Today’s writing soundtrack:
For some reason I chose to document my life on a day I didn’t go outside.
To be fair, though, that is a more accurate representation of what my day-to-day looks like than if I’d been frolicking in the outdoors. I don’t think it would be a lie to say writers tend to be indoorsy people.
(Honestly, it’s one of the main appeals. I do so love to be comfy at home.)
Before we get into it, here’s a photo of me on a walk to prove I do go outside occasionally:
Okay, enough of that. Let’s get back into the cosy indoor world I love so much.
The writing day…
9:50 — Wake up (cough) bright and early. I stayed up late last night partying because it was Saturday night, and of course by ‘partying’ I mean playing a board game.
It’s called The Hunger and it’s super fun — you’re a vampire going out for a night of hunting yummy humans, but you’ve gotta make it back to the castle before sunrise. It’s a favourite. I’m VERY cool.
I then spent some time trying to sort out my blog app on my phone, because first thing in the morning is obviously the best time to work on tech problems. Naturally it didn’t work at all. No blogging from the phone for me.
10:30 — First Christmas Breakfast tea of the day! I love this tea. It’s ridiculous. It’s gingerbread flavour apparently, and I milk it liberally (Bonsoy today). Now it’s time to figure out what I’m working on.
Spent too much time thinking and not enough time drinking and had to add more hot water.
To do:
- Order groceries
- Write (obviously) — either Vampire Book or Keely Mystery #2
- Spend some time on Secret Project
- Write this blog post (blogception)
- Plan blog posts for February
- Draw a little art — maybe some character/book-related art…
- Yoga
11:30 — Finished ordering groceries! Still drinking the same cup of tea. Lucky Christmas Brekky still tastes okay at room temp, ha.
12:30 — I’ve been planning and drafting blog posts! And also I’m eating pasta which I definitely put too much pepper on, but I’m kind of into it. My stomach acid is maybe not so into it. There’s a good chance I’ll be having an afternoon snack of Gaviscon.
I ate all the pasta before I even thought to snap a picture of it, so have this selfie of me with the love of my life.
1:30 — Been working on a secret project for a special boy’s birthday (haha). Can’t tell you more than that because he’ll read this and know!
Next cup of tea: French Earl Grey. Fucked up pouring incredibly by trying to get an action shot while operating the kettle left-handed.
Now it might be time to throw on my writing playlist and get a bit of actual fiction writing done. Always a good idea when you are, in fact, an author.
Decided to move back to my actual office to write, which meant I had to change my pants because the office is the hottest part of the house and it’s the middle of summer here. At least it’s cloudy today. Overcast weather is the best writing weather.
Starting word count: 76533
2:30 — I have written two words. (Actually I’ve written more, but I’m also deleting, so the total is two. Better than zero!)
3:30 — More tea. Still on two words. To be fair, I have been writing a blog post, so I’ve been typing a lot! Just not my fiction.
Actually my hands are a little sore so I might need a break for a bit. That’s what too many years of writing 4-6 books per year will do to you.
4:00 — Oops! Forgot yoga was at four.
5:00 — Tried to take an arsty shot of the rain on the window. Failed. I should definitely be using my camera and not my phone to do this, shouldn’t I? Okay, there’s a goal for the next blog.
6:00 — Okay, somehow I’ve written nearly 2000 words today and none have been my book. Amazing how easily that happens.
I’ve moved back to the couch with my laptop — I don’t know why, but these days I find it so much harder to write fiction at my desk. I’ve always gone through phases where I move to different locations around the house to do my writing, so I guess it’s not that odd. But it would probably be good for my hands/shoulder/posture if I could stick to the desk.
There’s something so comforting about writing on the couch, though…
I have the headphones on and I’m playing the vampire playlist, so let’s get some writing done!
(Devastatingly I just opened by deleting two words, so my official word count thus far is… zero.)
7:00 — I finished a chapter! Wooooo!!
If you’re not aware, I’ve been writing this book on and off for six years, which means I’ve written a lot of scenes out of order or during different drafts. I’m currently sewing them all together into one actually coherent story. Today’s chapter was mostly written, but needed editing and finishing off.
And I did it!
But my word count? 144 words.
Sometimes the numbers really don’t reflect the work, do they? Hahaha.
Starting word count: 76533
Final word count: 76688
So that was my writing day!
I’ve wanted to get back to posting and chatting with you again — but wow, what a time to crawl out of the cave. I can’t handle social media at the moment. It’s not that I don’t care about what’s happening in the world — I obviously do — but I just don’t feel like, say, posting to my Instagram story is the right outlet for that. (Am I really making a difference with my 187 followers, you know what I mean?) If you’ve read my books, you know what my opinions are anyway.
The older I get, the more I feel like doing things in the real world is what matters most. Helping the people around you. Reading books by people who experience the world differently from you. Attending protests. Being part of a community. All that stuff. Actual change happens offline.
(I mean, some things happen online. If you’re Australian, you can sign this petition to change the date of Australia Day to the second-last Monday of January so it doesn’t fall on the literal anniversary of British invasion. There. The world is a little bit better.)
Social media itself is just kinda bad for us. We’re pretty much all in agreement about that, right? Even apart from the fact that it’s owned by ghouls. It sucks you in and keeps you there, shows you more of whatever gets a reaction, and serves a bunch of ads to your eyeballs in between the most horrific images you’ve ever seen and cute videos of pigs.
You know I’m a fan of cute videos of pigs, but at what cost? At this point maybe I should just film my own pigs. Of course, to do that I would need to get my own pigs.
Hmm, now there’s an idea…
So that’s a big part of why I’m blogging. (The social media thing, not my desire for a pack of pigs.) I yearn for the time when the internet felt calmer. More analogue, somehow. Maybe that’s why I didn’t fight too hard when I couldn’t set up the blogging app on my phone. Oh well. I guess I have to go to the computer. Sit down. Be intentional. That feels kind of novel in this world.
I regularly find myself scrolling through old blogs, reading about people’s daily lives in the 2010s, and wishing these people were still updating their sites. There’s something so genuinely nice about blogs. About sitting down with your cup of tea and going along with someone on their day, at a calm pace, in your own time. I wonder if part of that is because it’s a one-screen activity?
If you’re also finding the world stressful (to put it mildly), or just looking for something more joyful in your day, I hope this blog can be a place you find that.
I’ll still talk about things I care about, but in a way that doesn’t make us want to crawl back into our caves and never come out.
I made a couple of videos recently, and I think I still will when I feel inspired, but it is honestly so much less intrusive to write a blog than it is to film your day. Which means it’s way easier to do more often. You can blog when your hair’s dirty in a way you just can’t make a video (unless you want to wear a conspicuous hat in every shot).
I have a lot of plans for fun things to come on the blog… And now that I’m not ill in a hundred different ways physically and mentally, I might actually be able to manage them. For now I’ll just tell you that the next post is coming in two days — and it’s all about my favourite books of last year!
Now I’d better go and tick the last thing off my to-do list (ignoring the yoga class I forgot to attend)… Draw something.
Or maybe I’ll just have dinner.
xx