Hi, it's author, Ellie Alexander, and I'm coming to you with another 5 Things Friday.
That's right, it's Friday.
And it's a three day weekend.
Thanks to a reader suggestion, this week we are going to take on five hours in my writing
life.
Are you thinking that it's champagne and bon-bons and super glamorous?
Stay tuned and find out.
[theme music playing]
That's right everyone, it's another Friday and here in beautiful Ashland, Oregon it is
raining!
I know that I talk about the fact that it doesn't rain very often in Southern Oregon,
but sometimes it does.
I'm so excited to share what a typical day in my writing life looks like.
And, spoiler alert, it is not glamorous.
So let's get right to it.
Number one: The first thing I start out every day with is a walk.
I get outside, rain or shine, usually shine, sometimes snow and ice.
No matter the weather, I get outside and I start every morning, my first hour of every
morning, with a walk.
It does a lot of things.
One, it gets my blood pumping, it's good exercise, but I also feel like it's great for my writing
because my creative energy starts to build throughout the day.
And I'm walking in beautiful places like here in Lithia Park.
Alright, so it's raining...let's grab the dog and do this!
Someone else get's really excited about our daily walks.
Let's go.
[music playing]
So we just finished a modified loop up through Lithia and back down through one of our favorite
neighborhoods here in Ashland.
And, in true Ashland fashion, I cut our longer walk short because it was raining and now
you can, just like half an hour or 45 minutes later, the skies are clearing.
Blue and sun are peeking through the clouds.
And now I'm up above the Calle.
Torte sits right down here on the corner.
And Jules walks along the Ashland Creek on the cobblestone path of the Calle to her apartment
right above Elevation.
It's so fun as a writer of fiction to get to weave these real places into the series.
They are definitely my inspiration and my muse when I'm working on any of the Bakeshop
Mysteries.
[music playing]
So Jules lives right upstairs above, what really is Mountain Provisions, but of course,
if you've read the Bakeshop Mysteries, it's Elevation.
And the only problem with writing about a real place in my fiction is at the end of
every walk I always think in my head like, "I should just hop down to Torte and get one
of Andy's coffees."
[music playing]
Or, I could pop into Puck's, also known in the real world as Oberon's, and have a turkey
leg and a cocktail with Lance.
[music playing]
Don't you just want to pop into Torte, down the entrance to the new basement digs and
get one of Helen's delicious pastries?
Or head upstairs and see what Andy's creating behind the bar?
I'm back from my daily loop and, as always, getting to walk up in the mountains or here
in the plaza where Torte would sit is always so inspiring.
Now I can't wait to get home and start what's next in my day.
Hmmm...
[music playing]
As you can see, I am back from my morning walk and I'm so eager to get started on my
actual writing.
But first I need step two of every day which, drumroll please, involves none other than
coffee!
Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee.
The second thing I do when I get back from my morning walk is make myself a latte.
Now, here's something that might actually be a shocker.
My red coffee canister denotes the fact that this is decaf.
I'm actually, predominantly a decaf drinker.
Mainly because caffeine makes me shaky and crazy, but I love the smell, and the flavor,
and the ritual of coffee.
And, of course, I have to be drinking a latte while I'm writing the Bakeshop Mysteries to
really center myself into Jules' head and the space of Torte.
But, I do it without the caffeine.
If you, like me, are not a huge fan of caffeine, I am getting ready to introduce a decaf line
of Torte coffees.
I know that's been a request from a lot of you, so they're coming.
And I'm making one right now.
I've always love the ritual of coffee.
There's just something so sensory about it.
And, as I'm sure you can tell, I am not a professional barista.
But I do love using my home machine, because it saves me so much money and I feel like
I get to be so much closer to Jules, and Andy, and the entire crew at Torte when I'm making
my home coffee.
And every writer needs something warm next to his or her desk when they're writing.
Are you right?
Are you with me?
Are you with me?
Here we go.
This is my favorite part!
[coffee machine brewing noise]
Look at that espresso.
It's so beautiful.
I really don't start any writing without a cup of coffee, you can ask my husband.
Although he's constantly teasing me about the fact that I drink decaf.
Jules would not be impressed, nor would Andy.
I think one of the baristas I talked to early on in my process of doing research for this
book said, "People who drink decaf have a special place in Hell."
[laughing] Fine, bring it on.
That's ok.
I still love that aroma, and the process, and how beautiful it is.
I have to wait for a second for the milk to steam, which is the hardest part.
But this is the quickest part of the rest of my writer's day.
So, I should just savor it.
I have writer friends who write in the evening and like open up a bottle of wine or pour
themselves some kind of fancy cocktail.
I could never write and drink at the same time.
Java, that's like my limit.
Java and water.
That's as far as I go.
And now for the steam.
[whooshing sound of steam]
Every time I do this step I imagine Andy standing behind the espresso bar at Torte, steaming
and chatting up the customers.
So, really it's proof that I have to do this for my research.
Is Andy not the cutest character?
I know I talked about him last week, but he's just one of my favorite characters to write
because he's so earnest and genuine.
Um, but has this sense of sophistication when it comes to the coffee world too.
It's been really fun to develop him as the series has gone on.
I'm not sure he would approve of my foaming skills, though.
You're getting a real-life look!
I test it by touching the bottom, which is probably something Jules would say don't do.
It's almost there...
Alright, on to the last and final step of the second part of my day which is building
the latte.
Pouring the milk in.
I mean it is such an act of love.
I am working on a flashback book right now and I've been researching coffee from the
1980s and it's amazing how much coffee has evolved.
In the 1980s you would never make a latte like this.
It would be a dark shot of espresso, a little bit of milk, and then like inches and inches
of foam.
And I think it's so funny, because if you went to a coffee shop today and asked for
this much foam, or the barista gave you that much foam, you'd be like, "What is this?"
Coffee, it's a culture.
Ok...finish it off.
Ok, I've had my morning walk.
That was step one.
Step two, I have made myself a homemade decaf latte.
It smells delicious, it's going to warm my hands.
Let's go find out what step three in my very sophisticated writer's day looks like.
Alright, now we are on to number three.
The third step in a day writing life.
This is, by far, the biggest chunk of every day and that is word count.
Right here at my desk.
I have my latte in hand, so I will be fueled, whether it is unleaded or not, I still something
delicious to be drinking.
Um, when I'm writing, as you'll note, I'm rarely in like fancy clothes.
I don't usually wear dresses or shoes when I write.
I don't wear jewelry when I write.
I don't wear earrings or my wedding rings when I write.
Not to sound too Monk-ish, but I hate the feeling of like my ring hitting on the keyboard
I'm typing or like my earrings moving against my hair.
I always have multiple Chapsticks at the ready, because I don't know why.
I'm constantly using Chapsticks when I write.
I light candles.
I have a Jules playlist or a Sloan playlist, whatever book I'm working on and I really
set the mood.
The really interesting thing for me is my word count usually runs somewhere from about
like 9, 9:30 in the morning until 2 o'clock.
I will spend that whole chunk of time working on whatever book I'm writing at the moment.
And I don't do anything else.
I'll get up.
I'll get a glass of water.
I'll stretch.
I'll do some yoga.
I'll move around a little bit.
But, otherwise, I am in my writing space.
And I was speaking to a book club earlier this week and I had kind of ah-ha moment about
why that is.
By two o'clock I am always done.
And I think it stems from the fact that when I first started writing my son was in elementary
school.
And so I would drop him off at school and come back and get to work right away writing.
And I had to be done by two o'clock to go pick him up from school.
And for whatever reason that ritual and routine has stuck with me.
So, for the next five to six hours you're going to find me right here working on book
eleven, at the moment, of the Bakeshop Mysteries.
Number four: Wooo!
My word count is finished for the day and now I can have fun connecting with you on
social media.
I love getting to use social media, all my various platforms, to connect with readers.
It's been one of the greatest pleasures and surprises, actually, of my writing career
thus far.
The only this is, it is a major distraction.
So, if you don't hear from me for a few hours, know that that's because I am working on my
word count.
I do not give myself permission to chat and engage on social media, or get sucked down
the beautiful rabbit hole that is pastry chefs and all those gorgeous images that I can get
sucked into on Instagram of cakes, and beautiful pastries, and everything I would imagine Jules
baking at Torte.
Or, craft beer and gorgeous photos of the outside.
Whatever book I'm working on, I can totally get sucked down a rabbit hole.
So, I don't do any social media until I am done with my word count for the day.
One of the challenging things, probably the most challenging for me in terms of social
media as an author, is making sure that I am sharing authentic content with you.
And I always try to share pieces of my research, my real-world research.
But my page can't really look like maybe a pastry chef's, or a craft brewer, or someone
who's only taking gorgeous photos of the Pacific Northwest landscape, because I write about
so many different things.
So sometimes I feel like, you know, I'm a bit scattered.
Some of things that I write about cross paths and some of them are kind of divergent.
Whether it's flowers, or beer, or baking.
Um, so it's always a challenge to me to make sure that I'm sharing things that are real
and interesting to you as readers and to me as a writer.
Um, and then how I tie it all together.
I don't know.
I'm still figuring that out.
So if you have great suggestions for me, throw em my way.
Number five: This is the last part of my day before I still go to pick up my kiddo, who
is now - sob - in high school and spend the evening with my family at the end of my work
day.
And that is shooting videos like this and taking photos of my books or something delicious
that I've baked that I want to share with you.
And I have to tell you, peeling back the curtain, it's a lot of work.
I had no idea how much work goes into setting up, lighting, and a camera.
I don't usually write with a camera in my face.
You would not want to see me talking to my self, and pulling out my hair, and scratching
things on paper.
But I did think it would be fun to show you that usually the last thing that I'll do at
the end of my day, after I've finished connecting with you on social media, is actually filming
videos.
And they take, probably, hours!
I had no idea when we first started doing this that they would -- I thought maybe, you
know, it'd be like 5 minutes.
You shoot a quick video and then you're done.
But, not so much.
We stage it, we shoot it, my husband edits it, sets it to music, adds some fun graphics,
and then finally uploads it to share with you.
I hope you have enjoyed these five hours in my writing life.
It's actually five hours plus a big chunk of that time for word count in the middle
of the day.
Hopefully, you will have realized that it's not very glamorous.
I am writing in my cozy cabin socks, in a warm turtleneck, with a latte, in my office
by myself most of the day.
Um, but despite the fact it's not champagne and roses, I love getting to write and share
my books with you.
So, as always, please be sure to subscribe to my page and click the bell to get notified
whenever I share new videos.
I hope you have a wonderful three-day weekend and have stacks of books to read.
[theme music playing]
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