Life for me as a writer has changed very much since I had three children under the age of three and used to wake at 4am to get a couple of hours writing in before they woke; and then write short stories in my car when the baby fell asleep, before picking up the other two from nursery and school. And from the days when we lived in Ireland when I dropped the kids off at school and would sit in my car, on the banks of Galway Bay, where I wrote my first published novel, The Oyster Catcher and not move until I’d done my words for the day.
Finding Love at the Christmas Market
After that book, as a family we moved back to Wales and I invested in a camper van so I could sit by the sea, write at a table and have a kitchen for tea and snacks! It was my mobile office for years. In the summer holidays as the kids got older I would take the camper van to West Wales, park up on the campsite, looking out to sea and write whilst the kids met friends, swam and kayaked through the day. Now I’m living by there and wake up to see the sea from my bedroom window.
I wake at about 7am now. A lie in from those early writing days! I feed my two cats and two dogs and make tea. Then I take it back to bed where I catch up on my social media, plan what’s for dinner and let story thoughts that I’ve woken up with percolate. By the second cup of tea I’m into writing words, letting the voices talk away in my head before getting up and the outside world day intruding in on those thoughts.
I then write at my desk, which also looks out to sea and finish at about lunchtime when I take my two dogs to the beach, my Jack Russell Dolly and my young golden
retriever Henri, where they run, swim and meet other dogs and the work I’ve done in the morning works through in my head and the next scenes start to form.
After lunch I usually write articles and I love getting something in the slow cooker ready for dinner.
By 4pm, I’m done for the day and sit down to my treat, which also counts at research and watch A Place in the Sun and dream of living somewhere sunny! And maybe Four in a Bed or Come Dine with Me!
Then it’s into my kitchen, where the family gathers at the end of the day. There’s a gin and tonic or glass of wine and dinner around the table where we catch up with we’re all doing.
On Fridays, if words have been done, they’ll be a trip to my favourite café for lunch and glass of wine.
Bedtime is my reading time. I like nothing better than an early night with a cat on my feet, watching the sun set over the sea and reading something that will make me smile and laugh and sleep well, in a happy place.
For more articles by Jo Thomas on Female First click HERE
Tagged in Christmas