One of the hardest parts of my life as an author is actually finding the time to write. As I struggled with this realization while putting the finishing touches to my newest book, Rise of the Enemy, I wrote a blog post that was clearly tongue-in-cheek (see here). Again, on the day I’m writing this, I’ve just returned from a two week holiday so have a backlog of other tasks, starting with work in my garden which has turned into something of a jungle in the space of 14 days…

My life has changed immeasurably since I caught the writing bug some six years ago. At that time I was still working full time as a forensic accountant, but on the flip side I had no kids. Life was really quite straight forward, comparatively speaking. I drafted my first book, Dance with the Enemy, early in the morning before work, at lunch times, in the evenings and at weekends. It took a lot of dedication and commitment – I was spending every spare minute drafting and editing. Then something happened. I had two boys and my life was turn upside down – as was my house…

Both of my boys (they’re 4 and 2) go to nursery three days a week, so once they’re out the house at 7:30am it’s time for breakfast then exercise. By the time I’ve showered it’s usually about 9am before I start work. I do all of my writing sat on the sofa in the lounge with my laptop. Yes, that big dent right there is where I sit. Every day I feel like I’m a little closer to the floor.

It’s that first session, in the morning, when I always feel most productive and creative. I’ll generally blast through until about midday, with a couple of five minute breaks to make a coffee with my beloved Nespresso machine (every coffee-lover should have one)…

I break off at lunch and do a bit of housework before I get back to writing. By that point I generally feel a bit less enthused. Writing can be a mentally draining experience, particularly when you’re drafting and coming up with new ideas. The  afternoon session ends about 4pm, then have an hour spare before I pick up my boys – generally more housework or checking my Twitter and Facebook accounts.

By the time the boys are in bed and my wife has come home and we’ve had tea it’s about 8pm by which point I’ll look to do another hour or two of promotional work; social media largely but also blogs/interviews if I have the mental strength left (which is rare!).

Then it’s in bed safely tucked up with a book for ten minutes (if I’m lucky) before lights-off between 10pm and 10:30pm – what a rock n’ roll lifestyle, eh?!