A Day in the Life (of an author preparing for book launch)
The great thing about a day in the life of an author -- or most anyone who works in publishing -- is that every day is so different, even when the job is "writer" or "editor" or "publicist."
On Monday, I kept track of everything I did from midnight to midnight. (Since I was up for both of them.) My day was actually really light compared to a lot of authors, since my email inbox is almost always in a state of Dealt With. (Except that one thing, which I still haven't done.) Which means my day has a lot of fun and slacking off, even though I have a book coming out in a few weeks. (More on that in a bit.)
12am: Watch Vampire Diaries (season 1, if you must know) with sick husband. Spin yarn. 1:15am: Discuss Doctor Who with Kathleen Peacock and put ferrets to bed. 1:45am: Read (MILA 2.0 ARC!). 2:30am: Sleep. 9:30am: Drag self out of bed and hunt down coffee. Check emails. Poke around on Twitter. 9:52am: IM with Agent Lauren about Writing Stuff. 10am: Write a list of things to pack for launch tour in three weeks. 10:07am: RELEASE THE FERRETS!!! (Ferrets sleepily stagger out of their cage.) 10:17am: Rescue a ferret from the box he got trapped inside. 10:20am: Discuss kissing movies with Myra McEntire. 10:28am: Edit notes from Agent on Sparkle Story! And Boston Asunder party plans! 11am: Taunt the people of Twitter with an Asunder teaser. 11:18am: Email about a school visit. 11:19am: Reread Sparkle Story notes. 11:35am: Watch a ferret take care of a Very Serious Itch. Wonder how he can move his legs that fast. 11:40am: Decide to risk a shower. Have 56.7 new story ideas. Change out of pajamas into different pajamas. 12pm: EVERYTHING PAUSES FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES OMCCCC. 12:09pm: Discuss Lizzie Bennet Diaries with Twitter friends. Gasp. Snort. Laugh! 12:25pm: Back to thinking about revisions. 12:41pm: Remember to eat lunch and hang out with husband. 12:42pm: Email agent instead. 1:03pm: Actually get around to eating lunch and hanging out with husband. (Poor neglected husband.) 1:55pm: Start revising Sparkle Story according to agent's notes. 2:24pm: Emails with publicist about an event in NYC. 2:30pm: Back to revising. 2:38pm: Agree to a random request to dance on video. 2:39pm: Do the dance thing. With ferrets. You can see it here. 3:36pm: Back to revising. 4:07pm: Clean up after ferrets. 4:08pm: Back to revising. 4:29pm: Realize the socks I’m knitting each have a different number of stitches and neither number is the correct number. (I’m totally revising.) 4:30pm: Rip out both socks. Tell myself I can start them again when I’ve made edits to chapter four. 4:32pm: Back to revising. 4:37pm: Email asking for book donations. 5:03pm: Email about event plans in Albany. 5:04pm: Back to revisions. 5:46pm: Put away ginormo box of Asunder hardcovers that has been sitting in the living room for 3 days. 5:47pm: Dinner and lots of TV with husband. 9:58pm: More emails about events and school visits. 12am: Still watching TV with sick husband, with socks halfway reknitted.
Yes, I'm a little (a lot) embarrassed by how much TV I watched the other day, buuuut my husband is sick and I'll be leaving in a few weeks for several ASUNDER launch events, so surely he deserves the pleasure of my company, right? (Also, I got to knit the socks even though I wasn't finished with chapter four.)
And speaking of Asunder launching in just a few weeks (yay yay yay!), here's a chance to win a pre-order. It's international, to wherever The Book Depository ships. Just fill out the Rafflecopter to enter!