5am—Woken up
by neighbour’s dog as it runs manically up and down the stairs that run behind
our bedroom wall. Regret the decision to choose this room to be the master
bedroom, but it was the only one with built-wardrobes. Husband is snoring like
a train and blissfully unaware of the noise.
7am—Alarm
goes off. Hit snooze repeatedly.
7:15am—Alarm
goes off again. Tell husband he has five more minutes before he has to get up,
and will he please stop pushing me off the bed?
7:20am—Alarm
goes off again. Nearly fall out of bed turning it off, then tell husband to get
up and have a shower. He tells me that he doesn’t like showers because they
make him smell. Eventually convince him to get up. Fall back asleep.
7:35am—Husband
returns from shower and asks if I’ll start breakfast. Still half asleep, I tell
him I will not.
7:40am—Husband
steals the duvet and makes me get out of bed. Notice that he’s wearing
different jeans from yesterday and am impressed that he changed them without
having to be ordered to. Start breakfast.
7:45am—Remember
that it’s recycling day and ask husband to put the recycling bin in front of
the house, since I’m still in my nightdress.
7:47am—Husband
returns from outside soaking wet. Debate taking the bus to Tesco today, since
me and my little trolly will probably get drenched on the mile-long walk from
our house. Eat breakfast.
8:10am—Start
putting things in my husband’s rucksack because he’ll probably forget them
(book, headphones, snacks) and notice that his shirt is covered in mud from the
outside of the recycling bin. Make him change.
8:20am—Finally
wave husband off to work and settle down to drink tea and check emails. Spend
far too long catching up on book groups, writing forums and Twitter. Bookmark
an online workshop on writing synopsises and accidentally stumble upon a
self-published fan-fiction novel about Anne Elliott from Persuasion becoming a long-distance runner. Ponder how on earth
that idea came into being. Scroll through Facebook for thirty second and like
two pictures of friends’ babies and then get bored. Hunt for cover art for next
week’s reviews on The Christian Manifesto and double-check the schedule to see
when my next review needs to be ready. Discover a recipe for Nutella Banana
Bread and decide that I definitely need to add chocolate spread to the shopping
list.
9:30am—Running
out of things to do on the internet, bemoan the weather (which is preventing me
from doing any laundry) and have a shower.
9:45am—Get
dressed, annoyed that I haven’t ironed any of my long-sleeved shirts since I
didn’t think I’d need them in JULY. Go for the layered look instead.
10am—Attempt
to load a new audiobook on to Kindle to listen to while doing the dishes. After
installing Audible and reinstalling it several times, remember that it has
never worked on the family PC and turn on laptop. While waiting for laptop to
turn on, put away yesterday’s dishes and fill the sink with water, realising
how slow the poor computer is getting. After booting up Audible, realise that
the audiobook is already on my Kindle. Hunt for it and find it listed as a
newly added file. Confused at whatever magic the faulty program on my PC has
done, finally start dishes at 10:15. Notice that two police officers are
banging on the door to the next house and wonder what’s going on. Would it make
for an interesting story?
10:30am—Brush
hair (which has been wrapped in a towel after leaving the shower) and get ready
to head to Tesco. Appears to have stopped raining, but will take money for the
bus in case get caught in a torrential downpour.
11am—Thankfully
make it to Tesco without getting rained on, and only nearly got knocked down
once while crossing the road.
11:30am—Having
found nearly everything on my list, proceed to spend the next ten minutes
looking for rice cakes and hummus. Hint: they’re not where you’d expect them to
be. Bright spot: small child excitedly waves his hummus at me and allows me to
share in his joy at being allowed to carry the tub around the shop all on his
own.
11:45am—Finally
leave the supermarket after mistakenly choosing the check-out with the cashier
who likes to have a full conversation with everyone around her, but neglects to
help the old couple in front of me pack their bags, forcing them to take five
minutes to put four items in one carrier bag. At least she’s friendly. Manage
to save £7 with coupons, and feel far too excited about this achievement.
12:10pm—Make
it home slightly wet, but not too bedraggled. At least the journey back from
the supermarket is shorter as it’s all downhill. Put food away, make cup of tea
and indulge in rice crackers, hummus and celery sticks for lunch while watching
Cougar Town.
12:30pm—Accidentally
get sucked into some relationship articles on Pinterest, which inevitably lead
to romance-novel bashing because “it’s just porn.” Wonder how these people,
presumably Americans from their spelling, have never stumbled across Christian
romance novels in their life.
1pm—It’s
finally 8am on the East Coast, so I start posting links to TCM’s reviews of the
day all over social media, and begin to attack my inbox.
1:35pm—Finish
with emails earlier than usual as it’s July and most people are on holiday. Decide
to start writing, but get distracted by whale noises from the flat upstairs.
Unsure whether the dog is just whining weirdly or if the neighbours really are
listening to whale music.
1:45pm—Whale
noises finally stop. Begin writing.
2:05pm—Having
whacked out 700 words, take a break to make tea. Lady Grey is my tea of choice
for the afternoon.
2:10pm—After
briefly being sucked back into Twitter, resume writing. Don’t love the scene,
but will plough through and EDIT LATER. That’s basically my writing mantra.
2:20pm—Finish
scene and take quick break to peruse GoodReads.
2:30pm—Begin
writing next scene.
2:55pm—Finish
another scene and take a break to eat rice cakes and look at recipes while
trying to figure out what direction to head in next. Hero is coming off a
little bit like an aloof jerk, so this needs to be fixed ASAP.
3:30pm—Finish
up third scene of the day. Word count totals in at 2,800 words, which is not
typical for me, but I haven’t had a lot of housework to do today, and we’re
having hot dogs for dinner, which does not require a lot of preparation. Save
file to computer and Google Drive, just to be safe.
3:40pm—After
replying to a couple of emails, tidy living room, put laundry away, clean sink
and rearrange the staples cupboard so that the new groceries fit properly.
Really, this life is glamorous, can’t you tell?
4pm—Sit down
to read on the sofa in the living room.
5:15pm—Husband
texts to say that he’s on the bus home from work. Start dinner.
5:45pm—Husband
returns from work. Sit down to have dinner. Spend rest of evening watching Dollhouse, doing dishes, reading and
drinking tea.
11pm—Sleep!
