Being an author and stay-at-home mom means I have a lot to get done every day. Between my kids, husband, dog, friends, family, and author career, I am swamped from morning to night. So, here's a look at what I do in a typical weekday.
Writing time with the doggo.
6:30AM
Wake for the day. Sometimes it's a little earlier if I'm not sleeping well. Other days, I sleep all the way to my alarm. I sneak out of bed and leave my husband there to get dressed in the bathroom with the clothes I set out the night before.
Feed Lulu. Empty the dishwasher. Make sure the kids are up and getting ready for school. Make tea. Sit with my phone to go through email and a little social media.
7:00AM
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, I have to drive my oldest to school because she has chorus on these mornings and it's too far for her to walk at like 6:45AM and still have time to get ready. I return home after this, finish my tea with a little more social media and email.
7:30AM
Start working. This is usually 15 minutes of getting myself warmed up by reading what I wrote the day before and then I start writing. If I'm not writing a book, this is the time to do other author things like making marketing images, scheduling social media posts, working on audiobooks, etc etc.
8:30AM
Second cup of tea. Keep working.
A typical walk in the park day!
10:00AM
Time for exercise! This means either I walk with and without Lulu (she only likes to walk a certain distance with me) or Peloton. Peloton time is usually a 30-minutes bike class, 10-min arms, 5-min stretch.
11:00AM
Done with exercising. I towel off and shower later. (Don't judge.) If it's a Wednesday or Friday, I take Lulu to daycare so she can play with other dogs and be fawned over for 5 hours straight. If it's another day, I do some house stuff or emails.
Lunch and some TV. Sometimes here at the kitchen island but usually on the couch.
11:30AM
Eat my first meal of the day. Relax. Watch a little TV.
12:30PM
Usually done with lunch. Shower time.
1:00PM/1:30PM
Make coffee and get back to work. Usually for this stretch, I try to get in the rest of my words for the day. I only write about 1500-2000 words per day usually. I'm not a 5-10k per day writer. My brain just doesn't work like that. Once the words are done, I move onto other author business stuff.
3:00PM
Usually my kids are home from school but not always. They walk so I don't have to pick them up unless the weather is crappy. By this time of the day, I'm pretty beat, even with the coffee in me. If I can stay awake, I keep working. If I can't, I nap. Even if I lay down, I may not always sleep, though. It's a toss-up. Some days, I also walk Lulu again during this hour.
4:00PM
By this time, my brain is mush. I tend to spend this hour Facebooking or Reddit reading or book reading or watching TV. If Lulu is at daycare, I pick her up and feed her.
Dinner and some TV. If I'm alone, I'm here on the couch. If I'm with my husband, we eat the island together. If it's the whole family, eat at the dining room table.
5:30PM-7:00PM
This is typical dinner time. The actual time fluctuates depending on evening activities like band or sports for the kids. My husband is the main cook in the family, but we still order takeout or do frozen meals, too. He works from home most days, so this is okay for us. I cook on Fridays, usually something that can be eaten for leftovers. Then I clean the kitchen. I always clean the kitchen. It's a treat to have someone else do it. My husband always walks Lulu during this time. If he's not home for the evening, I have to do it.
7:00PM-8:30PM
Sometimes this goes to 9:00PM depending on what I have to do. My husband takes this time to read or work on music or whatever. I will finish up any work tasks for the day and do my Duolingo.
Sleepy time on the couch at night.
9:00PM-10:00PM
TV time with my husband. The kids are usually winding down with their own shows in their rooms. They go to bed around 9:30PM.
10:30PM-11:00PM
Bedtime. There's always the wind-down time here. Starting the dishwasher, letting Lulu out one last time, getting her settled in for the night on the couch (she loves sleeping there), bathroom time, set out clothes for the next day, into bed, reading, etc before lights out.
So, in general, I am ON and working from 6:30AM to 8:30PM every day. On the weekends, I get to sleep in a little, but not much. I tend to do a similar schedule on the weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, because there is soooooo much work to do as an author, all by yourself. I outsource a few things, but the majority has to be done by me. The weekend does mean that I get to spend more time with my family, and I do that in the evenings mostly. Dinner together, maybe a movie. The kids have social lives, though, and they will spend time with friends, too. It's a fluid thing.
As for errands, grocery shopping, etc, I sacrifice writing time for that. Tuesdays, I tend to grocery shop in the latter part of my morning writing time before exercise. Some errands I run after lunch when I'm supposed to be working, too. This is just the way of things.
Hopefully, that gives you a peek at what I do! It's a lot and I have to fit it in as much as I can. If you're wondering where the gaming or reading or knitting time is, then you're not the only one. Lol. I don't always have time for downtime, sad to say. I have to take in chunks every few months. But this is what small business owners who are also parents have to do.
