As full-time author’s, we are often asked what our actual day looks like, from the time we wake up till the time we go to sleep… I’m not sure why people are fascinated with this life, but I guess when you’ve never experienced doing your own thing, it can leave you wondering…
Well wonder no more! Below is a ‘page’ from Lise’s diary that will set your mind at ease and bring you inside the life of an authorpreneur…
Diary of an Authorpreneur
5:00am
“What is that noise? Oh crap, it’s the alarm…” Lise fumbles around for her iPhone, barely able to keep her eyes open because they are full of sleepy dust.
Yes, I get up at 5am and more often than not, I’m trying to turn the alarm off before it wakes my husband, who is NOT a morning person (but who also works from home).
I’m someone that is instantly awake as soon as that alarm goes off, well maybe not instantly… give me like five minutes, gotta wipe the sleepy dust outta my eyes first!
5:10am
Coffee. I need coffee…
Depending on the day of the week, I’ll either be dressed still in my jammies, or I will have changed into my gym gear. Today, it’s gym day, so I’m heading to the kitchen to make my coffee. Without that coffee, my brain is sluggish and anything that comes out of my mouth before this point is complete and utter dribble…
Now, I’m not just drinking any kind of coffee. In fact, I don’t like coffee at all. I won’t buy coffee from the supermarket, nor will I drink coffee at a coffee shop. The only coffee I’m drinking is made by a company called Organo Gold. Yes it’s network marketing, no I’m not trying to sell you on it, yes it’s bloody good for you and no you can’t have any of mine!
This is the only coffee I can bring myself to drink and the only reason I’m drinking it is because it’s full of ganoderma… gano-what? Wikipedia will help you out here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganoderma
It’s my secret weapon and how I manage to stay completely focused and on task without taking any of those brain drugs that everyone talks about in the entrepreneurial world… I’m talking nootropics.
Anyway, I digress. So I head to the kitchen, fill the jug with water and put it on to boil. While this is happening, I get my cup of coffee ready (one sugar) and also make hubby’s cup of tea — at least I prep it, he’s not gonna be awake until at least 8am, at which point I’ll make it for him and deliver it to him in bed 🙂 Yes he’s a lucky man!
5:30am
Meditate — at least attempt to. I’m trying to do this, honestly. But it really is hard. Have you ever tried to sit still for 10 minutes with your eyes closed, just breathing in and out? I don’t know about you, but bloody Neville keeps chattering inside my head…
“God Lise, your lower butt is sore, you better stretch that out or you’re gonna be sorry!”
“Don’t forget that you need to write that blog post for the blog, oh and share that thing on social media, plus email Liz about Location Rebel, and pay the rent…”
Neville is kinda painful… Who is Neville? He’s my subconscious, that inner voice that is always bringing caution, worry and reminders to the forefront!
And yes I’ve named him Neville. 😉
I’m using an app called “Calm” to help with the meditation thing. So far I’ve managed 3 days in a row… let’s see how that pans out for the rest of the week!
5:45am
Time to fire up my computer. I LOVE my Macbook Air. I used to have a Toshiba, but was sick of it running so slow and getting viruses all the time. My husband has had a Macbook Pro since I’ve known him, so I’ve always been a little jealous of his computer, so when we decided to move to Thailand for three months back in Nov 2013, I took the opportunity to upgrade then.
I’ve never looked back.
So I turn on Mackie (yes I tend to name everything!) and fire up my emails and Slack. A few messages pop up on Slack from Steve:
Almost out of part 3 on Dixxon — part 4 will go fast — part 3 will be 7k probably same on part 4 — 45-50k
Slack is what we use to communicate about EVERYTHING!
I check through my three email accounts. I just do a quick scan, deal with anything urgent (thankfully nothing today) and then I check my Todoist to see what’s on the plan for the day.
Here’s a quick screenshot:
These are just some of the standing items I have going, reminders of things that need to be done etc.
Once that’s done, I set my Focus@Will app for 60 minutes and write on whatever book project I’m working on. Today, I’m finishing off a creative journal that I’ve been wanting to do for ages! It’s going to be in paperback only, because you can’t write on a Kindle and this journal is made to be written in! I can’t wait to get it up on Createspace 🙂
7:00am
Oops, husband’s awake. Time to fire up the kettle and get his tea ready…
For about half an hour, I’ll chat with hubby, talking about what happened overnight sales wise (in his business) and what I’m up to today. He likes to languish in bed for a few hours before getting up.
I absolutely cannot do this. If I’m awake, I need to be doing something…
7:30am
Breakfast time! Nothing mouthwatering though… during the week I’ll just have a protein shake. I crack the lid on that, down it in a few sips and then back to my desk.
Now it’s time to attack that to-do list!
8:30am
Exercise time. For me, exercise is a non-negotiable. It never gets moved off my list. I use exercises from my book, No Gym Needed and my 30-Day Challenge to keep fit. Thankfully, we have plenty of open space in our lounge/dinning room area so it’s easy enough for me to get in the 30 minutes of exercise I allocate.
Some days, I might head outside and do my workout, but with it being right in the middle of summer here in Australia, that has lessened because it is so hot outside!
Today, as Neville reminded me, my right butt is playing up again, I pulled something about two months ago and now if I don’t stretch daily, it shoots pain down the right side of my leg… I tell myself it’s not because I’m getting older — but who am I kidding?! LOL.
Exercised. Check. Stretched. Check.
Shower, a little bit of relaxation and then back to the grind…
10:00am
This is where I break my day up into action blocks. From 10am-1pm I’m in my second morning action block, where I’ll attack the tasks on my to-do list and deal with any client work I happen to be doing.
Today, I’m working with a client on her non-fiction book that she’s creating as a freebie to her email list. I’m tweaking it for her and then turning it into a beautiful PDF with the magic of Scrivener and Canva.com.
I love working with other authors and creating something their readers will love, so this doesn’t feel like work to me at all.
1:00pm
Lunchtime! I should mention here that my husband and I do what’s called “flexible dieting” where we count macro’s. We do this because with both have a sweet tooth and by counting our macro’s, we can eat something sweet every day without it causing our bodies to store it as fat.
It’s a pretty sweet deal as far as I’m concerned and it’s also the topic of my next book!!
So for lunch, I’m eating these delicious egg omelette muffins. I make mine with 3 whole eggs and then 3 egg whites to make it even healthier and to reduce cholesterol. I eat 3-4 for lunch with some chipotle mayo! Yum.
You can grab the recipe below!
2:00pm
This is my afternoon action block and is quite flexible… I’m not great at working in the afternoons, so I’ll typically leave things like research, reading or learning to this action block and by about 3:30pm, I’m kinda done.
Today, I’m really fidgety, I’ve got a bit of cabin fever so I’m done at 3pm, heading downstairs to my local cafe for a delicious choc muffin and a chai latte!
3:00pm-11:00pm
Whatever I like! I’m waiting on Steve to finish writing the first draft of Dixxon, and I’m restless, so there is no point trying to force myself to do any further work aka writing.
I know myself pretty well now and if I force myself into doing some writing now, I’m gonna do more damage and besides, the whole point of working for myself is flexibility and I know that tomorrow morning, I’ll double my word count because I ALWAYS write better in the mornings!
The evening consists of chicken tacos, binge watching Netflix (Making a Murderer – OMG) and chatting with my husband!
And that, my friends, is the day in the life of this authorpreneur. Nothing overly exciting, because we’re in work mode right now. But at the end of February, we are taking 4 days off for our wedding anniversary and heading away to Melbourne. Can’t wait!
