Hello and welcome to "A Day in the Life of..."©, a featured guest post exclusive to my blog that's published on Mondays and sometimes, on Thursdays. On these two days, a spotlight guest will share a normal day in their lives, giving us insight on their thoughts, projects, interests, obsessions and more. Occasionally, and if we're lucky, they'll even throw in a giveaway.
And now on with the show...
Today I have the pleasure of featuring the lovely Jaidis Shaw. Jaidis is not only a writer, but she's also a
freelance editor and promoter for other authors. She juggles a career and family in her home in South Carolina. Let's check out her day, shall we?
ABOUT JAIDIS SHAW
Jaidis Shaw currently
resides in a small town located in South Carolina with her husband and
beautiful daughter. With a passion for reading, Jaidis can always be found
surrounded by books and dreaming of new stories. She enjoys challenging herself
by writing in different genres and currently has several projects in the works.
When not reading or
writing, Jaidis maintains her blog Juniper Grove and helps promote her fellow
authors. In addition to her free promotion services, she uses her experience in
publicity to offer freelance author services.
Connect with Jaidis:
A
Day in the Life of Jaidis Shaw
Let me start by first saying that my schedule is very
erratic. Factors like if I have plans the next day or if my hubby has school
will determine how my day goes. So, for the sake of sanity, I will try and show
you what my days look like when the hubby is off to school since Fall semester
will be starting soon.
7:00 AM – Alarm #
1 goes off and is met with an enthusiastic greeting. And by enthusiastic
greeting I mean tugging the cord, thus pulling the clock from underneath the
bed, switching the alarm off and tossing it back into the oblivion that is
under the bed. Yes, I keep my alarm under the bed. That is perfectly normal.
Right? No? Oh well. I do it because even on its dimmest setting, the clock
gives off so much light that I can’t sleep at night and keeping it under the
bed blocks the majority of the light.
7:03 AM – Alarm #
2 goes off and I gently hit the snooze button. Why the change of heart where
the evil that is known as alarm clocks is concerned? Easy! It is because the
second alarm is on my phone, and I don’t want to hurt my phone.
7:05 AM – Alarm #
2 goes off again and I have no other choice than to force myself from the warm
embrace of my blankets, sit up and wonder if I can get away with going back to
bed.
7:06 AM – I have
determined that going bed to impossible and so I get up and begin my daily
duties, the first being that I have to wake my husband up so that he can start
getting ready for school.
7:10 AM –
I head to the kitchen but before I am able to get three steps in the room, the dogs demand their bowls be filled. At least they aren’t as demanding as an old cat we used to have. He could really be a fighter if he wanted to. Maybe the dogs got beat up so often that they try the ‘kill her with kindness’ method…otherwise known as the ‘dance around her legs so she can’t walk without tripping and whine constantly until she caves’ method….lol. After they are satisfied, I begin making a lunch for the hubby to take to school. While doing this task, I make a mental note to teach him how to make his own lunch.
7:11 AM – Erase
previous mental note. If he hasn’t learned by now, the chances of him learning
are slim to none.
7:30 AM – Hubby
is out the door and I stand in the silent house and debate whether I should try
going back to bed or if I should check my emails. I make the decision to check
my emails and Facebook for a few minutes and then go back to bed so I head to
my office to begin the first task.
9:30 AM – I am
still online. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that going back to bed
was impossible because let’s face it…once Facebook sinks its claws in you,
there is no escaping. I have answered the bulk of my emails, returned messages
on Facebook and tweets on Twitter, hopped on Amazon and GoodReads to see if any
new reviews or ratings have come in and begun the process of formatting posts
for my blog.
10:00 AM – Hubby
calls around this time to update me about his day. I reply with enthusiasm but
can’t help but look at the clock and calculate how much time I have left before
he arrives home.
10:10 AM – I make
a mental note of the chores that I need to accomplish for the day and
approximately how much time they will take. I decide I still have some time and
begin doing promotion work for any clients that I have at the time.
11:50 AM - My
daughter decides to wake from her slumber and I get her settled with breakfast
(or really lunch) and her favorite Barbie Mermaid DVD. I realize that I haven’t
eaten yet so I fix me something (usually a sandwich), fill my favorite pink
cherry blossom cup with water flavored with Raspberry Lemonade Propel Zero, and
return to my office to check if any new messages have been received.
12:45 PM – A
glance at the clock and I know I have to get started on the cleaning. I start a
load of laundry, straighten up the living room, and then head to the kitchen to
wash up any dishes, telling myself the rest can wait until tomorrow.
1:35 PM - I am
still cleaning the house. Somehow the chores that had been deemed worthy of
waiting until another day vetoed my vote and made sure that they got done today.
Floors swept and mopped. Book cases organized, DVDs put away on the appropriate
shelf by genre. All laundry folded and put away. Trash taken out and dogs let out to play.
3:20 PM – My
daughter decides she is done with Barbie and it is time to start her school work.
Of course, she isn’t even in school yet but there is nothing wrong with getting
an early start. She just started learning addition and subtraction, so she sits
at a table next to my desk and begins. If I have any editing work, I begin
tackling that manuscript while she works; only coming to me when she has
questions….which is often.
4:05 PM – Math
work is complete- ie: she has gotten bored with it - and she decides what task
she wants to do next. Normally it is to watch another Barbie DVD, or color, or
read a book (even though she doesn’t know how to read yet) and so that ensues.
Meanwhile, I go back to editing/working and checking Facebook yet again.
5:00 PM – The
hubby is usually home by this time and begins cooking dinner. Yes, he does the cooking…SCORE! We sit
down to eat as a family and then usually watch a movie.
8:00 PM – Hubby
begins homework, my daughter is playing quietly with her imaginary friends and
I retreat back to my office.
12:00 AM – Hubby
goes to bed and I get my daughter bathed and in bed. I read her a story…or
five…until she passes out and I return to my office, yet again, grabbing a cold
Red Bull along the way.
1:00 AM - This is
the magic hour because it is finally ‘me’ time. I bring up Pandora and put my
headphones on, always leaving my right ear uncovered so that I can listen to
the sounds of the house - aka listen to see if my daughter gets back up. I open
the Red Bull, drinking in the energizing nectar and pull up my current WIP and
begin the writing process. During breaks of writing, I am checking in on
Facebook or chatting with my author friends who are still up at this hour.
The above task lasts until around 3 or 4 AM when I decide I
must get to bed if I am going to hear the alarm the next morning. I save my
progress twice, always twice, and close down my computer before falling into
the bed exhausted.
Thank you, Jaidis, for sharing your day with us and thank you, readers for taking the time to stop by. I hope that you've enjoyed today's
"A Day in the Life of..."
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