{GUEST POST}: A Day of Writing by J.E. Shannon

I'm happy to have YA author, J.E. Shannon on the blog today. She's talking about what her typical writing day is like. So, take it away, J.E....

On an average morning my day starts much the same way that every mom’s day starts; with my four year old pouncing on my head. Or the dog, sometimes they take turns. This usually happens around six-thirty in the morning. Then I’ll groggily drag myself out of bed, and spend most of the day trying to entertain my four year old daughter. Plus letting the dog in and out...and in...and out. At least one of those times I will open the door, the dog will look at me quizzically, and not move at all. I will tap my foot. The dog will look at my foot, then back at me, but still won’t move. This goes on for at least two minutes before she meanders through the door like royalty. Does anyone else’s dog do that, or is this just payback for the one time I accidentally shut the door on her head? I apologized profusely for that by the way.

            That’s how a normal day goes, but writing days...ah, writing days are special. I still get my head pounced on; I mean it could be Christmas and my head would still get pounced on, so writing days are no exception, but I get to lounge in bed for a little while longer. My husband takes care of the rest. I call this “thinking time” when really I’m usually dozing back off. Shhh....

            Then I’ll run a hot bath. I take a book in there with me, and it’s almost always one of The Hunger Games books. I’m not sure why, but I tend to write better after reading them. It gets my head in the game. Those books are where I want mine to be, so reading them before I go write inspires me to do my best.

            After the bath it’s a flurry of managing the house and getting myself ready. Inevitably, it also includes a search for something. I can ace a game of Harry Potter Trivia without blinking an eye, but for the life of me I can’t remember where I put my keys five minutes ago. Go figure.

            After that I leave the house, with my laptop stowed under my arm. If I tried to write from home I would be interrupted every fifteen seconds, which does not make for productive writing. Sometimes the wrong characters get killed off out of pure frustration. Which maybe isn’t such a bad thing. I mean look how great that works for George R.R. Martin.

            Anyway, nine times out of ten I end up a Panera. In fact the people there know me so well that they usually have my plate and my total waiting for me by time I reach the counter. I’m not sure if that’s really awesome, or really lame. Sometimes I want to tell them, “Oh, I was going to get something different today”, just to mess with them. But I really like those cinnamon bagels, so I never do.

            I know quite a few others also follow my Panera pattern and we usually exchange cheerful greetings. A lot of them are also writers, so we’ll talk about our projects for a little bit. Then I go find my seat. Most times I browse the internet while I eat my apparently predictable bagel. I’ll send a few fun Tweets, or a few funny Facebook messages. By then I’m in a terrific mood. I’ll open up my latest work in progress and then...write a scene where a major character gets half their face blown off. Isn’t being a writer awesome?

            I’ll sit in that place for a couple hours, or however long it takes to reach my word goal; which usually sits in the twenty five hundred range. When I really get into it I’ll have absolutely no idea what’s going on around me. The place could get robbed and I wouldn’t bat an eyelash. Those are my favorite days. When I wrote Awakenings, I could sit for hours and not move an inch. I love the characters in that book so much, even though I made them go through terrible things. I would get so caught up in that world of loss and revenge, new friendships and strong connections; I’d blink and three hours would have passed. It was amazing.

            I love what I do. I can’t imagine a better line of work. I cherish my writing days, but I also love coming home and having my head pounced on. I guess I’m weird like that.

LOL! J.E., this sounds so much like me it's scary. My dogs do that, too, and I have a cat that insists on walking over my lap (where my laptop sits) a dozen times until I make room for her to lay down. Okay, so, tell us about your new book, Awakenings.

 

 

 

 Evie Shepard awakens to a nightmare. She's been buried alive and has no idea how or why. As she struggles to remember what happened, she begins to notice changes -- heightened senses, as well as increased speed, agility, and strength. And her heart no longer beats. She soon makes a disturbing discovery: she wasn't buried alive; she was murdered. Somehow, she has come back...and she wants revenge.

BUY LINKS:  Amazon /  Kobo  /  Barnes & Noble








ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

J. E. Shannon currently lives in Florida, but is a Missouri native. She spends most of her time reading, writing, and taking care of her small child and two crazy dogs. Visit her at www.jeshannonbooks.com. You can also find J.E. on Facebook, Twitter, and her blog.

Giveaway:

 

To celebrate her new release, JE Shannon is giving away a Kindle with an ecopy of Awakenings (US only). One runner-up will win an ecopy of Awakenings (open internationally). You can enter here: http://bit.ly/13v1u59