A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN AUTHOR

Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz, Stephenie Meyer, George R. R. Martin, J.K. Rowling… I imagine that they spend their days on the beaches of their latest Mediterranean vacation, sipping from drinks adorned with tiny umbrellas, counting the hours until they meet Leonardo DiCaprio, who is on set of their latest book-turned-movie… Okay, maybe that’s a little excessive.
 
Whether you are Stephen King, Danielle Steel, or Michelle Dim-St. Pierre, the life of an author isn’t as lavish as you might imagine. Writing is a profession that has its joy and frustration just like any other job. It’s a job with good days and bad days. And while I personally don’t know Stephen King or Danielle Steel, I know enough other authors to tell you that a day in the life of an author is not that far from anyone else’s.
 
But if you insist, I’ll share a snapshot from my life with you. For the most part, I am an early bird. 6:00 a.m.—I rise and shine, there is so much to do that there’s never time to sleep in. I religiously start my mornings with a cup of coffee and then robotically get in front of my computer. First, I answer e-mails—anything including communicating with my editors, determining future timelines with book festivals, interacting with my readers, and exploring marketing opportunities. I check Facebook. Share any fun writing-related posts. Post a status and Tweet. 

​Before I know it, it’s 10:00 a.m.
 
Before lunch, I kick into creativity mode. I spend a couple hours writing. But not the writing that you think—I have yet to work on my current project. In the mornings and early afternoon, I’m normally blogging, marketing and working on newsletters—I have to be honest—these aren’t my favorite things, but I have to do what I have to do. I’m always on the lookout for a new idea for a blog to better connect with my readers and fan base.
 
By now it’s 4:00 p.m. and I’ve already had a full working day and still haven’t worked on my current project, my next book. Are you surprised? Well, the day is far from over.

It’s time to get out of my chair, stretch my old bones, get away from the computer and enter my other life—where I create my plots and characters. I’m inspired on a regular basis by the things around me—each of which is another brush stroke to my current or future novel—my family time, travel, social life, work-out, shopping, cooking, and anything else I do away from my computer inspires me and brings new insights to my work.
​It is only late at night or when I get away from the exhausting routine that I finally get a chance to relax and really write—and what do I mean by write? Writing my actual book.
 
So you tell me, how much of this time do you really get? I bet it’s not a lot—just like me. The bottom line, I don’t have enough time to write. Clearly the business side is demanding and eats away at my time.

Although Pinnacle Lust has received numerous book awards, honorable mentions, and great reviews on Amazon, I know I’m not a worldwide known author…yet. And while I know I probably won’t be stopped on the street and asked for my autograph anytime soon, those daydreams—of the Mediterranean beaches, of the book-turned-movie, of Leonardo DiCaprio—can keep me pushing to write the next word, the next paragraph, the next page… until I get there.

Michelle