What does a writer actually do all day?
Behind the writing desk, warts and all
When I was a child, one of my friends wrote to the queen and asked: what do you actually do all day?
It was a valid question. We were probably about ten years old, and had no idea what even regular jobs entailed, let alone being monarch.
Surprisingly, my friend got a reply – not from the queen herself, but from one of her ladies in waiting – describing the queen’s average daily routine. More accurately, telling my friend that the queen had no standard daily routine, because every day called for something different. An event. An opening. A meeting. A variety that we struggled to get our heads around.
Nowadays, a lot of people ask me the same question. What do you actually do all day?
Obviously I’m not saying my daily routine (or lack of it) is like the queen’s; I don’t have a butler, for starters. But I do think it’s worth addressing.
Recently, I’ve started posting day-by-day accounts to my Instagram stories. A kind of round-up of what each day behind the writing desk has looked like.
I’m also saving these as a highlights reel, so you can check that out here:
This has not only been a good way of sharing what my writing life looks like – and providing some transparency – around the (lack of) writing routine; it’s also helped to motivate me. If I’m sharing what I’ve achieved every day on social media, well then I’d better make sure I have something to share!
I’ve only been doing this for a week or so so far, but it’s already helping me to answer the question for myself: what do I actually do all day? Because sometimes as a writer, it can be easy to only focus on the big picture: the 80,000-word novel that needs writing. Or else to get wrapped up in the minutiae of a single verb, or comma. And to miss the in-between; to suddenly look around and wonder where the time actually went?
If you’re interested in what a writer’s day looks like, do follow along on Instagram.
And if you want to join in by sharing your own daily ‘behind the writing desk’, updates, tag me in your stories and I’ll give them a boost!
As always, best of luck, and happy writing x