Blog tour: Guest blog post with Barry Hutchison

As part of his blog tour, Barry has kindly written a schedule of what happens in a typical day of writing for him. All I will say is that perfecting the art of procrastination is often teamed up with writing novels. A big thank you for Barry giving us a slice of his life. 

My Writing Day – by Barry Hutchison

Not all writing days are the same, but the one below is fairly standard. Sometimes I achieve a lot more than this. Other days, much as I hate to admit it, I achieve less.

5:30 am: Awoken by the sound of my 2-year-old daughter shouting. Look at bedside clock. Pretend to be asleep so my partner gets up. It’s my turn, though, and she’s having none of it. Weep openly as I get out of bed.

5:31 am: Find 2-year-old daughter bouncing on her bed. Next four hours pass in a blur of breakfasts, nappies, Dora the Explorer, and bringing my 9-year-old to school.

9:30 am: Have a nice cup of tea and a sit down.

10:00 am: Start work, determined to achieve a high word count so as not to miss looming deadline.

10:03 am: Check Twitter. Tut quietly that Justin Bieber is trending again. Wonder who these Jonas people are.

11:45 am: Realise I’ve done nothing productive for almost two hours. Open latest book in Word. Read over the last few pages from yesterday to get myself back up to speed.

11:50 am: Check Facebook. Leave a comment on a funny picture of someone’s cat.

12:30 pm: Realise I’ve done nothing productive for almost two hours. Again. Check through my story notes, ready to continue writing current book.

12:35 pm: Lunch.

1:30 pm: Give myself a telling off for achieving nothing thus far. Head back to work with renewed determination.

1:35 pm: Check email.

2:00 pm: Finish replying to emails.  Write blog post about procrastination.

2:15 pm: Realise there is one hour left until my son finishes school. Write madly for the next 45 minutes, completely ignoring plot notes.

3:00 pm: Speed off in car to collect son from school. Spend the next five hours doing family stuff.

8:00 pm: Sneak away to squeeze in a few extra hours of writing.

8:05 pm: Check Twitter, Facebook, email, etc. Reply to comments about the funny cat.

11:00 pm: Switch computer off and call it a day.

Make sure you've read my review of Invisible Fiends: Doc Mortis, the latest book by Barry.