A Day In The Life Of An Author (Plus Title Help)

Hello everyone! First a bit of good news--Countess of Scandal is finally available in ebook. Check it out here!

A couple months ago, my day job was the victim of budget cuts, and since then I've been living the life of the Stay At Home Author. How is that, you ask? Well, terribly glam of course. I wear evening gowns all day and lounge around on my Victorian chaise eating raspberry truffles from Belgium while my secretaries jot down my story ideas. Not. (Except the truffle part. Except usually they're Fun Size Kit Kats). It's not bad, though. I get to slob around in my pajamas until long after lunch.

So let's take a look at a typical day in the life of an author! Say, it's Thursday:

1) Wake up because dogs are yelling to be fed. Was having a lovely dream of walking on a Greek beach with Javier Bardem, but now that's gone. Stumble around making tea and putting Kibbles in bowls. Eat a yogurt and a Kit Kat while reading email, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon rankings, Go Fug Yourself, and Cake Wrecks, plus doing some Very Important Research at ShirtlessActors.com. (Please note--this is sadly not a real place, as far as I know. But I do often Google "Richard Armitage shirtless" or "James McAvoy shirtless" to see if something new pops up...)

2) An hour is gone??? How did that happen? Must get the day's page quota done. I'm working on Laurel McKee's third book Lady of Seduction (June 2011!) and have about 80 pages or so left to go, plus fill-ins and revisions, with only (gulp!) less than a month to do it. Write one page, wonder if I should check my email to see if something Terribly Important has come up in the last 20 minutes. There hasn't. Back to the book.

3) Lunchtime! A healthy chicken and greens pita--and a Kit Kat. Or two. Email, shower, dogs walked, real clothes put on (or at least yoga pants and a tee shirt). Should I wrote some more--or watch General Hospital?

4) Laundry and research on next book (an Elizabethan theater story with a sexy Renaissance actor/playwright/spy hero. Must Google "Henry Cavill shirtless" for inspiration). Fiddle around with YA idea. Eat a Kit Kat.

5) Now, should I go to yoga class or watch Oprah? Sadly realize if I really want to fit into my RWA conference clothes in July I must go to yoga, even if Nate is doing a kitchen remodel today...

6) My triangle pose is pitifully sloppy. Stop at China King for takeaway dinner on the way home from yoga. Keeping those RWA dresses in mind get steamed shrimp and snow peas instead of lemon chicken and egg roll. Followed by Kit Kats. Can't understand why dress won't fasten all the way up the back. Those are "Fun Size" Kit Kats! They're tiny!

7) Feed dogs their dinner, think about writing more, watch Vampire Diaries instead (I do like "intense, tortured Stefan" a lot!). Call mother back. Make plans with friends for weekend. Read part of a novel. Eat a Kit Kat. Day Over.

See, I told you! Wild glamour all the time. What is your typical day like? What's your favorite "fun size" candy bar?

And now a very important question for everyone. I desperately need a title for the Elizabethan theater story (it seems Shakespeare in Love is already taken, and the story isn't about Shakespeare anyway!). Any ideas???

17 comments:

  1. Thank you, Amanda, for a humorous glimpse into the glamorous life as a writing diva!

    Shakespeare is not my forte, but let's talk about Henry Cavill! Oh, he is hot, although he has "aged" for the final season of the Tudors. His character, Brandon, told King Henry that his wife won't sleep with him ... so we may not see him again with out his shirt. But he could be the new Joseph Fiennes in "Shakespeare is Shirtless - The Chippendales at the Globe".

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  2. LOL Kim! Sadly that day is pretty accurate for my life...

    And I love Henry Cavill! he's my "muse" for the Elizabethan story, though I must say I do hate that big beard this season. I would SO go to see "Chippendales at the Globe" :))

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  3. Okay, I googled Henry Cavill (see, I can do research, too!) and Risky Regencies came up first.

    Here is something that has probably not occurred to you, Amanda. Are your cats starving? No where do you mention feeding the cats.

    I'm hopeless at titles....look up quotations about the theatre or something is all I can suggest.

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  4. 'Waiting in the Wings'? 'The World's a Stage'? 'Flat out'? 'The Prompter'? 'Exit pursued by a bear'? 'Walking on'? 'A WAlk-on part'? 'Bit part'? 'Breeches boy'? 'Written Out'? 'No Bed for Bacon' - oh, wait, someone has done that already.

    'The Globe'? 'this Wooden O'? 'Playing to the Gallery'? 'Stage Managed'? I could do this all night...

    'Up staged'? 'The King's Men'? 'The Chamberlain's Men'? 'Where there's a Will'? 'Love on Stage'? 'Love off Stage'? Somebody stop me!

    'Curtain Up'? 'Behind the Curtain'? 'Stage Door'? 'Acting Up'? 'Deviating from the Script'? 'Written Out'? Anything you fancy here?

    Seriously, I could go on and on, but I'd better stop. I like titles which have more than one meaning - one HMB was 'The Arrangement' which was about music but also a marriage, and i liked that kind of duality.

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  5. "Staging Her Love."
    "Mi'lady's Player."
    "Romance in the Round."
    "Act One: Love."
    "The Theater of Love."

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  6. LOL Diane! Never fear--the kitties get breakfast too. :) They just don't scream for it like the dogs and wake me up. They sit by the bowls (which are still half-full) and look at me mournfully until I give them fresh kibbles. Then they go sit by the litterbox and do the same until I scoop it to their satisfaction. Then they go sleep on their windowseat for the rest of the morning. It's a rough kitty life.

    Alison, I am totally going to call it "Exit Pursued by a Bear"! And I'm going to make that a scene in the book too...

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  7. Sounds like a good life to me! (And a bit familiar.)

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  8. Oh, LOL! From another stay-at-home writer, who is ssitting in her sweatpants contemplating a bite of a Ghiradelli milk chocolate peanut butter bar. (Hey, it's research—my WIP features an expert in edible chocolate, c. 1813.

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  9. I fear that might be my life soon except I don't really have writing to fall back on. Instead I will go door to door to see if I can catalog people's book collections for them since that might be my only skill. I found out today that my job is being cut because of budget issues and I'm still working like mad at it. Curse my parents for giving me a strong work ethic.

    My dog never asks me to get up to do anything with her unless I'm at my parents' house. For some reason there she wakes up at 6:00AM. At my house she'll sleep in until 11:00AM on weekends. She'll wine a little and I'll get up and get ready to take her out only to find she really didn't want to go out. She wanted my bed to sleep in.

    So job hunting for me. As a side note Amanda, my friend Charlotte Bronte blogged a bit about Emma's clothes in the latest remake of Emma. (www.fourmiddables.blgospot.com) It made me think of you.....

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  10. I, too, and puzzle by the apparent effects of the Kit Kats. However, I find that denial is quite valuable.

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  11. Is your story about an orange girl? I would so buy a book titled, "The Orange Girl."

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  12. Thanks for my giggle for the day, Amanda! Actually spent a great deal of the day with you as I finished To Catch a Rogue today! Brava, my dear! Truly enjoyed it. Your best yet!

    Hey, I didn't find a single objectionable thing about your day. I am working my butt off to sell a book so I can have a day just like it. I might alternate the Kit Kats with Three Musketeer miniatures.

    How about The Act of Love for a title?

    Sorry, I've been decorating cakes all day and I'm tired and a bit light-headed from inhaling the air brush fumes!

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  13. I am so sorry to hear about your job, JA! I totally sympathize--have been sending out resumes and going on interviews like crazy without anything suitable yet. I like it at home (and am getting lots of writing done!) but it is also driving me slightly crazy. :) Maybe free-lance cataloging IS the answer!

    And somehow my dogs are the opposite. The dogs will always sleep late at their grandparents' house, but here they want to get up super-early...

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  14. Carolyn, I am completely baffled how this happens with those itsy-bitsy Kit Kats. It can't be that I eat approximately 50 of them a day--or that I have Cheetos for an afternoon snack. :)

    Louisa, I like "The Act of Love"! It actually suits the story I think. Maybe you should use the airbrush more often. :) (And I'm so glad you liked "Rogue"! I saw "Duke" on the shelf today at the store--these books are running too fast for me...)

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  15. I actually have To Deceive a Duke on my desk waiting for me to finish polishing my latest manuscript. Can't wait to read it.

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  16. Hmm...

    The Food of Love
    Perchance to Love
    Two Lips, Indifferent Red

    :-)

    Cara

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  17. Coming out of lurkdom, I was thinking "Drama in Southwark" or "Vagabonds of Southwark". There are times when my history degree comes in handy.
    Back to lurking.

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