Day in the Life of Jennie Adams

Week days begin at 6.30 a.m. with a half-hour walk around the neighbourhood to get the circulation going. My walking partner cheerfully greets other walkers with a breezy hello. I huff, puff, grit my teeth and decide it is kinder to keep my morning-grumpiness to myself.

By 8.00 a.m. I'm at the computer, reading through my emails and visiting the one website I allow myself to post on every single day. I did try to break this 'time wasting' habit, but I'm selfish. I simply won't knuckle down and get to work on my writing until I've had my email and World Wide Web fix for the day.

The real work begins at 9.00 a.m. If I'm struggling, I make endless cups of tea, raid the fridge, play on the Internet and think up five minute household chores that simply must be done right now. Once I even decided to clean my joggers. But when the writing is flowing, I stop once to grab tea and fruit, and only quit when my wind-up 'chook' timer tells me I've got fifteen minutes to eat lunch, dress in my work clothes, and head out the door to my 'other' job.

Four hours with my customers and the usual paperwork, then it's back home to cook dinner, take care of a job or two around the house, and spend a little time reading someone else's story, usually with a cup of tea and some chocolate as accompaniment!

Weekends are for family and friends, reading my favourite books, going to the movies or out to dinner, and making some sort of nod at the housework. Then it's back to work for another week with my heroine and hero of the moment.