Guest Post by @RSinclairAuthor #BlogTour @Bloodhoundbook

I’m delighted to host a guest post by popular author, Rob Sinclair as he tours the blog-o-sphere with his latest release, The Red Cobra.

A typical writing day

When I was given the idea of writing a blog about what constitutes a typical writing day for me – about three weeks ago now – I was in a good run of form drafting my latest book. At that point I thought I new exactly what I’d write about; the process I go through to draft a new book. Now, though, three weeks later, I’m struggling a bit because I’m just not sure that ‘typical’ is really the right word to describe what I was going to say.

The answer I’d intended to give, and the one I often give to people when they ask about how I write a book, is this: Quite a long time ago I decided on setting myself a word target each day. 4,000 was the number I chose. I really can’t remember why now, perhaps it was from my first couple of drafts, a daily average I’d noticed emerging. Wherever it came from it stuck, and I’m still using that target now, in the middle on my eighth draft. Targets like that aren’t for everyone, but for me it’s a great motivator. When I hit the target it always give me a real sense of satisfaction, and it really helps to break down the writing process into manageable chunks. Starting on day one with 80,000 words left to write is really daunting, so just taking it one day at a time helps a lot. 4,000 words a day might sound a lot, but I’ve found it easily achievable when I’m in the zone, usually taking me 4-5 hours of solid writing, followed by 1-2 hours of read through.

You might compute, therefore, that if I write 4,000 words a day, for five days each week, aiming for a draft of 80,000 words, that I could write thirteen books a year!!? So why am I only planning on writing two this year? Well, firstly because of editing. 4,000 words a day is just my drafting stage. Before publication I’ll go back through a book maybe as many as ten times, editing and re-editing and sometimes re-writing. Each of those read throughs can take anywhere from a week to a month. Still, that should equate to more than two books, surely? Maybe three or four at least?

But then you need to factor in that BIG missing ingredient; life. And by that I don’t mean playing golf and watching movies (well, not just those two things, anyway)…

The thing is, I’m not just a writer, I’m a stay at home dad as well. I have two sons, six and four, and my wife works full time. I (usually happily) pick up virtually all the childcare duties during the working week, whether it be breakfast, school runs, dinner, bedtimes, school holidays, sick days, teacher training days etc etc. That right there is a big chunk of my available time in the working week gone. When there’s no pre or post school club for the kids to go to my working hours are immediately cut to 9am-3pm. Suddenly 4,000 words a day becomes a bit more of a challenge.

Then there’s everything else that comes with being in the house all day, everyday. Cooking, cleaning, washing, gardening. That’s just the usual stuff. Oh, last week we were burgled, so I spent a whole day the day after organising new locks and security upgrades and talking to insurance and the police. The week before we had a carpenter putting in some new doors so I spent three days afterwards painting and finishing everything off. Today I’m writing blogs for the blog tour of my upcoming release of The Red Cobra. I do my own taxes, and keep my own business records, which takes time all the time. We’re in the process of remortgaging, which I always think will be simple, but which never is, and I’ve lost count of how much time I’ve lost, sat listening to the same music on hold to the bank the last couple of weeks. My phone broke the other day, cue 3 hours trying to get the new phone I bought to take the iPhone back-up without any hitches. We had leaking pipes outside. I’ve tried my best to fix it all – still monitoring as to whether or not I managed it. Today we’ve got a leaking toilet! Guess that needs sorting tomorrow. Plus please don’t forget the very important ‘me’ time I allow myself every now and then; exercise, reading a book, watching a movie. Oh yeah, and it’s a lovely sunny day today, I think spring has arrived. I’m expecting the annual list of the jobs that need doing in the jungle… I mean garden, to come from my wife any day now. Walls will need to be built, or repointed. Patios slabs cleaned – probably grouted too. Paint will be needed out there somewhere. Trees and hedges cut. Lawns mowed. And there’s always LOTS of digging involved.

But please, don’t think I’m complaining about any of this. It’s the life I’ve chosen. I really enjoy being a writer, setting my own rules, and writing when I want to (and can), but at the same time keeping the house and family together, and having the time to do all of those odd jobs in and around the house to make sure weekends are still free for the wife and kids. Plus, at least I’m not stuck in an office all day, like I used to be, working to someone else’s agenda. I never got along with that.

Coming back to the main point, then, is that when I think about the question at hand here: What does my typical writing day look like? The best answer I can give is that there’s no such thing as a typical day for me. And that’s perhaps the thing I love about being a writer the most.

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