it takes is desire, persistence, guts, and a little bit of luck.