Non-Stop Reads: A Day in the Life of Rachel Hanna

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

A Day in the Life of Rachel Hanna

I always laugh when someone asks me what my day is like as an author because it's never the same. I'm well aware that some authors do the exact same routine every day, but that would drive me crazy. I'm way too creative and distractible to be able to do the exact same routine every day. But, I'm going to try to give you an example of what my typical day might be like anyway.

Since I'm a night owl and rarely go to bed before about 1:30 in the morning, I usually don't get up and around until at least 9 AM. The first thing I do these days is make a green drink. I used to eat breakfast, but it seemed to weigh me down and make me more tired early in the day. Now, I make a green drink with a little protein in it and that lasts me until lunchtime.

My kids are usually up and already doing their school by then. They use a distance-learning program on the Internet that is beamed in from a college, so they know how to get started on their day without my input. Throughout the day, I end up grading some papers and tests and recording their grades as well.

Before lunch, I usually spend my time checking emails, responding to Facebook posts and doing any kind of marketing that needs to be done for my books. I like to get that done early in the day so that it frees my mind up for more creative pursuits. Usually, that takes me all the way until lunchtime, and my brain is just starting to wake up.

After lunch, I usually do my writing or editing. If I'm working on a book, I will often go back and edit it in pieces so that I don't have to edit the whole thing at the end. This also reminds me where my story is going and allows me to read it just like a reader would. I usually spend my time from lunch until early afternoon doing my writing for the day.

Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, my kids' activities begin. At that point, we're usually on the road back-and-forth between activities until almost 8 o'clock at night. That means that we are often eating dinner very late.

Once we get home and eat dinner, we usually watch some TV together as a family and then the kids go to bed. Often, I will spend my quiet night time hours writing or maybe reading. I consider reading to be part of my research and development as an author.

There you have it! My day as an author! Not all days look like this, but many do. Either way, my goal is always to get some kind of writing done during the day.