Wednesday 12 March 2014

A Day in the Life of... Amanda Leigh!!!

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.









2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Nice to meet you as well! I hope that you have a great day! And thank you to Dee for having me on her blog! :)

      Delete

Please leave your thoughts! Or just say hi!

Sorry about the Capatcha! I hate it too, but too much spam lately!