Lisa J. Hobman - A Day in the Not-so-Glamorous Life of a Romance Author @LivingScottishD

A Day in the Not-so-Glamorous Life of a Romance Author

People do have a tendency to be surprised when I tell them that I write pretty much full time these days. One of the questions I’m frequently asked is “What do you find to write about?” The answer to this can vary from day to day. At the moment I’m working on a two book miniseries and I’m really enjoying the story and the characters. So I’m currently at 85k words on the first book and 79k on the second and my day is filled with tweaking and re-writing.

So, I get up in the morning, eat a very rushed breakfast and have my first cup of tea. Once I’m feeling more awake I get the lappy out and log on. My office also doubles up as the dining room in my house which can get a little frustrating, especially for my hubby who is a bit of a neat freak! I usually have notebooks, scraps of paper, laptop, pens and a cup of tea or coffee close at hand. I’m not a tidy person and so my workspace is usually cluttered!

Here is my workspace looking uncharacteristically tidy!

I love to listen to music and as it features in my books quite regularly, I often have something playing in the background. I love indie and rock music but in all honesty my tastes are quite eclectic over all. I will frequently be found searching for just the right song for a particular scene too. This is also known as procrastination!

I usually spend the first half an hour or so updating my Twitter feed, website and Facebook author page (www.facebook.com/LisaJHobmanAuthor) in order to let the people who are following me know what’s going on in my little corner of Scotland. Yesterday I was able to dangle the very exciting carrot of my new book cover for my third book! I just LOVE it! I haven’t actually revealed it at this stage (although at time of posting it may be out there) but people are keen to see it and I can’t wait to share it.

Once my social media is all up to date I will open up my current work in progress to read whatever I wrote the day before; this usually then triggers something else off in my mind and I do re-writes. What can I say? I’m my own worst critic! I make notes in my many notebooks and chop and change paragraphs. I may scribble timelines that are only legible to me and my hubby. Thankfully he has mastered the art of reading my scrawl! If the ideas are flowing nicely I have been known to just write and write. I frequently forget to eat lunch. I shouldn’t do that because then I get the munchies at the wrong time. I’ve even tried setting alarms for myself to remind me to eat but they don’t usually work – especially if I’m crazy in love with the characters I’m writing - and I’m completely and utterly crazy in love with my current male lead! Shh don’t tell hubby ;-)

If the ideas are not flowing and I’m having writer’s block I usually find myself procrastinating a little more by doodling cover ideas! Thankfully these times are few and far between but I usually find if I wait until hubby gets home I can talk through my plot lines with him and he’ll kick-start my ideas factory again.

Eventually I do take a break – usually when it’s time to take the dogs out or my stomach begins to growl relentlessly. Sometimes I read for a while or go for a walk. Although my reading time is getting less and less. I have been known to be enticed away from my desk by friends offering coffee, chats, cake and shopping. But I usually find that I get back to my desk as soon as I arrive home.

My evenings and weekend are then spent with my family. And when Monday comes around again the whole cycle starts over! Every so often, usually when I’m almost done with a manuscript I convince hubby that we need to have a last minute research trip at the weekend. This helps me to make sure that my location descriptions are as vivid as possible. He doesn’t usually take much convincing seeing as books tend to be set in our favourite Highland places.

So, as you can see, it’s not particularly glamour filled but I do enjoy it.

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Genre – Contemporary Romance

Rating – PG-17

More details about the author

Connect with Lisa J. Hobman on Facebook & Twitter

Website www.lisajhobman.co.uk