A Day In The Life Of Author Tracy Buchanan

1 June 2017

My day usually starts with a mad scramble to get my daughter ready and safely ‘delivered’ to her pre-school or one of her grandparents. Inevitably during the car journey, she’ll ask me to tell her a story. So already my creative juices will be flowing as I make up some story about a feminist fairy or an unruly unicorn.

Tracy Buchanan

When I get back home, I usually like to start my working day with a walk. So I’ll head off with my beautiful puppy Bronte to the local fields where I’ll untangle some plot issues or have a quick check of email on my phone.

When I get back, my biggest priority is TEA! My colleagues got me a brilliant one cup tea maker as a leaving present when I left my job to become a full-time author. This means I can get a cuppa sharpish. With mug in hand, I’ll then settle at my desk.

I prefer to get all the emails and admin out of the way first before embarking on the writing. I have a To Do list so I go through my tasks for the day, which might be writing articles like this, or checking through finances. I’ll then reply to emails, have a look on my social media channels and do some filing. This can all sometimes take the whole morning. In-between all this, I’m doing things like shoving some washing in, letting the puppy out, sorting home stuff out.

I then break for lunch. I know some authors who only grab half an hour. But I like to luxuriate in my lunch. That sounds lazy. But actually, it’s part of my creative process. I’ll start watching a film or an episode of a series I love, and as I watch, it helps me come up with ideas. I might watch something to help with research for my novel too. For example, in the process of writing my latest novel Her Last Breath, I was watching documentaries about clean eating and landslides. What a combination!

If the weather’s nice, I then run around the garden with the puppy, checking emails on my phone as I do. Good to get all that vitamin D!

Then finally, it’s time for the writing! A whole afternoon where I’ll usually be stretched across my chaise longue, disappearing into my fictional world. I rarely come up for air, maybe for a cuppa and some chocolate, sometimes to reply to emails and social media messages.

Then before I know it, I hear the click of the door and a ‘mummmmmmmmmy’ shouted up the stairs as my daughter returns home with my husband. A quick save and backup of my files, a deep breath. Then I replace my author hat with my mummy hat, the fictional world evaporating temporarily until the next day when it starts all over again...