A day in the life of author Jane Isaac

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be an author? How long do they spend infront of a screen writing and researching? Do they secretly spend their time procastinating on social media or are they looking out of the window watching the birds in their garden, drinking endless cups of tea as the hours tick by or do they fit their writing in around their 9 -5 routines?
Well wonder no more as I'm delighted to welcome Jane Isaac, author of recently re-published An Unfamiliar Murder to my blog today with her guest post titled a day in the life of an author.

I still feel the bounce in my stomach when I receive an email offering me a contract for a new book. I still pinch myself to believe that it is all true. I’d dreamed of the day I would get published, the day I would see my book on the shelf in Waterstones, receive feedback, reviews, do book signings...

Book promotion is an ongoing basis and something I’ve had to fit into my already hectic daily schedule. Once I’ve bundled my daughter off to school in the mornings I spend half an hour on the computer dealing with emails, answering messages, tweets etc. Then it’s off to the day job for me. (Like many writers I squeeze my writing into my marginal time.) I usually return around three and run around the field with my incredibly naughty, but wonderfully lovable Labrador, Bollo. Then, back onto the PC to catch up again with social media, whilst welcoming my daughter in from school and cooking the dinner, occasionally to disastrous results (luckily my guys are very easy going)!

The evening time is when I start to think about the real love of my life: my fiction. A few evenings a week, around 8pm, I sit at the PC for an hour or two, gather my thoughts, and spend some time either researching, editing, or writing a new stretch. I don’t give myself a daily word count – if I manage 1000 words it’s a bonus – but prefer to write in scenes. Depending on their complexity I can research for hours, days, sometimes weeks before I am ready to get the words on the page. 

For me, one of the most interesting elements of novel writing is research and it’s incredible what direction that can take. Some days I’m meeting interesting people like a former homicide detective to discuss police procedure, others I’m listening to some rare music or sitting outside a café filtering my thoughts and people watching. For my second novel, The Truth Will Out, I spent hours watching episodes of Top Gear and listening to rap music on YouTube, all in pursuit of my goal.

It may seem that I don’t have much time to write, but my characters are never far from my mind and often in the supermarket queue, or by the pool during my daughter’s swim class, I’m jotting down notes that will later form some prose in my next novel. 

One of the wonderful things about becoming an author and sharing your work are the lovely people that you meet and messages you receive from readers. They still both surprise and thrill me, and I’m so touched that people take the time to get in touch. 

The day my books landed in my local bookshop was a very exciting moment for me. Seeing one of my books sit on the shelf above one of my favourite crime authors, Peter James, is still an exhilarating moment, every time I visit the store. 

AN UNFAMILIAR MURDER

Arriving home from a routine day at work, Anna Cottrell has no idea that her life is about to change forever. But discovering the stabbed body of a stranger in her flat, then becoming prime suspect in a murder inquiry is only the beginning. Her persistent claims of innocence start to crumble when new evidence links her irrevocably with the victim…

Leading her first murder investigation, DCI Helen Lavery unravels a trail of deception, family secrets and betrayal. When people close to the Cottrell family start to disappear, Lavery is forced into a race against time. Can she catch the killer before he executes his ultimate victim?

Jane's book An Unfamiliar Murder is available now on Amazon here

Jane Isaac  writes detective novels with a psychological edge. She lives with her husband and daughter in rural Northamptonshire, UK where she can often be found trudging over the fields with her Labrador, Bollo. On 1^st March 2016 she re-released her first novel, An Unfamiliar Murder, originally published in the US in 2012, which was nominated as best mystery in the 'eFestival of Words Best of the Independent eBook awards 2013.' Later in the year her fourth book, Beneath the Ashes, will be published by Legend Press.  www.janeisaac.co.uk

I'd like to thank Jane for taking time out of her busy schedule to stop by today and if, like me, crime books are your thing then I highly recommend that you add this to your TBR.