A typical week in this crime thriller writer’s life

A typical week in this crime thriller writer’s lifeSome of you have been asking what a typical week looks like in my world.

I usually get up between 5.30 and 6am. The newspapers are my first stop – USA Today, the New York Times and Kansas City Star. I feed the dogs, our two Cockapoos (a particularly sociable and intelligent blend of Poodle and Cocker Spaniel), then make breakfast, and sometimes lunch, for my wife.

I update my daily sales totals, wake my wife, eat breakfast, make the bed and then either head for Starbucks or set up shop writing crime novels at the kitchen table. I usually eat lunch at home.

Later in the day I go to the grocery to buy something to make for dinner and get my second Starbucks of the day – this time of year it’s an iced, decaf, venti Americano with extra ice, no water, topped off with soy milk.

On Mondays at 7am you’ll find me at my synagogue for the daily morning service and I end the day working out with my trainer. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I try not to kill myself at a circuit training workout, Wednesdays and Fridays it’s Pilates where I hope the instructor shows mercy. And twice a month, I have acupuncture, massage and stretching.

Why all the exercise, acupuncture and massage? There’s no cure for my movement disorder, tics, but looking after myself properly in a holistic kind of way seems to help.

Even after several years of acupuncture, it remains a puzzle. It works, which defies my bias towards Western medicine. I was a complete skeptic at first. I tried physical therapy and chiropractic to deal with the effects of tics but they didn’t work. Acupuncture does, so who am I to argue with my results – and 2000 years of Chinese medicine?

I also meditate as needed. Ideally it’d be daily. But the world isn’t perfect!

In between all this I’m head down, writing my next crime novel…

Image source:  Earls37a