Guest Post: Cat Lavoie

Welcome to another stop on the CLP Blog Tour for Zoey & The Moment of Zen! My review of Cat Lavoie's second novel went up last week but to quickly recap: I loved it. Today I'd like to welcome Cat to Books Etc.! I'm always curious about the lives of authors. Where do they write? When do they write? And so on. So I asked Cat to share her writing schedule with us. I hope you enjoy this sneak peek into the writing life of one of my favourite authors!

I'm not quite sure what I am—a wannabe early-bird or a reluctant night-owl. All I know is that I wish I were the kind of writer who could wake up at five in the morning, put on some running shoes and jog a few miles, and then sit down in front of the computer—refreshed and energized—and crank out a few hundred words before the real work day has even begun. I have dreams about being that writer. (And I'm pretty sure dreaming of jogging is the closest I'll ever get to actual jogging.)

Truth is, I stumble out of bed—after hitting the snooze button a few times—and trip on Abbie the cat and somehow try to navigate the crowded bus and subway (still half-asleep) to get to my office. Once I'm there, surrounded by mountains of paperwork, I am itching to write. I count the minutes until my lunch break and when it's finally time to eat, I whip out my laptop and lose myself in my work-in-progress. I don't know why I'm so productive during that hour. Maybe it's the fact that I have a limited amount of time and I need to make every second count. Maybe it's because writing helps me escape dreary work days and I love bringing a bit of my dream job to my day job. Whatever it is, I'm so grateful for my little writing window that I sometimes forget to eat lunch. I know. Scary.

But the real work begins when I get home from the office. After taking care of the chores and getting everything ready for the following day, I can finally sit at my desk and write. I have to force myself to go to bed at a reasonable hour or I'll be sleeping on my paperwork the next day. But—if I let myself—I'd probably write until the wee hours of the night. Here's a picture of my work desk in an unusual state of tidiness. It might just be one of my favorite places in the world.