A Day in the Life of.. Sophie Barnes

 

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A Day in the Life of.....

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Born in Denmark, Sophie has spent her youth traveling with her parents to wonderful places all around the world. She’s lived in five different countries, on three different continents, and speaks Danish, English, French, Spanish and Romanian.

She has studied design in Paris and New York and has a bachelor’s degree from Parson’s School of design, but most impressive of all – she’s been married to the same man three times, in three different countries and in three different dresses.

While living in Africa, Sophie turned to her lifelong passion – writing.

When she’s not busy, dreaming up her next romance novel, Sophie enjoys spending time with her family, swimming, cooking, gardening, watching romantic comedies and, of course, reading. She currently lives on the East Coast.

A day in the life of Sophie Barnes

Since my first book went on sale in January 2012, I’ve discovered that juggling family life and chores while working toward deadlines requires a LOT of discipline – especially if you don’t want one area to suffer in favor of the other. It took me a while to find that perfect routine that would allow me to meet my daily work requirement while also allowing me to have enough time to spend with my husband and kids – stress free =) but I finally feel as if I’ve worked it out:

7:00 – Alarm clock rings but it usually takes me another twenty minutes to actually get out of bed, at which point I have only an hour to get the kids dressed, fed and out the door.

8:45 – I drop the kids off at school after which I either stop by the grocery store if I’m running low on supplies, the post office if I have a giveaway to mail out, or simply head straight home – my preferred option since I’ll have more time for work.

10:00 - I’ve taken a quick look at my emails and social networks and am ready to get started on my daily word count – a minimum of 2000 words per day.

1:00 – Time to grab a bite to eat – usually a sandwich or some leftovers from the night before that I can toss in the microwave. While I eat, I take another look at Facebook and Twitter, looking for fun pictures to post or visiting some of the blogs that I follow.

1:30 – If I’ve finished my word count for the day, I’ll squeeze in some other work here, like right now for instance I’m also going over the copy edits for my August 27^th release, The Trouble With Being A Duke.

2:30 – Chores await, so I put a load of laundry in the washing machine, tidy up a bit and do some cleaning. If the weather’s good, I’ll try to get out into the garden to pull weeds or plant flowers for a bit - I find that really relaxing.

3:15 – Jump in the car and head out to pick up the kids from school.

4:00 – Home again for afternoon tea with cookies or cake at the kitchen table. As soon as all the sticky fingers have been cleaned, I hang out with the kids and my husband – it’s family time, no work allowed. We play outside for a bit if the weather’s good, but if not, then there are tons of legos to keep us occupied & I am now a true fan of Transformers Prime which I’ve forbidden the kids from watching without me =)

5:00 – I get started on dinner and the daily preparation of next day’s lunchboxes (always a challenge keeping those interesting). Examples are pasta, rice & chicken, homemade meatballs with veggies, schnitzels with mashed potatoes and soup. The number one favorite of course is pizza. I’ve started using these great pizza crusts that come two in a pack and then preparing all the toppings so the kids can make their own. It’s a hit!

7:00 – This is when I start chasing the kids around the house with their pajamas and hunting under the couch for them to come brush their teeth while they squeal at how much fun they’re having thwarting my attempts. Once I do manage to get them dressed and ready for bed, we snuggle up together for story time and a couple of songs, and then it’s lights out and time to sleep.

8:30 – The kids are asleep so I head back downstairs for some ‘grown up’ time with my husband. If I have a deadline looming I’ll usually try to work for another hour before we settle down in front of the TV together. Our shows of choice at the moment include: Doctor Who, Revenge, Go On, The New Girl, Castle, Person of Interest, Elementary, House of Cards and Suits.

Midnight – I try really hard to get to sleep so I have enough energy to get up the next day and do this all over again =)

In between everything, I try to read at least one book per week since it does help me with my writing (best excuse EVER!) and whenever there’s a moment to spare I also work on updating my website, emailing back and forth with my editor and catching up on any blog posts that need writing.

Weekends are free and dedicated exclusively to my husband and kids =)

To find out more about me, my books, and my upcoming releases, please visit:
www.sophiebarnes.com
My blog: http://sophiebarnesworldofromance.blogspot.com/
My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSophieBarnes
Twitter: @BarnesSophie

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