Have you ever dreamed of quitting your job and taking up writing as a career? Setting your own work hours, getting to hang out in coffee shops and indie bookstores, clattering away at your keyboard, composing brilliant words that are sure to be quoted someday.

Every now and then, you'd be interrupted by someone on social media or real life: "wait, you're that author, aren't you? It's so cool to meet you!"

Sounds glamorous, doesn't it? But here's the truth: it isn't real.

Who Am I?

My current occupation is "professional author". I've published two fiction novels so far through my own publishing company. In terms of non-fiction, I am presently under contract with No Starch Press to author "Dead Simple Python," with another book concept in the pipeline after that. I spent approximately 8-10 hours a day writing on one project or another.

I was blessed to be born into literary circles, introduced in via my mother, a professional author and editor. Having family friends who just happened to be editors, bestselling authors, and literary agents was just "normal" for me. I joined my mother's professional critique group when I was eight-years-old. I was even once the youngest active member of a major writer's guild.

None of that is intended to put a feather in my cap. The point is, this has been my world all my life. Everything contained herein is based, not just on my own career, but on those of many authors one would deem "successful."

A Day in the Life

Perhaps I should start by describing an archetypical workday for me.

5:00 AM

I roll out of bed, slink to the kitchen, and make a cup of coffee. I'm an introvert (shocking as that may be), so having some alone time before I start the day is pretty important to my mental health. I do my devotional, read a few comics, and ease into my day.

6:00 AM

I check my email. I've got a chapter back from one of my technical editors, which I mark for immediate review.

I skim through the rest of my messages, and check social media for anything of importance. There's nothing, again.

After posting an update in hopes of growing my all-important Twitter following (a key part of my book marketing), I switch to perusing DEV for a bit. Since so much of my time is spent writing. instead of actually coding, I have to work extra hard to keep my skills fresh and up-to-date. While I'm at it, I take care of some tag mod chores.

7:00 AM

Family's up, so I switch to making breakfast and doing morning chores.

9:00 AM

Finally back to work. I settle into my regular workspace and open up the file my technical editor sent me. I skim through to get a feel for the scope and nature of the changes, and it's a little overwhelming; major sections of this chapter are going to need to be reworked.

No use putting it off. I turn on some music and dive in. Switching between the manuscript, the editor's notes, and the documentation, I manage to work out the best way to handle most of the suggestions.

Unfortunately, one or two are sticking. I'll need more feedback, so I table that for later.

12:00 PM

Lunch time! I warm up leftovers, clean up the kitchen, and take care of a few lingering chores. At least it gives me a break from the computer, and a chance to talk over some difficult parts of the edits with my mum, Anne. I also get some piano practice in.

1:00 PM

Back to work. Since lunch, I've gotten edits back from my publisher for the chapter I sent in a few weeks back. Since it's been a while, it takes me a bit to get myself back into the flow.

Most of the pages are densely filled with red and blue markings. I can't just "accept all changes." Rather, I have to go through each one, manually retyping the suggested changes in my copy of the manuscript, adapting as necessary to fit my voice and flow. There's no shortcut here.

In a few places, I have to rework the section again, despite already having rewritten it before. The prose just isn't working. One change usually requires several others.

3:00 PM

I wander into the programming chatroom where many of my programming colleagues gather, and bring up the point I'm stuck on from the technical edits this morning. This prompts a fairly long and detailed conversation. At least I'm unstuck now, but I'm also tired. I go for a short walk to clear my head.

3:30 PM

Back to writing. I have a new chapter that's due by Monday, and this one example is just not working. After puttering around with it for another 45 minutes, I finally manage to get it right, and I'm in a flow.

5:30 PM

I've finished another two pages in what will be a 30-page chapter. Yay! I can now switch to making dinner, a welcome shift from working on the computer all day. I enjoy Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune with the family, and then clean up the kitchen a bit.

7:30 PM

Back to writing...fiction this time. I have about eight different fiction manuscripts in progress at any one time. Whichever reaches "completion" first is submitted to the rigorous editing of my mother, Anne, in hopes of publishing. Nothing's slated for publication right now. I manage to finish most of a chapter before bedtime.

9:00 PM

Shutting down. Once I'm ready for bed, I'll take the time to read, sometimes by myself in whatever library book I have checked out from the library (there's always one), and always to Mum. She read to me every night of my childhood, so this is a tradition I've happily inverted and continued.

10:30 PM

Lights out, and just in time. I've got another early day tomorrow...and there's a dozen apples on the counter calling to be made into a pie.

The Reality of Professional Writing

You know, I'm pretty blessed, as far as professional writers go. I have a good support structure of friends, family, and church. I enjoy what I do. And I have plenty of time to devote to it. Many professional authors have to do this and hold down a full-time job, although that's something I hope to need to do soon. (Being a professional author doesn't often pay well, even for many bestsellers I've known!)

But you can see, this is far from the glamorous workday everyone imagines:

• I spend a lot of time interacting with people: editors, readers, social media followers, colleagues. This is part of the job! No complaints from this quarter, but all the same, you can imagine that this takes energy when you're an introvert. Yet there isn't time for nearly as much personal interaction as most extroverts would like. It's often stuck in that somewhat uncomfortable zone right in the middle.

• I spend far more time editing than writing. That's the job in a nutshell: write, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite... I cannot hold onto my words too tightly in this process. I will often have to rework entire sections, sometimes sections I personally liked. Oh well. Anything to make the book better, that's the mantra!

• I have to devote plenty of time to reading and studying, to keep myself fresh, especially when it comes to technical writing. By this point, I know the Python documentation very well. Professional writing is a trade for born learners.

• A professional writer is usually more obscure than one might think. I get wonderful comments on occasion, and I treasure those! But fact is, most people who read my work will never comment, and that's okay. I didn't go into this field to be famous.

• A professional writer has very long days, especially when working under a deadline! Between writing new material, researching, and editing existing material, ten hour days aren't unheard of...and that's without a full-time job! I get up early, just to preserve my sanity.

All that said, I wouldn't give this up. I have to write, or else I'll just shrivel up and die. That's just who I am. When I see someone enjoying or benefiting from something I've written, when I see the smile on the face of someone who I meet at a book signing, when I read a nice comment on social media, that's just the icing on the cake.

This field is not for the faint of heart. If you like short workdays, predictable schedules, and lots of alone time, this is probably not the right job for you.

But if you're like me, and love to write, it may be worth it.