Day in the Life of Fiona Harper

I’m an early bird – one of those disgusting people whose eyes ping open on at seven am and is up and raring to go. Mind you, with two daughters to feed and pack off to school, I have to be. As every mum knows, it’s good to multitask – which I do by eating my breakfast in front of the computer while I check my emails and read other authors’ blogs.

After the whirlwind of getting ready for school, my day goes in one of two ways: three days a week I head off to my part-time job, but on Mondays and Fridays, I get to stay home and write (yippee!). Well, to be realistic, I get to squeeze the writing in between grocery shopping, laundry, housework etc.

If I can, I sit down at my laptop as soon as I get back from the school run (a walk of three minutes, thank goodness) and I’ll plot and plan and write. I find it easier to focus in the mornings, so I try and save the chores for later if possible. I tend to write in one hour chunks, so when I’ve run out of steam, I’ll grab a cup of coffee or load the washing machine and then I get back to work. If the words aren’t flowing I might write a blog entry or tinker with my website – or any other displacement activity you care to mention, including sitting at my desk, staring out of the window and watching planes fly by.

Three fifteen is school pick up time, so I tend to wind up by three o’clock. If the words are flowing particularly well, I’ve learned that I need an alarm to jerk me out of my imaginary world. On more than one occasion I have been a streak of lightning running down the road at ten past three. The rest of the early evening is spent cooking, checking spellings and supervising homework, although I may be able to grab half an hour to write if I’m lucky.

My husband is in at seven and the cooking starts again. Hopefully, the last child is in bed by eight thirty. If I’m on a roll or a deadline is looming, I’ll sneak back up to the desk in the corner of my bedroom and get a bit more work done, although I can be lured down if one of my favourite TV shows is on, especially Grey’s Anatomy or Gilmore Girls.

I would love to be one of those writers who can keep scribbling into the small hours of the morning, but the downside of being an early bird is that by eleven o’clock you will find me either lapsing into unconsciousness on the sofa in front of a forensic TV show, or tucked up in bed with a book from my ever-increasing ‘to be read’ pile.

Occasionally, I get to do glamorous things, such as attending awards lunches or going to parties, but the most accurate picture of my writing life is me in my tracksuit hunched over the laptop on the little desk tucked away in the corner of my bedroom.