Mark Terry

Friday, June 15, 2007

A Day In The Life Of A Writer


June 15, 2007


Yesterday was a not-quite-typical day, but I'm not sure I would call it rare, either, so I thought I'd give you a glimpse of Life Che Terry.

6:30--Get up to accompany oldest son while he gets ready for his last day at school.

6:55--Shower, etc.

7:20--Hit office, check e-mail, put up blog entry, e-mail editor at Midnight Ink re. THE SERPENT'S KISS proof.

7:45--wake up youngest son, get breakfast around.

8:30--Sean off to school. I take Frodo for a walk, but today I have a mission. I take a bag of 30 pre-cooked hotdogs and buns, each individually wrapped in foil, to Sean's school and drop off for their last day of school picnic.

9:00--home again from walk. Pour caffeinated beverage and hit office.

9:20--work on The Valley of Shadows.

10:10--go for 9 mile bike ride.

11:00--home again. Check e-mail, work on a profile of an anatomic pathology lab.

11:30--Ian home from school. Chat briefly.

11:45--Keep working on AP profile.

12:15--Sean home from school. I pull lunch together. We eat.

1:00--Finish AP profile, start making phone calls to set up more interviews.

3:00--Start pulling data--Spreadsheet City--about laboratory test volumes for various states. Simultaneously uploading music disk to iTunes on computer (yeah, I'm multitasking).

4:00--take a break and sync iPod. Newest tune: "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse. Newest uploaded disk: "Take The Weather With You" by Jimmy Buffett.

4:10--go back to pulling data.

4:30--go upstairs and put together waffle mix for dinner (breakfast for dinner tonight, what can I say?)

4:50--back in office, talk to NF publisher about AP profiles, databases and various deadlines.

5:00--back to pulling data

5:40--go upstairs, eat dinner, do dishes, read the newspaper.

6:45--back in office, pulling data

8:30--call it quits for the day.

8:30--watch a little TV, settle in to read, close down the pool for the evening

10:00--bedtime!

Cheers,

Mark Terry

2 Comments:

Blogger Spy Scribbler said...

Holy crap, you're quick in the shower. Your poor kids are still in school? (Or were?)

Man, you live the life of luxury. An iPod and a pool. And an iTunes account!

8:21 AM  
Blogger Mark Terry said...

Yeah, kids' last day was June 15th. A couple years ago they made a law that schools in Michigan couldn't start until after Labor Day. This was because so much of the state depends on the tourism industry in the summer, and they complained they were losing too much money because schools starting in late-August. Doesn't seem to me they're getting out much later than they used to, though.

Yeah, luxury. It's a new iPod video (sort of a half-Father's Day gift and half-Award Yourself For Working Hard Gift). I don't download too much from itunes--too easy to go crazy--but I do from time to time find something interesting or that I've always meant to buy.

9:17 AM  

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