The Challenge: Promo!

A Day in the Life of Fantasy Author Cas Peace

My day generally starts around 7 am, which is when either I or my husband Dave will get up to let our two dogs out into the garden. The dogs are both Lurchers (a mixture of either Whippet of Greyhound with another kind of dog) although the younger dog, 3 yr old Milo, might actually be a pure-blood Smooth Saluki. As he is a rescue, we can’t be sure. My other dog, Milly, who is 8, is Whippet x Border Collie, although she looks like a golden Whippet. Once the dogs come back in, they then come up on the bed for a cuddle while we drink our morning tea.

Once we’ve all had breakfast, we head out into the fields for our first walk of the day. We are fortunate to live right next to farmland and the farmer leaves nice wide field margins for us to walk around. I do have to be careful because there are deer and rabbits and hares in the fields, and both my dogs are chasers. At certain times of the year, Milo spends most of his walk on a flexi-lead. 

If the weather is wet, the dogs get washed and dried after the walk. Then Dave and I have our morning coffee before getting down to work. The first job of the day is to check my Inbox and answer any important messages. Then I generally do a bit of social networking, especially f I’m actively promoting a book. Once that’s done, I turn to either writing, or editing.

I am a freelance editor as well as an author, and I now have a nice mixture of clients. I don’t mind what genre of book I edit, although I draw the line at hardcore erotica. I will edit non-fiction, but I don’t touch poetry. I like writing poetry but I don’t know enough about the the various forms and their rules to offer editing.

I break around 11 am for my second coffee, and then work on until lunch. The dogs are good alarm clocks and always remind me when it’s time to eat. Dave and I both work from home so usually eat together, often watching a daytime BBC program called Bargain Hunt, where two teams of couples try to buy antiques or collectibles that they sell at auction. The team that makes the most money (or the least loss!) wins. It can be good fun.

The afternoon commences with more work, broken at around 3 pm for the dogs’ second walk. I hate missing my walks, because I find I get too stiff and hunched if I don’t take regular breaks from the laptop. Dogwalking is the ideal excuse to take a break, and the walking refreshes my mind as well as my muscles. Ball throwing is good exercise too!

More coffee follows the walk, plus finishing off my writing or editing. I then check emails again and chat or network on Facebook or Twitter. I never leave these on during the day as they are far too distracting.

My working day is usually over by 5 pm unless something special like a blog tour is happening. Dave and I try to keep off the computers in the evening, otherwise they take over our lives. Dave is the main cook in our house (I hate cooking!) and I do most of the clearing up. We eat supper around 6.30 pm, and then either head out to work in the garden, or to a yoga class, or a music session at a local pub, or we might sit down and play some of our music at home. If we’re really tired, we’ll just flop in front of the telly with a dog on our laps and fall asleep until bedtime!