A day in the life of a writer is spent in a cabin in the snowy woods. A 1930s Royal typewriter. A bottle of vodka. A thermos of black coffee. A vow not to leave until ten thousand anguished words are hammered out. Feelings oscillate between rapture and suicide.
None of that is true.
Let me clear up any remaining romantic notions. My life is very routine. Not sexy, but efficient.
I wake up around 5:30 a.m. and immediately reach for coffee. (If your coffee maker is not within arm’s reach of your bed, you are already behind). This is cup one.
I stay in bed for about an hour. Waking up slowly. Sipping coffee. Scrolling my phone. Thinking. I do not read the news in the morning. Not ever.
I feed the dog and the cat. Treats happen. Everyone is still half asleep.
I work out, either at home or at the rec center. My annual goal is 261 workouts (5 days/week), which sounds impressive until real life intervenes.
I shower. Usually.
Around 8 a.m., I write. This is the actual writing part of the job and it rarely lasts more than an hour. Most days I go to Starbucks, where I’ve written most of my last four books and accumulated a fucking alarming number of Starbucks stars. More coffee. This is cup two.
Then I go to the grocery store to figure out dinner. I love to cook and shop almost daily, which is either very European of me or highly inefficient.
By 9:30, I’m home and it’s park time for the dog. Off-leash. Technically illegal. Fifteen minutes of ball throwing and she’s done.
Back home, I give the cat his steroid pill and refresh his food tray. He is already yelling. He is not starving. He is just a dick.
At 10 a.m., I sit down at my desk with coffee number three. I never schedule calls before 11 and one weekday with no calls at all. In theory, this is focus time.
The cat disagrees. He jumps on my desk. The dog hovers. I am surrounded by fur for the next several hours.
I work for about an hour. Not writing. That already happened. This is podcasts, editing for Unbound Writer, consulting with my other company, emails, videos, newsletters, social media production, interviews. The unglamorous parts that make the rest possible.
At 11, I break for lunch. I make the same smoothie every day. I sit for fifteen minutes. The dog sits on me and slowly crushes my organs.
At 11:30, the cat gets his second meal and might finally shut the fuck up. I return to my desk and live inside my Outlook calendar. If it vanished, I would either crumble or feel free. I dig into more work.
At 2 p.m., coffee number four. Final. More work. This is when get around to the stuff I’ve been avoiding, like working on taxes or calling GEICO.
At 3, it’s back to the park with the dog. Fresh air. Perspective. Then back to work.
At 4, I read. Reading for blurbs or more student work. This is when I read the most fiction that is not my own. This is work-related reading, but it’s also fun (usually).
At 4:30, I feed the animals again. Yes, the cat eats three meals a day. I google yet another time how long do cats live.
At 5, I’m done. Sauna time. I recently bought a sauna and it might be the best decision I’ve ever made. Most likely shower after sauna.
At 6, wind-down time. Jessica might be over and/or maybe the kids are in town. Some nights are solo. I cook dinner with music or a podcast on. Tonight it’s slow-cooked ribs. Cooking is relaxing, and I am, objectively, good at it. Most of the time.
At 7, dinner and TV. This is where I absorb more fiction through movies and shows. If I don’t feel like thinking, I might watch an old season of Survivor.
At 9, I’m in bed reading. This time it’s reading for myself, for the pure love of it. Almost always nonfiction.
At 10 (at the latest), lights out.
No vodka. No typewriter. No tortured genius in a snowy cabin. Just a very ordinary day built around one quiet hour where the writing actually happens. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself, it’s that structure is the only way I get shit done. Turns out discipline is the real muse, and she does not care about how routine my life looks from the outside. And I’m totally okay with that.
Scully really wants to go in the sauna.
New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month, I chatted with:
Episode 215: Chris Pavone
Chris Pavone is the Edgar and Anthony Award-winning author of The Expats, Two Nights in Lisbon, and The Doorman. We talked about his years working in New York publishing, why the first page of a novel matters more than almost anything else, and how a move to Luxembourg sparked his debut. We closed by making up an emotional story inspired by a line from The Circus of Satan.
Episode 214: I.S. Berry
I.S. Berry spent six years as an operations officer for the CIA, serving in wartime Baghdad and across the Middle East and Europe. We talked about her path into intelligence work, writing memoir as a way to process lived experience, and how real-world operations shape pacing and action on the page. We wrapped with a tense, suspenseful story built from a line in Blade.
Episode 213: Kika Dorsey
Kika Dorsey is an author, poet, and English lecturer at the University of Colorado Boulder with multiple poetry collections and a Colorado Authors’ League Award to her name. We talked about the financial realities of being a working writer, crafting unreliable narrators, and why finding an agent feels harder than ever right now. We ended with a quiet, beautiful story inspired by a line from Happiness Falls.
Episode 212: Casey Sherman
Casey Sherman is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen books, including The Finest Hours and Boston Strong. We talked about the deeply personal origins of his decades-long Boston Strangler investigation, his approach to investigative nonfiction, and working with film and documentary teams. We closed with a fascinating story sparked by a line from Operation Mincemeat.
Episode 211: Alma Katsu
Alma Katsu is a New York Times bestselling author and former intelligence professional with over thirty years at the CIA and NSA. We talked about the internal review process at the CIA, writing across genres, and navigating film and TV options. We finished with a fast-paced story inspired by a line from You Have Gone Too Far.
Episode 210: Andrew Bourelle
Andrew Bourelle is the author of Shot Clock and a coauthor with James Patterson on the Rory Yates series. We talked about using film and television as teaching tools, why writers should always be working on the next project, and collaborating with Patterson. We closed with a suspenseful story built from a line in Battle Mountain.
Episode 209: Christina Baker Kline & Anne Burt
Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt are the coauthors of Please Don’t Lie. We talked about how their friendship turned into a writing partnership, the challenges of maintaining a unified voice, and balancing thriller conventions with emotional realism. We ended with a descriptive story inspired by a line from Blade.
Episode 208: Cynthia Swanson
Cynthia Swanson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Bookseller and The Glass Forest, and the editor of Denver Noir. We talked about starting a writing career later in life, her move into self-publishing, and committing fully to a ghost story. We wrapped with a creepy story inspired by a line from The Comfort of Ghosts.
All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
REVIEWS
On the Page
Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe (March 2021)
I thought I knew this story. The opioid crisis. OxyContin. The Sackler name quietly disappearing from museum walls. Turns out I didn’t know half of it. Empire of Pain keeps pulling the rug out from under you. Just when you think, okay, this is as bad as it gets, it somehow gets worse. And then worse again.
What’s so enraging is how early and how intentional it all was. This wasn’t a mistake or a drug that got out of hand. It was marketing, money, and ego working exactly as designed, with addiction treated as a rounding error. By the end, you’re not reading about a scandal so much as a blueprint for how enormous harm gets normalized when there’s enough money involved. It’s infuriating. It’s exhausting. And if you think you already understand how fucked the opioid crisis was, this book will prove you wrong fast.
On the Screen
Black Phone 2 (2025)
I watched this one with my son, which is kind of our thing. When it’s just the two of us, we almost always end up in horror. We loved The Black Phone, so we were genuinely excited for the sequel. Add in the fact that it’s set in Colorado and we were fully on board.
The movie itself? Yeah. It’s a lot. Bigger, louder, messier, and way more over the top than the original. Some of it is fun. Some of it is ridiculous. Some of it made us look at each other like, okay, sure, why not. It loses the quiet dread that made the first one hit so hard and replaces it with chaos and mythology and moments that are objectively kind of stupid. But watching a flawed, occasionally dumb horror sequel with my kid, laughing at the bad parts and leaning in for the good scares, is still a win. Not great horror. Not subtle. But a solid father son movie night, and sometimes that’s the whole point.
Photo of the Month
Hell, yes, that’s Beef Wellington. My Christmas-dinner specialty (this time with an assist from my daughter). Four pounds of tenderloin, wrapped in prosciutto, puff pastry, a mustard glaze, and a thin layer of stuffing instead of duxelles. (“but Carter, it CAN’T be Beef Wellington without the duxelles.” Shut up, I do things how I want). This was every bit as pricey and tasty as you can imagine. A once-a-year treat.
Update from my Kids
Winter-break sushi night with everyone home. Left to right: Henry, Jessica, me, Ili, Sawyer.
Update from my Pets
Scully ripped the head off her new puppy toy, which I then proceeded to try to put on Guff. This is why Guff is a dick.
Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend
Did you know that through my company, Unbound Writer, I work directly with writers at every stage of their journey? I offer one-on-one coaching, live seminars, retreats, and online courses, all focused on helping people tell the stories that matter to them. If you’re interested in exploring what I offer, you can visit my site (linked above) and set up a free consultation call to see if we’re a good fit. Working with writers has become one of the most meaningful parts of my career, so each month I’ll be sharing a testimonial from someone I’ve had the privilege of coaching.
Offerings from my Friends
I’m not the only writer who’s also teaching, of course. My friend, Steven James, has two conferences coming up in 2026 that I wanted to let you know about. Steven is the author of more than 50 books, and he has taught writing around the world for more than 20 years.
The Advanced Fiction Institute will be held in August in Jonesborough, TN. Joining Steven will be acclaimed author and literary agent Donald Maass.
https://www.advancedfictioninstitute.com
This is one of the premier writing conferences in the country and is limited to 8 authors.
Then, in November, international bestselling author Robert Dugoni and Steven will be teaching at their annual Novel Writing Intensive in Orlando, FL.
https://www.novelwritingintensive.com
Robert and Steven will critique up to 50 pages of your manuscript and teach detailed seminars that will elevate your work in progress.
Both events are intimate (limited to 12 or fewer people), and packed with practical, in-depth advice for improving works in progress. Make sure you mention my name when you request a registration form.
That’s it for now!
Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…
