What is a normal day

Sorry I had to take a little time off the last two weeks to get my mind back into gear. Or as some people would call it I had to take some mental health days. This is actually quite nice to have the freedom to take that kind of time. However it did interfere with my goal of Blogging at least once a week. On the plus side Snow has finally returned to my area and is sticking...Yeah! I know to some that may seem to be a curse having snow but if you live in North Idaho like I do it is actually one benefit to having a true Four Season experience. I do like the snow with only a few exceptions. One is driving in it. Now this is not because I have problems driving in it. Its because I have to worry about everybody else out there that doesn't know how to drive in it. The I have a 4-wheel drive so I can go 70 MPH down the freeway and be fine mentality. Well they are the ones that either cause accidents or are sitting in the ditch waiting for a tow truck. The other reason I don't like the snow is because I have to shovel it. 

So today as I don't have any real idea where to go I thought I would go over my typical daily routine. Most days start the same with me waking up at some predetermined time. This is usually determined the night prior and is accomplished by mental conditioning. A technique that I am not sure where I picked up which involves saying to yourself the time you wish to wake up repeatedly 5 to 10 times right before you got to sleep. Note: If you are like me and like to watch TV in bed this has to be done after turning the TV off and before you go to sleep.  Since I am a believer in redundancy I also set an alarm clock for 10 minutes after my planned wake up time just to be safe.  In the last five years of practicing this technique I have only had two times where the alarm has had to wake me up. 

Once I am awake I eat breakfast, shower and brush my teeth. Depending on my schedule sometimes that order is changed.  FYI shower and teeth brushing are a combined act. Then I feed the dog and set out the plan for the rest of the day. This is usually the point I leave for my day job. Now my usual morning commute takes me about an hour and a half so I take my tablet and use this time to read books and listen to music. Then I work my eight hour shift and return home with my usual hour and a half commute time home. Again listening to music and reading books on my tablet.

On my days where I don't go to my day job they usually fold out differently. After feeding the dog I usually walk into my office and start up my computer and turn on the morning news.  I grab my morning coffee, Hot chocolate, or Mountain Dew Kickstart and sit down at my computer for what I hope will become a productive day.  I start off my mornings by first logging in and checking Amazon.com, B&N.com and the rest of my sales channels to see if and how many books I have sold.  I also look to see if there are any new reviews because everybody knows reviews sell books.  Reviews are the digital world equivalent to word of mouth after all. I will talk more in depth about reviews another time. The I usually check my email, and hit Goodreads and authorsdb.com. Once I have tended to those I usually open up my word processor and look at my projects that I have waiting there.  Now I tend to think I am quite different from other authors in the approach I take to writing, but that also depends on what type of writing i'm doing.  Non-Fiction is usually a sit down and bang out from start to finish. My Non-Fiction projects all start with an idea and an outline and then I do my research and then write from page one to the end. Often times additional research is done in between the writing as well. 

Fiction how ever is a totally different animal. I have to date 10 current fiction projects sitting on my board. all in varying stages of development. This can be anywhere from outline, plot lines, character development, to writing. A few are merely one or two chapters that have been written out. Now most people would say that this is no way to write and for them that is probably right. I however find that my mind changes gears quickly and I can be working on one thing one day and have to change to another the next day.  This is not because I am lost it is because my brain has changed to something new. I will write more on this later too. 

After writing for a few hours I usually get up and have lunch. and this is usually the time I run my errands that I have to do during the day and try to fit my running in there as well. After which I usually return home and watch the evening news while the dog and I have dinner.  This is usually the time I also reserve for odd tasks like laundry, dishes, and paying bills. Then it is back to the office where I repeat checking my email, and checking Goodreads and authorsdb. The remainder of the night is spent playing with my dog, watching some TV, reading, playing computer games, and occasionally writing.  In earnest I attempt to write at least every day otherwise I would never finish a book. I also try to dedicate at least an hour of my day to marketing and social media.  So this is my typical normal day.  Obviously not every day is like this more often than not I spend more days taking care of the little fires that pop up than writing.

So what do you think? How does your day compare with mine? Do find that you are running out of day before you run out of things to get done?