Tuesdays are for Writing

I was thinking about how much I enjoy reading about other people’s days. Do you? I hope so, because I’m going to share some of my days with you over the next few weeks.

We’ll start with Tuesdays since they are my favorite day of the week. I set Tuesdays aside to write most of the day. No loads of laundry. No errands.

Morning

The day starts like all my days lately. I wake up at 7:00am. My husband brings me a coffee in bed while a journal for 30 minutes. I recently started setting a timer for my morning journaling because I could spend hours going round and round on the page, ruminating. By setting a timer, I get what I need to release out, but don’t circle down the drain.

After that, I get up and immediately go and exercise for 20 minutes. Right now, I’m loving Pahla B’s workouts. They are quick and meant to be for 50+ women. After the workout, I do a 10-minute mediation and am ready to start to my day.

I dress and shower and then head to breakfast. Breakfast is the only meal I eat alone and I relish it. I make myself a simple breakfast and read a non-fiction book. For some reason, I’ve decided that non-fiction reading is best done in the mornings. On Tuesdays, I usually read a book about the craft of writing. It gets me excited about writing, Right now I’m reading Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin. I must be careful and remind myself I can only read for 30 minutes in the morning. If I don’t, there’s a good chance I will lose hours in the pages.

It's almost 10am at this point and I have a writing session with my friend and fellow author, C. Jane Reid. We get on Zoom, talk about everything from our kids to writing, and then turn off the video, mute ourselves and start writing. We write for about 45 minutes, come back, check-in on our progess, and then write for another 45 minutes, we close our visit with a final chat. I write my blog posts on Tuesdays and she works on short stories and does some editing.

These writing sessions have been life-changing for me. They have helped me find balance in my week. Knowing I have an appointment to write ensures that I WILL write, and that allows me to relax into my other roles during the week. 

Afternoon

By now, it’s noon and time for lunch. My husband still works from home so he comes downstairs from his office and we have a nice lunch together. I’m told I make good lunches. It’s my superpower. I am a wizard at looking at leftovers and turning them into something new. 

I have to say, I love this time alone with my husband. We talk about our morning, current events, our daughter, and what we’re reading. It took time getting used to having him underfoot during the week but now I know I’ll miss him if/when he gets called back into the office.

After lunch, I go back into my studio and edit what I have written. Then I post it and visit some of my favorite blogs. I leave comments because I know how much that means to bloggers. I also work on doing some sort of marketing of my blog (without social media of course!). I might update my email signature with a link to my blog, link to my blog on Pinterest, or create a promo video on Youtube. I also look for opportunities to write for magazines or other blogs.

By 3pm, it’s time to go get my daughter from school. We talk about her day in the car and often have a snack together. Sometimes, we watch a quick show and chat. I love these times, but more and more often she needs to head upstairs to work on homework or a personal writing project, so our after-school time together is shorter. This was harder to get used to than I thought. While I am glad she’s creating a life for herself, I find I don’t know what to do with myself! Lately, I’ve been picking up a book of fiction for a quick read before I need to start making dinner. This week I’m reading Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. 

Evening

Then dinner. We eat early. I usually have a portion of the meal prepared from Monday’s “kitchen hours” (I’ll share my Monday schedule soon!), so it only takes me 30 minutes or less to get the meal on the table. Tonight, we’re having Turkey Tacos with sweet potatoes and caramelized onions added to the tacos instead of the usual lettuce and tomatoes. I prepared the potatoes and onions yesterday, so I’ll just need to make the taco meat tonight.

After dinner is the piece of the puzzle that I haven’t quite figured out yet. I wish I could tell you I was as productive as I was the rest of the day, but I’m not. I have from around 7-11pm to fill and I generally waste much of it arguing with myself about what I should do. Part of me is tired and wants to sit in front of the television, while the other part of me thinks I should do something more productive like take an online class or clean the house. The television lover in me usually wins. Right now, I’m watching Ray Donovan and The Affair on Showtime. If anyone has any advice on how to get out of this television habit, please share! I feel like I’m going to look back at these hours when I’m old and decrepit and regret that I didn’t do something more adventurous. But goodness, it’s hard to get over that desire to collapse onto the couch at the end of the day, isn’t it?

It sounds like a pack a lot into my day but don’t be fooled. This a best-case scenario day. Sometimes my energy levels don’t meet my desires to keep this schedule. I’ve been known to spend an afternoon crashed in front of the television, watching The Tender Bar, because I was “doing research” about memoirs.

Finally, let’s not compare. My day, to a woman in the thick of raising children, working full-time, and/or caring for elderly parents, might sound magical. I am very thankful that I am in this place in my life. My only goal in sharing this day in my life is to tell you how I spend my days and tell you about what I am writing, reading, cooking, and watching. Now I want to hear about your day. Tell me about your Tuesday in the comments or write a blog post about it then leave the link. 

Note: The typewriter planter in the photo is from Allen Design Studio.