by Christy Barritt, @christybarritt
Ever wonder what the typical day might look like for a full-time indie writer? I’ve had several people ask me this very question, so I thought I’d record one day in my life and share my schedule with you!
6:00 a.m.—Wake up, have coffee, get ready for day.
7:30— Kids leave for school, read emails, check sales numbers, make to-do list.
8:30— Call mother to check on her, eat breakfast.
9:00—Email assistant so she can fact check some details from previous books in my series.
Look for paperwork on my S-Corp so I can meet with my financial planner later.
Email graphic designers about reworking some old covers, developing new covers for 2019, and designing a paperback for an upcoming release.
Read the back cover copy for upcoming release and make sure it still sounds good.
9:30— Dig into edits that were sent to be the night before.
11:30— Send edits back to editor.
Stretch my legs and get some water.
Let my dogs out.
Snitch some of my kids Halloween candy.
12:00— Begin working on my newest book. I’m 11,000 words in, and I must go back and check some notes I made to myself about changes that need to be made.
Work on making those changes and adding a couple new scenes.
1:00— Kids are home from school. Eat lunch. Talk about day.
1:30— Kids do homework, have quiet time.
Write 2000 words.
2:30— Meet with financial planner. He comes to the house. While he’s typing in some information, I use my computer to search through some stockphoto images for an upcoming series. I’m no good at being bored and doing nothing. ☺
4:30— Make dinner because we must eat early due to church in the evening.
5:30— Go to church. We get there early because my husband is on staff, so I have some time to kill. I’ve sent what I already wrote on my new book to my Kindle app, so I read it and edit while I wait.
6:30—People begin arriving at church. Put away work.
9:00— Get home, get ready for bed, watch TV for an hour.
10:00—Go to bed. Think about the scenes I want to write for my work in progress tomorrow.
So there you have it! although, I will say there is no “typical” day. When I’m writing the first draft of my book, I try to get in 20,000 words per week, which boils down to 4,000 words per day for five days a week.
You can take the detective out of the investigation, but you can’t take the investigator out of the detective.
A notorious gang puts a bounty on Detective Cady Matthews’s head after she takes down their leader, leaving her no choice but to hide until she can testify at trial. But her temporary home across the country on a remote North Carolina island isn’t as peaceful as she initially thinks.
Living under the new identity of Cassidy Livingston, she struggles to keep her investigative skills tucked away, especially after a body washes ashore. When local police bungle the murder investigation, she can’t resist stepping in. But Cassidy is supposed to be keeping a low profile. One wrong move could lead to both her discovery and her demise.
Can she bring justice to the island . . . or will the hidden currents surrounding her pull her under for good?
Christy Barritt
USA Today has called Christy Barritt’s books “scary, funny, passionate, and quirky.”
A Publishers Weekly bestseller, Christy writes both mystery and romantic suspense novels that are clean with underlying messages of faith. Her book, Hazardous Duty, is currently being made into a movie, and her Worst Detective Ever series has been optioned for film.
Christy spent six weeks straight as the #1 author on Amazon in the Religion and Spirituality category, and she’s sold more than 1.4 million copies of her novels. Her books have won the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Suspense and Mystery, have been twice nominated for the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, and have finaled for both a Carol Award and Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year.
She’s married to her prince charming, a man who thinks she’s hilarious—but only when she’s not trying to be. Christy’s a self-proclaimed klutz, an avid music lover who’s known for spontaneously bursting into song, and a road trip aficionado.
Christy currently splits her time between the Virginia suburbs and Hatteras Island, North Carolina.
For more information, visit her website: www.christybarritt.com.