Thanks so much to +Amanda Leigh for joining me today and doing an 'A Day in the Life of' post.
Take it away Amanda :)
A Day in the
Life of Amanda Leigh
The interesting thing
about writing this post is that hardly any of my days ever look
exactly the same. The other interesting thing is this: you likely
came to this post just looking for a day in the life of an author.
What you will find is a day in the life of an author who also happens
to have an extremely rare chronic condition that, as much as she
would prefer that it didn’t, affects most areas of her life. But on
top of those two things, I am also a fiancée, a daughter, a cook (at
lunch and dinner), a pet parent/cat lover, a lover of doing art, and
many other things. So let me try to give you a peek into a day in my
life.
8:30 a. m.: My alarm goes
off and I roll over and take my medicines. Then I usually end up
going back to bed for a little while. During the night I’m up
anywhere between every 1 to 2 hours.
9:30 a. m.: Ideally this
is when I will wake up and get my day started. I’m usually not
hungry in the morning because the night time feeding that I get
through a kangaroo pump makes me nasaus. But I do often grab some
chocolate milk – I love chocolate milk.
10:00 a. m.: I get
dressed, brush my hair, all of that good stuff. Sometimes I’ll also
journal or read for a while before I get started with everything. I
also go over my to do list for the day. (I have one for almost every
day).
10:30 a. m.: On a day
where things are going as planned this is when I will take all of my
syringes, my liquid medicine bottle (a water bottle filled with
medicine that I drink), my pill pouches (pouches that had pills in
them that I had to take), and my two water containers from the night
out to the kitchen. Then I start the process of cleaning and
refilling these things. Ideally, I will also crush my pills for that
night and measure out the liquid to fill my feeding bag then.
11:00
a. m.: I check on all of the social media that I have going on, try
to reply to any comments that I’ve missed, and things like this.
Every other day I try to do my 2 mile walk DVD. (Walking outside is
rather difficult for me, especially during the winter. I really love
swimming for exercise). If this is a day that I’m not doing that I
start my other work. This goes from 11:00-12:00 and can vary from day
to day. Right now I’m working on several different things. So here
it goes.
11:00 a. m. – 12:00 p.
m.: Check, reply and clean out e-mails. Sort it into appropriate
folders. Add those new pages to my blogs. Write a character
background for a minor character in my new book. In between this take
my 11:30 medicines.
12:00 – 1:00 p. m.: I
make and eat lunch. Sometimes I’ll do a little journaling or
reading here. Or sometimes, I’ll watch a YouTube video with my
lunch. Or have lunch over Skype with my fiancé.
1:00 – 2:30 p. m.: Keep
working. Write that other character background for a central
character in my next book. (This often takes significantly longer
because these are much more in depth for me). Then I’ll go ahead
and work on rewriting those five or so chapters in the new book in
the Point of View that I’ve decided on. (With the help of my
critique partner). (Oh, I very much enjoy listening to music while I
write and I’m working on a playlist specifically for this book). If
I get very into this this can easily take me to the 2:30 mark. If I’m
lucky, I’ll also be done with the rewrite.
2:30 – 3:00 p. m.: Take
my 2:30 medicines and give myself a little while to rest. These
medicines often give me an upset stomach and make me lethargic so I
give myself a little while to rest.
3:00 – 5:00 p m.: Back
to work! Now, I’ll work on implementing the edits for the third
draft of my romance novella. I’m almost done and just have to go
over a few more things and add something in. After that, I have to
send it off for some fine tune edits. If my rewrites for the first
five chapters of my next book aren’t done, I’ll work on those. If
they are, or when I’m done, I’ll calculate how many words per day
I have to write for April Camp NaNoWriMo – which is when I’m
writing the first draft of this book. Perhaps I’ll also do some
research into blog designers since I’m looking to give my blog a
makeover.
5:00 – 5:30 p. m.: I’ll
wrap up anything that I’m doing (usually). I might check my e-mail
a second time and respond to anything that needs my attention.
5:30 – 9:00 p. m.: I’ll
take my 5:30 medicines, make dinner, eat dinner. Then I’ll relax.
Which includes anything from reading blog posts, watching a show
(Lost is my favorite), or just browsing for recipes. I try to be in
my room by 9:00.
9:00 – 10:00 p. m.: I’m
on Skype with my fiancé.
10:00 – 11:00 p. m.: I
read or sometimes journal. I try to go to bed at 11:00 but it doesn’t
always work out that way. Sometimes I’ll do my 11:30 p.m. medicines
early or go to bed early so I get more sleep before I need to do
them.
Then throughout the night
there are also my 2:30 a. m. medicines and numerous times when I’m
up. Oh, and of course my cat, Sawyer, vies for my attention
throughout the day. He’s very cuddly. Then I get up and repeat!
(With other things thrown in. Doctor’s appointments, blood work, a
few outings, et cetera). Though not necessarily the same thing every
day.
Amanda Leigh is a recent college
graduate with a BA in English and Communications and a double minor
in Psychology and Creative Writing. During college, she worked on the
literary magazine and loved every minute of it. She has two poetry
collections out so far with another project due out in 2014. She
lives with her mom and a kitten named Sawyer – named after one of
her favorite characters on Lost. She’s engaged to a man with the
same rare chronic condition as her (Nephropathic Cystinosis). Amanda
enjoys reading, writing avidly in a journal, writing poetry, fiction
and creative non-fiction, cooking and art – particularly
photography. She also keeps up two blogs. On one she posts all about
books and writing, http://www.girlwithapenandadream.blog... and
on the other she talks about everything else (medical experiences,
music, about her and her fiancé
etc.),http://lifeofachronicbibliophile.blog....
Amanda is a bit of a chocoholic and is slightly obsessed with office
supplies. She has many ideas for stories so keep an eye out for more
work from her.
Website: http://www.
Book/Writing Blog: http://www.
Personal Blog: http://
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.
Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/
GoodReads Page: https://www.goodreads.
YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.
Nice to meet you, Amanda!
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you as well! I hope that you have a great day! And thank you to Dee for having me on her blog! :)
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