A Day In The Life Of A Social Distancing Full-Time Writer

I’ve read so many stories on the inventions that Plato and his band of geniuses invented while quarantined from some pandemics. Or how a well-known author wrote a bestseller while quarantined or isolated in the Kilimanjaro mountains (kidding).

Well, they’re not going to be receiving any work from the Sarah household that’s for sure.

2:00 AM: Finish another K-drama episode after laughing and smiling to myself. Korean dramas are emotional porn. Here, love comes in all shapes. There are love triangles, squares and octagons. The storyline is almost always the same, with a lot of cliches, and damsels in distress. Straight out of the princess books. There is a Chairman whose son falls in love with a girl of a non-desirable social class, his wife doesn’t approve and slaps the girl with a glass of water. And so forth.

Nonetheless, we continue watching. We are single but feel in love. We are in love. Are Kim Woo Bin and Lee Min Ho taken? Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say.

7:00 -9:00 AM: Wake up. Pray the Lord's prayer and say my affirmations while half asleep. I wonder if I can sleep some more. Should I sleep some more? Let me sleep some more. Sleepy Sarah is irritable and doesn’t get much of her morning reading done. Also, no one wants to deal with her.

9:15 AM: Wake up, reply to funny Instagram stories, make the bed, hit the shower and wear working clothes. I read these are the secret to productivity. Here’s to productivity.

9:30 AM: Start my morning reading. Normally it’s a book or my Medium Digest Email, OneZero or Gen. I also check my stats. Okay, Medium users. Who in the world claps once?? You know you can clap up to 50 times right? I should probably write an article on clapping because you know, where are the rest of the 49 claps supposed to go?

There are some really good articles in these emails. How in the world are these writers so productive? I only manage to cough 3 articles a week. Do I need a mentor/coach? Maybe I do. My writing is all over the place and too scattered. I’m also too quiet (makes a note on my journal about having a coach/mentor).

10:00 AM — 1:00 PM: Checks work email and start my work for the day. Nothing happens here except pandemic articles, social media posts, email marketing, ‘best’, ‘kind regards’, and ‘please find attached’.

1:00 PM -1:30 PM: It’s time for my break and lunch. Pasta with goat curry would slap right now. Let me eat while watching another episode of K-drama. Korean cuisine looks so appetizing doesn’t it?

1:30 PM -2:00 PM: Take a power nap.

2:00 PM- 7:00 PM: Sometimes it’s 5:00 PM. Time is a construct. Nothing much happens here but more kind regards and please find attached.

7:00 PM — 9:00 PM: Have dinner and participate in twitter bloggers and writer threads. These are the only reason I’m on the platform. I answer questions on SEO, Pinterest and retweet sponsored posts opportunities.

9:00 PM -10:00 PM: Call my friend to catch up, talk about productivity and work-life balance. Sometimes I lament that I’m not doing enough. We both marvel at the results of our work while complaining about the inability to stay productive.

What does productivity really mean?

10:00 PM- 11:00 PM: Postpone reading and personal writing. I read 5 AM is the ideal time for that. Let me postpone that to tomorrow 5:00 AM.* Watches 10 cat-eye makeup videos.*

11:00 PM –2:00 AM: Decides to watch one episode of K-drama. Watches 5 and goes to bed at 2:00 AM. We’ll routine tomorrow.

I don’t know about you but my only responsibility in this period is to survive. To stay alive while managing to feed, shower and keep mine sanity. Productivity and goals is a bonus, but not assured.

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