Crazy.

I agree with Tracy--this is going to be a really fun week! I also love to hear about other writers' schedules...mainly because I always want to know how someone else "does it."

As a tender young child, I assumed that when I had my first book published, well, that was what I would do for a living. (In fact, I've come to realize that 99% of people I meet assume I write full-time also.) And well, with the first time advance for a new author not being quittin'-your-day-job kind of money (Because I am not Stephenie Meyer. Damnit.), I work full-time in addition to writing. Now, don't get me wrong, my day job is great, but sometimes I feel like I have to wear so many hats throughout the day that my poor little head is going to cave in.

Throw in two cats, a dog, a husband, a toddler and a house with dust that reproduces at the rate of a fruit fly, and you understand why I recently joined a Wine of the Month Club. And let's not even talk about planning book promotions for A BUMP IN THE ROAD, edits on Book #2 and revising of my YA book. Oh, and apparently the new standard is to put out a book a year, so I'll have to find time to finish ANOTHER book by the end of the year.

It also does not help that I can't keep my eyes open past 11pm most nights, so pulling all-nighters with my writing is kind of out. I fear the prose that would wind up on the page after midnight...it would probably sound like I was on some serious hallucinogenics.

Although no day is typical with my toddler (Depends on if Evil Child or Angel Child joins us that day), here's a little run down of yesterday:

7:00am: Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.

7:30am: Finally get out of bed. Accidentally step on cat, causing screeching, biting and hissing. Sort of feel bad, but kind of don't. Fetch Toddler out of crib. Ignore as he shrieks, kicks and flails while I change his diaper. Sort of feel bad, but kind of don't.

7:30am-8:30am: Get self ready for work and Toddler ready so my husband can drop him off at the baby sitter's house. Use Jack's Big Music Show as child sedative so I can blowdry my hair. Leave for work. Pick up coffee on my way into work. (This is a must--my husband told me last week that when I don't drink coffee in the morning I'm "cranky," I "complain a lot" and "sigh loudly." Sounds pretty accurate.)

8:30-5:00pm: Day job.

5:30pm-8:00pm: Come home, cook dinner, sweep up kitty litter that the cats have thrown around during the day. Deal with approximately 1,345,678 temper tantrums and time-outs thanks to end-of-the-day Toddler Exhaustion/Apocalypse.

8:00pm: Put Toddler down to bed. Sit on couch, beg husband to use the laptop. He begrudgingly hands it over, depressed that he has to leave Facebook and ESPN websites.

8:00pm-10:00pm: Writing-related activities. Research, revisions, actual writing, book promotion, etc.

10:00-10:30pm: Read trashy magazines in effort to reset my brain for the next day. At the end of the day, reading about Lindsay Lohan's relationship problems is about all my overloaded mind can handle.

10:30pm: Pass out.

Despite all of the craziness, and despite still having hope that I'll be able to pursue writing at least part-time, my insane life is great. If nothing else, it gives me tons of material and fodder for my fiction. Like last week, when I was reading an email from my agent after just getting home from work. I was still in my work clothes, perched on my bed, squinting at my laptop.

So my son decided that was the perfect chance to take his diaper off, run around naked and shriek. I peered around the corner, saw his naked butt scampering off and smiled. Because I knew I had at least three more minutes to finish reading my email.

Ah, the life of a working mom!