I have been living the life of a writer for three days now and I find it really cool and sort of sexy. Just have a look at my schedule:
7.30 – 8.00: wake up and cuddle with my wife
8.00 – 9.00: freshly squeezed orange juice, warming up and jogging
9.00 – 10.00: breakfast and shower
10.00 – 13.00: writing
13.00 – 16.00: lunch, sharing ideas about the book and other collaboration stuff, rest, buying food
16.00 – 19.00: writing
19.00 – 21.00: a stroll in town, glass of wine somewhere along the river. The plan is to squeeze in some tennis at 20.00.
21.00 – 23.00: answering e-mails, getting to bed, reading, cuddling
I mean, this looks like watching a character (played by George Clooney or Clive Owen, please) in a Hollywood movie – before a big one hits the fan, at least. 
I really like this kind of life. Especially because the writing itself is so enjoyable – purely expressing what I think, feel and stand for and what I also believe would be meaningful and helpful to others.
Ok, to sustain this sort of a sexy life there actually needs to be a bunch of people ready to pay for the book.
But let’s deal with that later.
Wow, sign me up for that writing life.
My schedule is a little different:
4 a.m.-5 a.m. Wake with insomnia
5 a.m.-6:30 a.m. Write something. Move between feeling it is brilliant to the fear that I am totally deluding myself.
7 a.m.-8 a.m. Drink coffee and wonder if I should quit writing and use my graduate degree in a way that allows me to make money.
8 a.m.-9 a.m. Exercise time: wrestle with demons and inner critic.
9 a.m.-10 a.m. Angst, anxiety and ennui
See, your schedule is MUCH better than mine. My writing schedule is more Larry David or Woody Allen and not so sexy.;-)
Comment by La Belette Rouge — July 5, 2009 @ 3:49 pm
What is the book about?
Comment by Hayden Tompkins — July 5, 2009 @ 6:27 pm
Or is it top secret? Never mind!
Comment by Hayden Tompkins — July 5, 2009 @ 6:27 pm
So what happens next in that movie of yours?
Comment by M — July 5, 2009 @ 8:25 pm
I too have lived this wonderful life. But now with my first book at my literary agent’s and ready to go to publishers, and me in the midst of pre-promo my whole had changed. Hope you will have suggestions for THIS part of it. I am open to all ideas.
PS I know that whatever you write it will be amazing, Robert.
Sending love to you and yours.
Robin
Comment by Robin Easton — July 6, 2009 @ 4:15 am
Be careful.
I once heard Federico Fellini say, “the most dangerous thing for an artist is complete freedom”.
Comment by razzbuffnik — July 6, 2009 @ 7:25 am
La Belette Rouge: ha ha, I believe this is because I have only been a writer for three, OK, four days. Reality did not hit me yet. And, by the way, I really loved your writing here, your description of your painful morning routine. So, you see, you write, I enjoy reading it… This is it, my friend, this is it!
Hayden: yeah, it is a top secret, but I will tell YOU only, nobody else: it is a very practical guide to parenting – you know, not much theory and blah blah blah, but rather very specific processes that a parent can do individually or with the whole family in order to, well, find a way to get everybody’s needs met, on the long as well as on the short term.
M: hm, there are a few possibilities, and here goes one of the best: after some time of this easy writing routine, Aliens invade our dear planet and start turning it into ashes. George Clooney (this is to say myself, of course), through a heroic journey, gets in contact with the king of aliens. Being a very gentle soul, very wise and extremely well capable of handling conflict, George (may I remind you, this is actually myself), gives him enormous amounts of understanding and empathy. The alien king, for the first time in his long intergalactic life, feels fully understood and accepted, so he breaks down, starts crying, becoming aware how much bitterness and pain he was carrying around and transferring it into hatred and killing everything that was different, just in order to retain this feeling that he was OK. So, he finally gets in touch with his need to be loved and accepted. George (myself, remember – oh, let’s rather make the alien a queen), so, George gives a warm hug to this very sexy Alien queen and she just melts down… Cut. And afterwards aliens rebuild our world, plant trees and flowers everywhere and fly away, with tears in their eyes, on their new journey of rebuilding all the worlds in our universe.
How does this sound? I bet you would love to see this movie.
Robin: this is an easy one. Do it in a Zen way: don’t try to make anything. If the energy is right, you will sell piles of your book. If it is not, you will joyfully accept the blow, fully present. And you will soon afterwards (have to) go on a long fasting time.
So, don’t worry, go for a stroll in a forest, run around with those wolfs and cougars, have fun… You see? Piece of cake.
Razz: Complete freedom? What are you talking about? I am writing this book together with MY WIFE!
Comment by Robert — July 6, 2009 @ 9:16 am
I wish you all the best in your endeavor. The writer’s life is one that I too would like to have. I applaud all who make the attempt! Enjoy the experience.
-Turkish Prawn
Comment by Turkish Prawn — July 7, 2009 @ 2:54 am
It’s good to meet someone else who shares my passion for high-quality orange juice. When I envision “the good life,” it always involves delicious juices or high-end juice blends like Odwalla. Maybe this makes me easy to please.
Comment by Chris Edgar | Purpose Power Coaching — July 10, 2009 @ 8:13 pm
Turkish Prawn – It’s been more than a week now and it is not that romantic anymore. Routine is still nice, but sometimes I just want to throw up all over the computer, when stuck for hours. Welcome.
Chris – orange juice! Yeah! I have been thinking a lot about the effect an orange juice has on my body and I am so impressed that I plan to write a post about it one of these days. It always feels like the best thing I can possibly pour into my body. My wife always laughs when hearing my loud and almost orgasmic sighs while drinking freshly squeezed orange juice. So, I can see I found a orange-soul-mate, right? Welcome.
Comment by Robert — July 12, 2009 @ 7:12 pm