The average day as an author varies from writer to writer, but I think there’s a huge misconception that we wake up, write all day, and fall asleep at the end of the night with thousands of words ready for print. In reality, most authors—yes, even The New York Times Best Sellers—work day jobs. Writing is our second full-time gig. And I’m not an exception.
3 PM
My Twisted Clock
I wake up at 3 PM. Why? I work a night shift, so I don’t get to bed until about 6 AM. I also work opposite days, meaning Sunday-Tuesday is my weekend. This can cause some awkwardness online, because some have assumed I’m ignoring them on the weekends when I am, in fact, working. But I do work from home, so I can sometimes check in on my author life during my lunch break and dinner break. This is also why you see my #MidnightBaking posts a lot. While it’s midnight for you, it’s dinner time for me.
4 PM – MIDNIGHT
My First Job
Honestly, I work from 4 PM to midnight as an editor, social media marketer, and anything else you might find on my Services page. I love it. I absolutely love reading authors’ works, talking to fellow writers, and helping those with social media, because social media is something I honestly enjoy, hence why I blog three days a week. As an author, I also use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, MailChimp, Wattpad, and YouTube on a regular basis. But all that is generally done in my next step.
MIDNIGHT – 4 AM
My Second Job
I’m an author. Finally. If I’m not completely exhausted from work—and I get all my housework done—this is where I write. But this is also the only time I have for marketing, so I often spend about a half of the time writing articles, sending out personal emails, researching books, and more. If I’m too tired, maybe I just read the current book on my nightstand. But I tend to write in this time period. If I can get one chapter finished and outline my next chapter for the next day, I am satisfied. It was a successful day.
4 AM – 6 AM
My Not-So-Chill Chill Time
I try to relax here, though I’m really bad at it. This is where I should be reading instead of writing (or even watching TV). Something—anything—to calm down my writer’s mind (or I won’t sleep at all), but more often than not, I’m curled up on the couch with my notebook jotting down more ideas as they come to me. I might even get back on the laptop. I find myself pulling 12-hour shifts (or longer) on a regular basis. This is probably why I’m addicted to coffee.
6 AM – 3 PM
My Very Restless Rest
Magnificent, majestic sleep.
Okay. So I have night terrors a lot. Not so majestic. But, hey, it helps inspire my writing!
P.S. It’s really HARD to sleep during the day. Lawnmowers. Sunlight. Truck engines. You name it, it has woken me up.
IN THE END
Writing for a living, more often than not, is not our living, but we do live for it. I love finding time between gigs to sneak in a few words or tweet back and forth with awesome readers, but I’m mainly working a regular gig like everyone else. And, hey! I love my day job. I honestly think my day job helps me be a better writer, and I get to read all day. It’s a dream come true, right?
If anyone is curious, I’m currently writing this article on my weekend. It’s Sunday, July 17, at 10 PM, so more than two weeks before you will be reading this. But it’s some of my only free time to blog, so I write ahead of time since I know work can get unpredictable and crazy. Even better? Now, I have time to go write.
Welcome to my writer’s life. 😉
Original covered my average day as a writer in 2013.
~SAT
Blake’s origin story released on the FREE Bad Bloods Prequel on Wattpad. If you’ve ever wondered how a baby boy ended up in the Northern Flock, read his story here. I’m expecting to release Ami’s story from the Southern Flock on August 12. I’m also working on the sequel – July Thunder/Lightning – now!
I hope you’re reading the Bad Bloods series! Book 1 is only .99¢!
November Rain
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November Snow
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Shannon A. Thompson 
I’m always being told by non-authors that a night shift job would be best if I continue writing. Not sure they realize how much noise exists once the sun comes up.
Haha! Right??? I hear that a lot, and while it definitely has perks, there are a lot of negative aspects, too.
~SAT
Your schedule sounds a little bit perfect if I’m honest, especially consider you can write from home. I’m a massive night owl and going to sleep at any point before 4am is impeccably difficult for me. Which is unfortunate considering I have a full time job working 12 hour days at a vet clinic so night owling just isn’t possible 😉
Thank you for showing us a little window into your world!
It’s definitely an adventure! I do work from home most of the time, but as nice as it sounds, it can be very stressful sometimes just because it’s hard to separate home from work life, so I end up in cafes a lot. But I also love working from home, too! We are definitely both night owls. 😀 And thank you for working at a vet clinic! Our animals need someone like you. 😀 I visit my cats’ vet all the time, just to say hi. They are the nicest people.
Thank you for sharing a little bit of your world, too!
~SAT
What’s great about the above comment is that after rereading it you can totally tell I just woke up because it’s only partially coherent.
Are there a lot of late night cafes around you? That means so much, and I can only imagine how much your vet staff appreciates you 😍 Seriously it means so much to us to be able to have real relationships with our clients. Nothing is better than getting “thank you” goodies and chatting with them.
That is too funny! I just woke up. It’s my weekend, so I definitely slept in today. If I go to a cafe, it’s generally between 5 PM and 9 PM, because everything is closed by then. So, I’ll go work outside the house and come inside to write. Doing both in the same environment can mess with my writing/work mode. Vets are seriously the best! 😀
~SAT