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Monday, May 7, 2012

A Monday in the Life of Me.

A Day in the Life of Me – Courtney Rene



I am a writer.  You already knew that right?  Well I am also a wife, and mother, and employee, and daughter, and sister, and aunt, and, and, and…..  One of the big questions I get asked (all the time) is when do you write?  How do you find the time?  On any given day, that answer changes. 

Today, right now, this is how I find the time.  It’s Monday, so that means I am up at the butt crack of dawn to make sure that my oldest daughter makes it out the door to school on time, which is a still dark 6:45 a.m.  I drag my bleary eyed myself, with my still warm afghan to the couch, where I promptly flop down and pretend to watch the news, actually I am dozing.  I never once said I was a morning person.  Ever.  I hear my daughter making all sorts of noise so I continually peel open my eyes to check the clock.  At 7:00 I get up and say, “You leaving?”  The snarled reply I usually get is “I’m working on it.”  By 7:05, I am pacing around her door, being spritz’d with gallons of PINK perfume and Suave hairspray until the girl is finally ready at 7:10 (usually).  She grabs her bag, flies by me with a quick, “Bye!  Love Ya!  I’ll text you when I get there.” Then she is out the door and I think, “One down….”


My husband heads out usually right after and the house is quiet…for a moment.  At this point I hop in the shower, with my cell phone on the counter as I wait to hear the ‘ding ding ding’ of a text saying my daughter made it safe to school.  Having a new teen driver is harder than I thought it would be.  After I am dressed, hair still wrapped in a towel, I go and tickle my little one out of her own warm cushy bed.  I haul her to my room, where she quickly snuggled down into my bed and turns on the tv.  I grab her clothes and toss them on her head.  I head out of the room to the kitchen usually yelling, “Get dressed while I make you something to eat!”  The bad mommy that I am, this will consist of toast with any number of toppings, bagels, English muffins, yogurt, cereal, quick muffins, instant oatmeal, or a pop-tart.  Rare occasions you get an egg or pancakes, or French toast, or waffles.  Usually, though, nope. 

While the breakfast is “cooking” I put away the clean dishes, do a quick re-pickup, and counter wipe and run downstairs to toss a load of laundry in the wash.  While Seren is eating, I do my hair, then her hair, which is 3 feet long…maybe more at this point.  Tv is off, beds are made, dogs are fed, lunches are packed, and we are finally out the door.

Seren is dropped off at school, I then head to work.  I will not drone on about how hard my work is.  It’s work, it’s not suppose to be fun.  I check email all day….I do.  I need to stop doing that, but it’s a habit.  Then I get an hour for lunch.  I use this hour for research and administrative stuff, which surprisingly there is a TON of admin crap when you are a writer.  Who knew?  Some days I will hit the library.  There are 3 that are right by my office.  Or I just hit google.  After that I will do my emailing, blogging, updating, whatever I can squeeze in, in an hours worth of time all while oinking down my lunch.  Then, I get back to work. 

After work, it’s pick-up the little one from after-school care, run home, make dinner, eat dinner, clean up dinner, do Seren’s hair again, up in a firm bun this time, and it’s off to dance class where I have another whole hour of quiet time.  Yup, you guessed it.  Writing time…..


After dance, it’s home again, bath time, laundry time, house pick-up time, and then bed time for one child, and then an hour later, its bed time for the other.  It’s 10:00….do you know where your children are?  I do, both of mine are finally in bed and quiet.  I open up my laptop; sit down in my office (Oh all right!  My dining room table), plug in my ipod, and I am zoned for as long as I can keep my eyes open, writing, and creating. 



Some days this is for a short half an hour.  Sometimes it’s till after midnight.  That….right there is how I “find” the time.  It’s all I can do.  I won’t give up my time with the girls or my husband and I can’t give up my paying job (I so wish!), but writing is important to me so I take time, make time, from myself.  Yes, I don’t get as much sleep some days as I would like, but it’s worth it to me.  I am a writer.  It’s what I do.

(Sorry everyone, my photos would not post from this computer, so I will try to post from my laptop once I get home tonight).

ctny

13 comments:

  1. Courtney, this looks like the days my daughter doesn't have pre-K. I'm busy until the evening. I usually write from 8-11pm. That includes ignoring my husband to get in much needed writing time though. Sorry, honey! Next year, I'll have so much time because I'm not going back to work when my daughter goes to school. Writing and editing (yes, I edit a lot because I work for a publisher and have my own clients) are my jobs. I couldn't be happier about that. I can actually say I love what I do for a living. I'd like to make more money, though. LOL. Maybe one day. :)

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    1. One day...yes I say that all the time too. I think this is the life of a writer. One day I will have more time. One Day I will hopefully have more money. I have this feeling that both of these are pipe dreams. ha!

      ctny

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  2. I know you never stop, but somehow, hearing it like this... your routine is crazy!!! Phewf! And funny with Sidney getting ready. LOL. I always seem to be trying to block out noise, and when Roz is finally at school (which isn't nearly enough at this age), I'm recovering from noise. Also, Roz only gets cereal or toast for breakfast on a weekday. Your kids have it good. ;) I have to make myself stay out of email when I get a firecracker up my b... all or nothing. Doh.

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    1. You should see my Thursday then.... All in all it is crazy some days. Sidney is funny after the fact. During, well lets say I dont find it funny then. Plus I dont like the smell of PINK perfume. Esp. that early in the morning.

      ctny

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  3. But writing doesn't take any time, does it? Sound familiar? I always seem to get this Oh you can writie in, say 30 minutes a day. Yeah right, on a good day. I'm pleased to see I'm not the only one who has to juggle a day to get everything doen, and keep a family happy - and I don't have a paying job. Good for you, Clauds.

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    1. Or! You get the person that wont stop talking to you as if you can just write away while they yak. You dont need to concentrate at all do you? Yes, I am so with you on this.

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  4. This was a fabulous post, Courtney! It's like we can all so relate. Why do non-writers think that writing is a piece of cake? Come on, whip out that next bestseller. It shouldn't take you any more than... oh, say a half-hour?

    LOL

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    1. LOL! I can whip out a draft (a very rough one) in say 30 days. If you want something good and worthy of submission, it takes a lot longer than that. Esp. when the time spent is as you said, 30 minutes here, 30 minutes there.

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  5. My kids are grown, and I'm still trying to squeeze writing time out of the day like this. I think it makes the time we do make to write precious.

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    1. Dont tell me that! I keep thinking when my kids are grown I will actually have more time to write. Oh no...

      ctny

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  6. Funny how while growing up you never consider that the majority of your life will be spent doing daily things ... like feeding the dogs and fixing your hair. And it all adds up to so much time!

    May I ask what your day job is?

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    1. In the real world, I am a certified domestic paralegal. Or in laymens terms, I get people divorced, or their thieving children into a diversion program or if we have already done that, the best deal we can, or get child support set up, or basically anything family oriented. I think it is one of the reasons I like fantasy so much. The real world is terrible somedays and full of awful people.

      Aren't you glad you asked? Ha!
      ctny

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  7. Whew... I need a nap now after hearing about your life every day! You are one busy girl. And I agree totally that you shouldnt give up any quality time with your girls or husband. If you have to write, then you will simply find the time. Myself, I have to find the time during the day. I can not write after 9:00 pm or I simply will not get one moment of sleep. I envy those that can but if I get my brain all hiped up with a story or ideas, then it will not stop all through-out the night.

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