On the blog today, I am really pleased to welcome one of my favourite authors – Sophie McKenzie to tell us about her writing day. The third book in Sophie’s romantic Flynn quartet – Casting Shadows was published yesterday. If you haven’t read the books in this series about Flynn and River then I would highly recommend them.
I’m usually up early on weekdays during the school term. Breakfast – Monday to Friday – tends to be just a bowl of cereal, though at weekends I love a bacon and egg sarnie with ketchup, yum!
As soon as my son has left for school, I start work. One of the best things about writing books for a living is being able to arrange your own schedule. I love the freedom of that! And I’m very happy in my own company for long periods, which is definitely important too. I spend a lot of time staring out of the window, imagining the next scene in my story – I see the setting and the characters, watching and listening to them move and speak, and imagining how they feel about what’s happening and how they will act and react - then I write it down.
I don’t have a rigid way of working. If I’m writing something new, rather than editing work already written, then I try and do at least one scene a day. I like having a goal, but it’s got to be realistic – there’s no point setting ridiculous targets for yourself then feeling bad when you don’t achieve them.
I drink lots of cups of tea and take a break to eat lunch when I start to feel hungry. I have quite a few writer friends who are also around during the day. When we get together for coffee or lunch we talk a lot about writing – things we find difficult… where we’re at with our latest books… other stories we’ve enjoyed… etc
I sometimes listen to music while I work – I often have a playlist for my main characters. Listening to ‘their’ songs gets me inside their head faster than anything else. I’ve done this a lot for River and Flynn.
Throughout the day, I’ll be checking in with Twitter and Facebook and responding to emails. That’s a fairly typical working week – weekends involve more going out and less writing, but my latest story is generally there at the back of my mind. All in all, I think I’m incredibly lucky that I get to spend every day doing something I love!
If you are intrigued about this series, you might want to read the free download of the pre-series novella written especially for World Book Day. Click the picture to follow the link.
To find out more about Sophie McKenzie:
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