A Day in the Life of... Madeline Hunter!!

Welcome to Stitch Read Cook's weekly feature!!

A Day in the Life of..

This is where us bloggers & fans get a glimpse inside the days of our favorite authors!

Today we have the lovely Madeline Hunter!!

About Madeline:

Madeline Hunter has published twenty critically acclaimed historical romances. Her very first novel made national bestseller lists and her books regularly appear on the New York Times and USAToday bestseller lists. Over four million copies of her books are in print and her books have been translated into thirteen languages. She has won two RITA awards and is a seven-time RITA finalist.

Madeline’s most recent book, Dangerous in Diamonds, was the last in a quartet called The Rarest Blooms series. This series features a group of women living on the fringes of both London and society during the Regency period, at a property where they maintain a flower and plant growing business. Each woman in turn  matches wits with a man of higher birth as she seeks to solve an intrigue that complicates her life, her future, and sometimes threatens her place in the world. Although the four books tie together through characters and settings, each one can be read as a stand alone novel.

Madeline holds a Ph.D. in Art History, which she teaches at the university level. She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted through her website: www.MadelineHunter.com. Her next novel, The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne, will be published in March 2012 and starts a new series.

You can follow Madeline on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MadelineHunter

A Day in the Life of Madeline Hunter

8:00: I wake up just when dear husband leaves for work. I notice the time and momentarily wonder if it is a day job day for me too. I realize it isn’t and snuggle back onto my pillow. I experience a touch of nostalgia for the days when my sons were young and I had to get up now too, but my sentimentality for those hectic mornings passes fast.

9:00: Not really having slept again, I drag myself out of bed. I grumble at my stiffness and remember that when I was 30 I was never stiff in the morning. I take a shower and feel better.

9:30: I have my first cup of coffee while I read the newspaper, and wonder just when I stopped reading the comics and whether it even makes sense to subscribe to a paper anymore.

10:00: I sit down at my computer. I open all the files for the book I am writing, then minimize them all so I can check email.

11:00: I close my email, and tell myself that I really have to stop reading it first because it always eats up at least an hour. I check my group blog and comment. I check my day job email. Big mistake. Two emergencies require my attention. I make phone calls. I notice how much of the morning has passed, and vow to rise at 6 in the future.

12:00: Finally, time to get to work. However I remember that  I forgot to eat breakfast. I should probably eat lunch or I might faint, right? Not to mention protein makes your brain work better. I get up from the computer to fix lunch.

12:30: I am still sitting at the kitchen table. Lunch is finished, but something in the newspaper caught my eye.

1:00: I must get some writing done, darn it. I open my current manuscript and remember with smug glee that I wrote ten pages yesterday so I should not feel so guilty today. I read those ten pages and discover that on the last three I stopped using verbs in my sentences. I decide to take just a few minutes to do some editing.

2:30: I force myself to stop editing, but reassure myself that it had to be edited at some point, so I have not wasted 90 minutes. I get my head in “writing up a storm” mode, but then remember that I stopped where I did yesterday because it was time for the BIG LOVE SCENE. Unfortunately, BIG LOVE SCENES can’t be written in the middle of the afternoon. I have to be fresh. I need to be creativity personified. Instead I am at the low point in my bio-rhythms and thinking a nap would be a good idea.

2:45: On the theory that I can always fix it later, I start writing the BIG LOVE SCENE. I observe, yet once again, that the English language is very limited when it comes to words to describe what I am writing, especially since I refuse to use any four letter ones or really crude ones.

3:15: One page written and I am exhausted. I stand and stretch, annoyed because when I was 30 I could sit in a chair for hours on end and not need to stretch. I go and get some coffee.

4:00: Back in chair, I give my email a quick check. I answer some emails that need attendance because otherwise I will forget about them.

4:30: Four thirty already??!! The day is gone and I have one lousy page written. What a waste of time. Where did it go? I haven’t even had fun goofing off. I force myself back to writing, and slog through the BIG LOVE SCENE. 

5:30:  I read what I have written. It is not half bad, which means it is only half good. I decide I will revise it later. Much later. At least I can forge forward in the story now. 

5:45: Dear husband calls to tell me he is on his way home. I realize I have nothing ready for dinner, and nothing to prepare either. I suggest that he stop and pick up some fast food. I hang up and resolve to make a real meal tomorrow. Yes, yes, I know I made the same resolution yesterday. 

7:30: Dinner and husband time over, I drag my sorry rear end back to the computer. I manage to write another two pages. 

10:00: I give up and leave the computer. I can barely keep my eyes open. I mention to dear husband that it makes no sense that I can be so tired when I did not move more than thirty steps all day. He says something reassuring about scientists proving that writing is actually very hard work, so of course 8 straight hours of it would be exhausting. I decide to let him continue thinking my day has been one long, unending grind at the keyboard. 

10:30: Rotting time. I set myself up to watch a show I recorded.

12:00: With a start, I wake up where I fell asleep watching television. I drag myself up to bed.

 

-~-

Thank you Madeline for sharing your day with us!

Here is the book trailer for Madeline's newest release - Dangerous in Diamonds!