One blog I read almost every day is Dean Wesley Smith. For those who don’t know, he has been a professional fiction writer since the mid-80s. Over the past two years, he’s blogged about his day every day without fail.

Would I do this? My first thought was “how boring that would be!” There’s a reason I write fiction, people. 😀 Most of my days are pretty much the same, and would not be of interest to anyone reading.

Then I realized most of Smith’s days are also the same; he just does different things than I. For instance, he goes to the bank and the post office every day, and runs errands for his businesses (he owns a publishing company and a memorabilia shop, among other things). Then he goes to meetings at the publishing company, works on stuff for his workshops, goes home, eats dinner, does the dishes, watches TV, takes a nap… and finally gets around to writing about 12 hours or so after he got up that day. And he writes a LOT in that time.

Isis chooses to lie like this while DH watches TV

So what do I do? It turns out, my days are not so different. I go to my day job (Smith considers the work he does for his businesses his day job). After I get home, I play games on my tablet for a little while as DH watches TV. Then dinner, cleanup (if DH or DD cooks), the feed the turtle and gerbils (Isis eats when we do). After that, I get to the writing, which is 12-13 hours after I got up. I don’t have the kind of productivity Smith has, as I’m still juggling marketing and promo in with that, while he does those things as part of his publishing company work. But when I am writing new words, I can usually get 1,000 in an hour, which is about what he does. (He has way more energy than me, so puts more time in.) I’m not comparing, that’s just what I can do.

Usually, no writing happens on Monday. That’s when I pay bills and do the bookkeeping for my husband’s businesses. The first and last of the months are usually the busiest–that’s when we collect rent, and when the bank statements need to be reconciled. Sometimes I am able to squeeze writing in mid-month.

Sometimes other things happen, like family commitments. There’s some of that coming up this week. The thing with that is, to just roll with it as much as I can and don’t get annoyed that I can’t do the writing on those days. But no matter what else is going on, I usually manage to read a bit before I go to bed. Which brings me to…

What I read this week: Miracle Pie by Edie Ramer. This is a contemporary romance, something that’s normally not my thing. But I loooooove Edie Ramer’s books, and while I usually prefer some suspense or speculative elements in my contemporary fiction, her Miracle books have just enough magic in them to keep my interest (I would consider them magical realism). Also, this book has a dog in it. 🙂 Highly recommended!

ROW80 Update: My goal for the past two weeks was to get the edits done from my beta readers, who basically serve as first-round editors (my editor says my manuscripts are among the cleanest she sees; this is why.) I got them done, so that’s a win! For this week, I need to review the outline for the new, related novella to see if there’s anything I need for continuity’s sake, then send it off to my editor. Newsletter subscribers will get a sneak peek later this week (or maybe next, depending on the family stuff coming up). So if you want in on that, sign up here, and get a free copy of my short story “Time’s Holiday” as a bonus! I won’t spam you and you can unsubscribe anytime if it’s not your thing.

What about you–what’s your typical week like? Do you have trouble sometimes fitting in the things you do because you want to? Have you ever seen a dog lie on someone’s lap like Isis? 😀 Whether you’re a writer or not, how are you doing on whatever goals you might have? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.