February 14, 2006
...a writer's job is never done.

Here's Monday, Feb. 13, 2006. More or less typical, probably heavier on family duties than writing, but not all that atypical, either.

6:20. Out of bed, crashed on the couch keeping my oldest son company while he gets ready for school.

6:50. The SH's--two are shower and shave...

7:15. In office, checking e-mail and popping onto a few blogs real quick.

7:45. Get youngest son out of bed, get him showered, eat breakfast.

8:30. Walk Frodo.

9:00. Back in office. Write brief intro to a piece about P.J. Parrish (Kristy and Kelly Montee) that I'm shepherding for the International Thriller Writers, Inc., newsletter. E-mail it to Kris.

9:20. Write book review of An Unquiet Grave by P.J. Parrish, invoice and send to editor at The Oakland Press.

10:00. Respond to reponse from Kris Montee re. newsletter bit. E-mail correction re. review to editor at The OP.

10:15. Head off to Powerhouse to lift heavy objects.

11:30. Lunch.

12:20. Back home. Walk Frodo.

1:00. Re-write article on credentialing & privileging for a healthcare management publications, invoice and send out.

2:00. Call prof at Penn State to set up interview for an article I'm writing about Mass Spectrometry for Genomics & Proteomics. He wants to talk now, so I turn on voice recorder (I've gone digital this year) and conduct interview.

2:30. Transcribe interview. Spend some time hunting up a publication he mentioned to consider potential graphics for article. [note, e-mail him back today, Mark]

3:10. Head out to pick up oldest son after school. He has an after school activity--Sonic Drums.

4:00. Call company in California for the 5th time to set up interview for news article I'm writing for BioPerform. Stonewalled--again. Hunt down alternate company, call, get voice mail.

4:15. BioPerform editor e-mails me to ask if I have any more articles in the batch of 5. I explain the problem--yeah, synchronicity, I know. I promise to make a decision on whether this will happen sometime Tuesday. [probably not, but there's a 3-hour time difference, so I'm going to wait until this afternoon and call the guy one more time]. Editor says he'll send me another batch of assignments.

4:30. Work on editor's edits from The Serpent's Kiss.

5:00. Work on novel-to-be-identified-later that I'm writing under a pseudonym.

5:10. Leanne comes home, stops in office and vents about the jerks she works with. Takes off to take oldest son to orthodontist.

5:25. Youngest son comes down to tell me he's stuck on his homework. I tell him I'll be up in 15 minutes or so.

5:40. Go upstairs, help him with math homework.

6:10. Go through USA Today while Sean practices guitar.

6:30. Leanne and Ian come home from ortho appt. Phone rings in office. Dog nearly takes my finger off getting my attention. Editor of ITW Newsletter calling to nag, mostly. Also trying to nail me down about future pieces for the newsletters. I'm cautious. This is a volunteer gig. If I can tie it into paid work for The OP, fine.

6:45. Back upstairs, fixing dinner. Crazy night, so we're going simple--chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

7:30. Washing dishes.

7:45. Go over draft of Ian's "instrument project" paper due Friday for his science class.

8:15. Go over Ian's math homework--means and medians and modes, oh my.

8:30. Turn on TV and try to watch a little bit of Daredevil.

9:00. Get kids off to bed.

9:00--9:45. Read The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry, that I'm reading to review for The OP and for the ITW newsletter.

9:45. Ready for bed. Leanne's watching the Olympics. I get in bed, put on my iPod and listen to some tunes while I watch some figure skaters. We watch on channel 9, CBC out of Windsor, Canada, because they're much less annoying than NBC, show more sports and are far less jingoistic then American broadcasters.

10:22. Turn off the lights to go to sleep. 22 minute past my bedtime.

Best,
Mark Terry