Let’s start this with a confession: I’m jealous of other writers.
  
Specifically those authors who get to stay at home and write all day. Those writers post their daily word counts on Facebook and Twitter and I cringe a little, knowing that mine will never compare.  

But that’s okay. 

It took me a while to come to this realization, but I’m a busy gal.  Here’s a peek at the not-so-glamorous life of this particular author:

1. Teach five classes of high school students, everything from Psychology and AP European History to Economics and U.S. History
2. Squeak in a run (because I’m a glutton for punishment and signed up to run two half-marathons this year) or volunteer at my daughter’s school
3. Help with homework & piano practice
4. Clean/squeeze in social networking/cook dinner/hang out with the husband (who is often sadly neglected, especially if there’s a looming deadline)
5. Ferry the seven-year-old monkey to her various activities or otherwise generally entertain her with a round of Clue or Doctor Who Yahtzee
6. Get the seven-year-old monkey to bed
7. Wish I could collapse from exhaustion 

But I can’t because…

Becoming a writer means having homework every night for the rest of your life.

Someone posted this on Facebook this weekend, and it’s absolutely true. Because every night, no matter how bleary my eyes are or how I want nothing more than to go to bed, I pull out my laptop and plug away. 

Three pages every night. 

It’s not much, but little by little those pages add up, and eventually I can type “The End.” 

(And then celebrate with an ice-cream cake.)

In the meantime, I have to ignore the evil green monsters that rear their ugly heads when people post celebratory messages of writing a novel in two, three, or even four months. I have never, and will never, write that fast. 

But that’s okay, because I have plenty of other wonderful things I get to do every day. 

So, what does your writing schedule look like? Are you speedy like the hare, or like me, the dependable tortoise?