When I left my job in banking years ago to become a writer, I fondly imagined that life would be less structured and more ‘organic’ in terms of the creative process. I have since realised that life is just as structured as it was in those days and that the creative process is not so much ‘organic’ – but more…well, structured. I have just put the finishing touches to my fourth novel under the name of Ella Harper and my typical day (if there is such a thing – it all depends what stage of writing I am at) looks something like this…
Ella Harper
I wake up at around seven am, unless my two young daughters wake me up before and I shower immediately as it jump-starts me. I have breakfast with my girls and get them into school. If I’m teaching Pilates afterwards, I drive to school – if not, we tend to walk, mostly to get some fresh air and exercise. On the walk home, I will often sort out emails on my phone, speak to friends and sort my day out.
I work out if I haven’t taught Pilates because I like to exercise at the start of the day so I can relax. I then grab a cup of tea and fire up my lap top. I usually have the TV on in the background; I don’t watch it, but I can’t bear daytime TV so I have to have something on that doesn’t annoy me! I’m often in fitness wear these days, but it doubles up as something comfortable to write in. I certainly don’t miss wearing a suit and high heels like I did back in my banking days!
I deal with emails, check social media and deal with anything else that urgently needs my attention because I need a clear head when I’m writing. If I need to pay bills or sort school stuff, it needs to be done before I can settle into my novel. And then I write…
I spend a lot of time writing up a detailed chapter structure before I actually start writing a novel so that during the actual writing phase, I am basically fleshing out the framework. That’s when the novel starts to come alive – once the dialogue and characterisation come into play. I don’t tend to aim for a certain word count on any one day – but I hate not completing whichever chapter I am working on when I shut my lap top down and collect my girls. It might not be the glamorous job I had in mind when I left banking, but I love my job as an author. Being able to capture the myriad of thoughts that rush around my head down on paper and hopefully engage readers to escape into different world is highly rewarding. Receiving a tweet from someone saying how much they loved one of my books literally makes my day and makes it all worthwhile!