Want to know it takes to run the blogathon, a freelance writing business and a family?
Come with me, for a minute-by-minute peak behind the scenes of WordCount world headquarters and one day in the life of…me.
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6:30 a.m. Wake up, fold laundry, walk downstairs to office, turn on computer.
6:45 a.m. Get newspaper. Turn on computer. Make espresso.
7 a.m. Husband leave for work. Son #1 sick. Daughter asleep. Log on. Open Outlook, Chrome, Word.
7:10 a.m. Read email. Look at blog traffic stats. Moderate blog comments that came in overnight.
7:20 a.m. Read new messages on blogathon Google Group.
7:25 a.m. Wake son #2 up for school. Report son #1 sick to high school. Do mom stuff.
8:10 a.m. Son off to school. Check Twitter feed for @replies and mentions of #blog2011. Tweet. Go back to blogathon Google Group, approve pending membership, do message board maintenance.
8:45 a.m. Check conversations in subscription-only writer message board.
9 a.m. Call writer to discuss white paper project.
9:45 a.m. Check email, Twitter. Daughter leaves for college internship. Son #1 up.
10 a.m. Work on edits on feature story package. Exchange emails with copy editor, art director on project. Verify facts with sources.
12:30 p.m. Check email, Twitter, Google Group, blog stats. Lunch. Talk to son #1.
12:50 p.m. Check email, Twitter, Google Group, blog stats.
1 p.m. Finish edits on feature package.
2:55 p.m. Pick up son #2 from school. Stop for snack. Supervise homework.
3:30 p.m. Start working on blog post for website client.
5 p.m. Put dinner in oven. Get son #2 ready for track and field team party. Give daughter gas money.
5:45 p.m. Check on dinner. See son off to team party. Check email, Twitter, Google Group, blog stats. Back to work on blog post for website client.
6: 15 p.m. Eat dinner with son #1. Watch news. Do dishes. Do more laundry.
7:15 p.m. Check email, Twitter. Back to work on post for website client.
8:30 p.m. Load post into client’s content management system. Add title, deck, tags. Proofread one last time. Son #2 home from party. Mom stuff.
9 p.m. Start next day’s WordCount blog post. Write while watching “Dancing with the Stars.” (Go Hines!) Husband home from weekly after-work b-ball game. Nag son #1 to do homework. Nag daughter to do homework.
10 p.m. Finish post. Schedule publication for 6 a.m. Shut down computer. Get son #2 stuff ready for tomorrow. Fold laundry. Head to bed to watch “Castle.”
I’m tired just reading that.
I’ve definitely noticed a difference in my schedule this year, now that I’m working every day, versus last year, when I just subbed occasionally. Oh yeah, and the children. It’s tiring but so much fun!
What I didn’t include was that I came down with some nasty sore throat thing over the weekend so spent part of the day having coughing fits. Not pretty.
M
It’s kind of amazing how much we do in one day, isn’t it? That’s why I need that down time at night to watch whatever I want on TV no matter how late it is. I know some people go to bed asap.. but I need the “grown up” time after the kids are asleep so I can feel like I have a life myself! Long days though.. I am living a parallel life with you..
It’s all going to change next year when my two oldest will be away at school. I’m already reminding myself not to say “yes” to anything else because I’ll have more free time.
Michelle
Claudine, me, too. TV is my nightly ritual, unless I need to finish a book. Generally, it’s comedy, news or entertainment. And note how much social media is involved in our lives these days. I think it’s far too much, but I have no idea how to get out of it, unless you can go where there’s no reception. What a day, Michelle!
It was a non-baseball day, otherwise, all activity between 5 to 7:30 would have stopped while I went to son #1’s varsity b-ball game. But that, like the blogathon, will come to a close at the end of May.
Michelle
Tank you for sharing Michelle, Definitely an very timely eye opener for someone like me who wants to start this in this kind of business. Much appreciated 🙂
Isn’t it great when laundry can start and end the day? That’s an intense schedule, Michelle. And a wonderful one – surrounded by those you love and doing work that involves words, connecting people and leading a fearless group of Blogathoners to the finish line :)!
Laundry and picking up the house are regular bookends of my day.
Michelle
Thank you. I’m the mom to three girls 11, 9 and 6, and my days are usually, well, frantic. What your hourly schedule mostly impressed upon me: my need to “look” at my schedule for a couple of days and see what’s working and what isn’t. It’ll be like a food diary for my writing so I can cut out the excess calories/time suckers. With summer fast-approaching, it’s becoming more and more imperative for me to get my work done in an efficient manner. Come 6/16, I will have three kids staring at me and telling me they’re bored. Off to plan…
Planning is a good thing. And you’re reminding me, I’m way behind on summer plans – the blogathon does it to me every year.
Michelle
Oops, I guess I first need to double check my spelling 😉
Thanks for the hard work you put into making the Blogathon a success. Hope you’ve got a good and relaxing day planned for June 1!
June 1 is the blogathon wrap party on Twitter, 10 a.m. PST – bloggers are invited to hang out for an hour, talk about what they learned and then at the end I’ll announce winners of the prizes. It usually takes me the better part of the week after that to tie up loose ends, including writing lots of blogathon follow up posts. But I’ve already started stockpiling material to cover for myself for the second week in June – after more than six straight weeks of blogging I’ll definitely be ready for a break.
Michelle
Michelle-
I checked out your website client and love the Second Act blog. How did you get involved writing for them? What has been your favorite story?
-Veronica
I’ve been blogging for SecondAct.com since April 2010. I’ve known the editor since we were both daily newspaper reporters; we reconnected a couple years ago when she was working on a hyperlocal news site and she found my blog. Can’t say what my favorite is, there have been so many. Usually it’s whatever I’m working on at the time.
Michelle
Yup, Michelle – similar to me, but what struck me was how good it feels to “see” somebody else’s day. It makes me feel more…normal, lol. And I knew at the end of your post that there would be many comments, and I was right.
This is the kind of day a guy doesn’t understand due to their inability to multitask (at home, anyway).
I am impressed with your discipline of turning off your computer and going to bed at 10pm. Like other responders, when the rest of my family is in bed, my ME time begins. I cannot imagine anything else, unless I am super tired or feeling under the weather. But those couple of hours all by myself at the end of the day is what keeps me feeling human. It’s not TV for me though, but surfing on the internet, or reading, or Netflix. I read recently an article about this phenomenon, of women staying up late at their computers, emailing, tweeting, whatever, and giving up part of their sleep to do it, for the same reasons we do it.
Sawyer
I’m not a nightowl. I love getting up before everyone else though – 5 a.m. is perfect for that me time you talk about. By 9:30 or 10 I’m a zombie.
Michelle
It’s nice to see the scheduling of someone who has it down. That is a big thing for me, figuring out how to work my day and not waste any time. You clearly have every second accounted for:)
Impressive and demanding schedule yet you seem calm and professional while beautifully integrating your family. Thanks! Hope you get some more “you time” but it seems you thrive on your work.
My “me” time vanishes during the blogathon, but it’ll be back soon enough.
Wow – you’re inspiring me to do more with the time I have. And this is completely off subject, but I love Castle as well. I hope you saw the season finale – holy cow! But anyways, this was a great look into the life of a business owner, mom, and inspiring woman. Thank you for sharing.
Yep, the finale was a shocker in more ways than one. What do you think will happen next?
M
Wow, that sounds like my kind of day at Lunchbox Towers, but there’s also the e-commerce site with customers and orders to slot into the mix, along with buying new lines, stock control, finance and and and!
Sorry what is “me time”, I don’t know that!
Thanks for all you have done- and continue to do, to keep the blogathon running smoothly!!! The blogathon certainly does take an extra amount of pre planning- and you seem to juggle everything sooo well!
Thanks so much – it’s an exhilerating but exhausting month.
Michelle