A Typical Writing day by Angie BarretT

Today, I’m excited to share this guest post with you. To celebrate her new novel, Angie Barrett, author of Love Spells and Other Disasters, talks about what a typical writing day looks like for her. His YA contemporary novel hit the shelves on February 1, 2021 and is published by Entangled Teen.

Thank you so much, Chapter by Chapter, for having me on this tour.

Love Spells and Other Disasters by Angie Barrett

A typical writing day for me is anything but typical, mainly because I have a demanding day job as a Curriculum Consultant so I have to be flexible and ready to write when the opportunity presents itself. In order to maximize my writing time, I make sure I do a few key things in my day:

#1 – I make sure to write at least 500 words in the morning. That means I wake up a little earlier than I have to (yes, that does suck) and make sure I’m at my desk at least half an hour ahead of my work day start time. I find that if I get, at least, 500 words, it makes getting to my daily word quota of 2000 words a lot easier.

#2 – Whether I want to write or not, I do it. I don’t have the time to wait for a muse to speak to me or for “inspiration” to strike. When I have writing time carved out of my hectic day (morning, lunchtime), I write. It might be the worst words I’ve ever written but it’s just a draft…and you can’t edit an empty page, so I get the words down in whatever crappy way they come.

#3 – I jump on opportunities to write when I have them. If the start of a meeting is running late, I pull out my notebook and scribble some lines or ideas that may be rolling around in my head. If I’m waiting for an appointment, I read craft books so I can develop my writing skill. I live and breathe writing. This means that I write wherever, whenever, I can. I don’t need a special spot or a certain atmosphere. I’ll do it in my car, in a dr. office, in my bed, in the living room, in my home office, wherever.

#4 – I write at night, almost every night. I write on my birthday. I write on Christmas Day. On vacation. I write whenever I can. My family knows that I’ll be writing (or working on writing things) from 7pm to at least 10pm every night. I don’t watch tv. I don’t watch movies. I work on my writing. That may sound a little boring, but when I’m in a project, I am solely focused on getting that project done.

*I do watch movies, TV or read a book when I get stuck in my writing. Sometimes I need a little distraction like that to get my creative brain working again.

#5 – I don’t procrastinate. What I’ve learned from being a teacher is that if you leave things and put them off, you’ll get buried very quickly under a pile of more things. When there’s a job to do: writing blog posts, filling out cover art forms, editing, whatever, I do it immediately or as soon as I possibly can so that it doesn’t interfere with my writing time.

#6 – I don’t listen to music while I’m writing, too distracting, but I do listen to music before I write, especially if I need motivation or to get pumped up for a scene.

That’s it! That’s what a writing day looks like for me…when I’m working my full-time job. Luckily, my full-time job comes with a lot of downtime (summers off, holiday breaks, long weekends) and at those times, my life gets a lot simpler because that’s when all I have to do is be a full-time writer, which is, of course, the dream job.

Thank you so much, Angie, for this insightful guest post. We can read the passion in your words. Love it!

Synopsis – Love Spells and Other Disasters by Angie Barrett

Love Spells and Other Disasters by Angie Barrett
Publication Date: February 1, 2021
Publisher: Entangled Teen

I didn’t know when I wrote the first love spell that it would actually make things happen. Like, actually make people fall in love with each other…

How could I have known something like that? I mean, magic isn’t real, right?

But here’s the thing—the spell does work and so does the next one and the next one…and suddenly I’m getting a whole lot of attention from everyone at my high school. Me, Blend-into-the-Walls, Please-Let-Me-Introvert-in-Peace Rowan Marshall. And not only that, but I’ve also caught the attention of Luca Russo, a godlike, football-playing hottie who claims he likes me just the way I am. Ummm…

But as I’m about to learn, playing around with things you don’t understand means when things go wrong—like really, very awfully wrong—you don’t know how to fix them.

Google Play | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks

ADD IT TO YOUR GOODREADS

About the author: Angie Barrett

Author Angie Barrett lives in a small town in Ontario, Canada in an old century home that is also known as the “cat house” because, well, Angie likes cats. A lot. She also likes shopping for books, or for anything really, and spending time RVing in the summer with her family. She has worked for sixteen years as a high school English teacher and Librarian and is currently a Curriculum Consultant for new teachers.

Angie has always dreamed of being a published author and strives to create worlds where there are strong, relatable characters who maybe are not always perfect but who understand the meaning of friendship and loyalty and who will use their collective strengths to overcome adversity.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads