Since so many want to know what a typical day is like for me, I thought I’d run down a basic schedule of what I do. Please keep in mind that I seldom sleep more than 5 hours and some days, I don’t sleep at all. Really. I have, and have always had, bad insomnia.

6-7 AM (8 if I’m really, really lucky), kids get up and start making loud noises in the kitchen. Roll over and groan that I was seriously stupid for buying a house with a bedroom right off the kitchen where growing boys scrounge in the pantry at all hours for food.

Don’t understand. I fed them yesterday. Why are they hungry again today?

Cat complains that I’m moving her so that I can get up and stagger toward the bathroom. Other cat comes out of nowhere to try and trip me while I walk (nothing like a good obstacle course when you’re less than coherent). Grumble at cat who then jumps to sink to drink from the spigot while I try to brush my teeth around her fuzzy little head.

Grab bathrobe and stagger toward kitchen to grumble at boys that they’re going to be late for the bus and to not forget their backpacks and homework. Oh, wait, new school memo. It’s now called homeFUN, which, even in my unconscious state, makes me wonder what sadist came up with that bizarro euphemism.

Grumble nice expletives about how much I hate mornings as I go to let the dog outside. Hubby comes out of shower while I make breakfast for us and Boo.

For those who asked, breakfast for me is: Apple Juice. One scrambled egg with cheese. Two pieces of regular bacon. Bowl of Chocolate Cheerios and milk. Every single day.

Boo… my chipper morning Boo. Where the heck did he come from? I swear some sadistic alien life form swapped babies with me. How can my progeny be alert and so… so… cheerful before noon? And he’s loud, too. Really loud. Unlike older two who are grumpy like me, and totally incoherent as they stumble out the door. I understand them. They make sense in my world.

Have I mentioned I hate mornings?

But I love Boo so I attempt to smile and converse while hoping I’m not promising him a Ferrari when he turns 16. Unless he wants one from Matchbox.

8:05 AM Howard wrangles Boo into car to take to school (we tried the bus, but let’s not go there. Suffice it to say, Boo does better in the car).

I grab my apple juice and water and stumble blindly to my office where I must move indignant cat from my chair. Sit down and…

What am I doing?

Oh yeah. Morning. Work.

Where’s my brain?

Still asleep.

Wake up, brain. Yeah…

Go to email and gasp. Do I have to answer all that? What do I have to answer? Who can I delay?

Answer email while phone starts the daily ringing off the hook.

10:00 AM dress, then head to gym to avoid email and phone.

11:30 AM am back and head is almost clear. Let’s ignore the new bruises. I really am not alert until noon.

Now it’s time to shower and dress in work clothes.

Grab a chocolate protein shake and head back to office. Sip shake while reviewing new emails.

Why must the email fairy visit so often? Have calls from Kim and Carl to return because they have list of things they can’t answer in their emails…

12 PM Hubby just got back from his gym and wants to know if I’m hungry. Oh yeah, I have to eat. Promised doctor I wouldn’t skip meals anymore.

Hubby throws a sandwich and/or salad at me. Some days it’s leftovers. I’m now on my second or third liter of water. On Wednesdays, hubby and I go out to eat together. I also take time a few days a month to eat with my boys at school.

12:30 to 1:30 PM I’m back on emails and calls while trying to write in between.

Must respond to sons’s texts that come in during lunch.

3:50 PM Break as kids come home so that I can hug them (okay it’s a mad chase through the house since they don’t want a mama hug, but I trap and pin those little monsters down). Go over the day with them and ask what’s up.

4:30ish PM back in the office, trying to write and complaining that my characters never listen to me.

4:35ish PM pacing around the couch because the characters aren’t cooperating. Thinking of ways to kill them off, but realize a 50 page book isn’t a good idea.

Hmmm….

Grab more water, head back to office to beat them into submission.

Get my butt kicked by characters.

5:30 PM break to make dinner and catch-up with hubby and his day where he was off with Howard. Dinner is 2 ounces of meat, 2-3 servings of veggie something, a dairy product and some form of bread, though I don’t like bread as a rule. Will add dessert on days when I burn 1100+ calories at the gym.

6 PM eat dinner and clean up.

6:30 PM make sure boys have done their homework or are working on it. Answer oldest son’s questions about writing (he’s working on his own novel), while he lectures me on how hard writing is and tells me that I have no idea just how hard it is to write a whole novel… yeah. Answer middle son’s questions about art and/or manga (he’s working on a comic). Answer youngest son’s questions about computers and programming (he’s making a game). Answer hubby’s questions about boy’s questions or emails he sent me that I didn’t bother reading since I knew he’d just tell me about them anyway.

Why does he feel the need to congest my congested inbox when he knows how many emails I get everyday?

7 PM Avoid ringing phone which most likely isn’t for me. Dodge into office to start the real writing time.

7:03 PM Glare at hubby who has decided to sit in my office while he chats on the phone with his mother. Why?

Hubby grins, and continues talking about nonsense and people I don’t know.

3:30-4 AM head to bed, wondering where the time went (unless oldest is still up and decides that he needs help plotting, or with characters, but really, at 4 AM my brain is again mush and I can’t postulate what chromosomal damage would cause fire-eating, ice dragons from Mars).

6-7 AM start over and repeat with variations on the above, such as sick pets, sick hubby or kids, sick Sherri, vicious migraines, school programs, copy edits, book tour, event scheduling or discussing said scheduling, teacher meetings, IEP meetings, signing books for fans, etc. :)

Vacations… wait, I never get those :D

Holidays… insert longer family time, but by end of day, I’m back in chair, writing.

Once or twice a week, we have family night which can be anything the family chooses to do together. (6-8), and hubby and I usually have a date break on Wed where we have lunch and usually run an errand or two together.   Sometimes we do a cooking class at night together or have dinner out without kids.

There’s also a lot of letting dog in and out as she needs potty breaks :)

And there you have it. My most glamorous and befuddled days :D