Tomorrow, August 1, 2026, I will finish Ordinary Life. I have about twenty pages left to proofread. This will be the fifth draft. Then, I will start developing the marketing materials necessary for querying literary agents.
So, what does a writer do all day?
When we lived in L.A. and I was still madly in love with Hollywood and had written about twelve screenplays, I had a chance to meet David Mamet’s personal assistant.
Filled with wonder at what working with Mamet must entail, I asked her, “So what is it like to work for him?”
She said, “It’s like . . . nothing.”
I asked, “What do you mean?”
She said, “He is a writer. He comes in in the morning and goes into his office and writes. At the end of the day he leaves.”
Here is what this writer does on a writing day: Monday through Saturday.
I get up at 5:20 and shower. I do thirty minutes of mental prayer. Then I make some breakfast. I usually eat it in front of my monitor, this time of year watching the L.A. Dodger highlights from yesterday.
Then I have about an hour to write. If I have a few extra minutes, I will do a technical warm-up on guitar.
Then I walk to 8:00 Mass. In the summer it is Blessed Sacrament, a seriously beautiful church built in the 1920s. On the way there and back, I say five decades of the rosary.
When I get back home, I write until about 11:30 and make a little lunch, then continue till maybe 1:30. By then my brain is getting tuckered out and I stop. Usually that is it for the day, although sometimes I might pick it up for an hour later on. The only thing I need to be creative is a clear head.
The rest of the day, I try to make myself useful. I’ll often make dinner (pesto with homemade noodles tonight, pizza tomorrow with dough I started yesterday and which has been slow-fermenting in the fridge), do chores, walk 10k steps, maintain my singer/songwriter chops, and watch too many YouTube videos of people getting themselves in trouble.
Late in my evening–you’ll see how I define late later–I’ll make an examination of conscience and then fill a glass with ice, about two inches of water, and three ounces of whiskey.
We go to bed at 9:20 and the last thing I do before sleep is some silent prayers: three Hail Marys, Angel of God, St. Michael prayer, and a prayer for boys: “Now I lay me down to sleep.”
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