Guest Post- Laurie Cass

I am so pleased to have Laurie Cass with us today!  If you haven't read her books, you are missing out on a fantastic series!!

A Day in the Life of Laurie Cass

Truly? You want to know what my normal day is like? Huh. It would be a lot more fun if I could write about what I’d like my normal day to be – which would start out with me awakening to sunshine streaming in my bedroom window – but since you’ve asked me for a normal day, well, that goes about like this:

5:45 – The alarm goes off. It’s still dark out, but I drag myself out of bed anyway and get in a half hour workout. Sweaty and wide awake, I shower and have a breakfast of oatmeal with my husband. (The cats, Eddie and his sidekick, get tiny bowls of milk.)

7:10 – Already five minutes late, according to my husband, we get into separate cars for our morning commutes. Since my official workday doesn’t start until 8:30 and my commute is barely fifteen minutes, I have a little slot of time to write. I stop the car at a small township park and get busy. This half hour or so is often very productive, writing-wise, and maybe someday I’ll ask the township if I can put up a plaque commemorating the spot where I wrote a large portion of the bookmobile cat books.

8:00ish – I find a spot in the parking lot, go for a short walk to stretch my legs, then get started at my day job, associate planner for my county.

12:30ish – Lunchtime. I snarf down my food while I check my author email and Facebook pages, then take my laptop and find a good place to write. If it’s warm enough, I write outside. If it’s cool or rainy, I’ll drive to a city park and write. If, like it was a large share of last winter, it’s freaking cold and snowy, I’ll wander to a back hallway, sit on the floor, and hope no one asks me what I’m doing. I also try to get out for a short walk at some point during this time. It turns out that sitting in front of a computer for ten to twelve hours a day isn’t the best thing for the human body. Go figure.

5:45ish – I return home. I’m often met by Eddie, who sometimes pauses to say hello in his rush to get outside as soon as I open the door. After I divest myself of coat and briefcase, I greet my husband and head upstairs to change from office clothes to real clothes. We start dinner preparations and when the food is gone and the dishes are done, I do a household chore or two, and then get back to writing. If my morning and lunchtime writing sessions were productive, writing might take only half an hour and then I’ll be free to play the piano, weed the garden, or go for a walk with my husband. If I’m behind in my writing schedule, I’m at the computer the bulk of the evening.

10:00 – this is our official bedtime. Teeth are brushed, jammies are on, and we head to bed. I read, my husband works on a crossword puzzle, and Eddie jumps up for a snuggle.

About 10:20 – my husband says, “It’s late. Put your book down.” I realize he’s said this at least three times, and that I’ve fallen asleep over the book I was reading. But I make a valiant effort to wake up and finish the chapter.

10:30 – When my book drops onto my face for the umpteenth time, I accept the inevitable. Book goes down, glasses are put on the nightstand, and the light goes off. I curl up to my husband, reach out a hand to find out if Eddie is still with us, find his furry self, and fall asleep to the comfort of his purrs.

Bio

Laurie Cass grew up in Michigan and graduated from Eastern Michigan University in the 80’s with a (mostly unused) Bachelor of Science degree in geology. Currently, Laurie and her husband share their house with two cats, the inestimable Eddie, and the adorably cute Sinii. When Laurie isn’t writing, she’s working at her day job, reading, yanking weeds out of her garden, or doing some variety of skiing.