A Day in the Life of Pepper!

I am so excited to share today’s post with you! Let me ask you this….have you ever sat there wondering what your favorite author is doing all day? I’m sure we imagine them getting up, staying in their pj’s all day, eating and writing these beautiful stories (easily I might add) with no distractions. Then they go to bed and start again the next day. For the record, that is NOT how it goes. At least not for any authors I know. Most of them have day jobs. Yes, jobs that are not writing! Go ahead, gasp. Some are married, some have children and/or pets, or maybe parents to take care of. So in reality, it’s like they are working five jobs! Kudos to them 🙂

Well today I am exciting to have Pepper Basham here to tell us about a normal (does that exist?) day in her life. It’s not glamorous folks. In fact, when I asked Pepper if she would share her day with you, her response was “I’m not sure you knew what you were asking when you wanted me to share about A Day In the Life, because it’s not super interesting! In fact, it might be a little crazy and dizzying.” You can see for yourself. Buckle up and put your seatbelts on, it’s time to go for a ride. And PS – I met her, and her awesomely talented daughter at CFRR, and yes. She has as awesome and spunky in real life as she is on social media 🙂 For the record.

A Day in the Life of Pepper

As you know, I wear a lot of hats (both figuratively and literally ?). I’m a wife to a music minister, mom of five, writer, and speech-language pathologist. And though the physical needs of my kiddos have reduced a little since they’ve gotten older (ages 10-19), there are still lots of things they either need emotional support on or other (like homework ?)

So…let’s look at a typical Monday for me.

Around 5:45-6am – I wake up, get ready for the day and head downstairs to make breakfast. We alternate breakfasts for each day of the week. Mondays is usually eaters-choice ? If they don’t want the scrambled eggs I usually fix, they can fix some oatmeal or cereal.

Breakfast – 6:45 with family devotions led by my hubs.

I’m out the door by 7:10am at the latest and proceed to my job as speech-language pathologist as a local charter school in Asheville.

My school starts at 7:25am. I do paperwork and planning until about 8-ish and then I start therapy. My grades are 4^th-12^th, with a specialty in Autism Spectrum Disorders and language disorders, though I can work with kids who have speech sound errors too. My caseload is eclectic, with a load of kids who have various needs. My schedule for Mondays usually runs pretty consistently every 30 minutes from 8:15 to 2:30, with a morning break and a lunch break (I usually try to write during lunch). I give therapy to kids, consult with teachers, and do paperwork/planning. At about 2:45 I usually help with dismissal.

After dismissal, I’ll leave school to go and pick up my children from their school. I usually get there around 3:30-ish and skitter off in time to take my youngest to piano lessons. Me and the other 3 will wait in the van (doing homework, chatting about our days, singing along with some musical) until Phoebe’s lesson is finished at 4:30-ish, and then we head home.

We usually get home around 5-ish. I go straight to making dinner and kids usually have a gaming break/reading break until after dinner. (Sometimes we’ll splurge on Chic-fil-A on Mondays, if we can, because it’s such a long day with the addition of piano lessons).

Homework happens after dinner and clean-up. If kids are independent, I’ll sit down and check email, look ahead for the next day, maybe even write a paragraph or two (maybe…). After homework, we might watch a short movie together.

Bedtime routine happens last (baths (as needed), prayers, etc. And the youngest kids are in bed by 9:15pm. The older ones stay up to either finish homework or do some of their own things. We’ll usually hang out together doing our own work and many times I’ll write during this time, if I don’t have work to catch up on for the next day (or a last-minute project to help finish). For example, I’m writing this post on a Monday and it’s 8pm. I’m getting ready to practice playing a few songs that my daughter and I are singing tomorrow night at church. So…that kind of changed my schedule for tonight.

Sometimes, like tonight, my oldest kids will sit with me to watch a show we all enjoy. Tonight, it will be The Good Doctor ? Later in the season, it will be Agents of Shield ?

Okay, break in the story. I LOVE The Good Doctor! Sorry Pepper, carry on….

I usually write (which includes posts, interviews, and novels) between 9:30-11pm, if all is going well.

And I’m typically in bed by 11pm. Maybe 10:30 if I’m extra tired or 11:30 if I can “sleep in” the next day.

So – it’s not glamorous. Writing happens in snippets of time.

Sneaking a line or two in while dinner is cooking.

Jotting down a paragraph while the youngest take baths.

Audio-texting a scene to myself while I wait in carline ?

It’s crazy, but it works.

 

And there you have it folks. I’m tired just reading about it! But ever so grateful that this talented author has the time to write the wonderful stories she has. If you have never read one of her books, I encourage you to do so. Trust me when I say you will not be sorry. And if you have read her books, make sure to leave a review for them! That is one the best ways you can help an author out.



 

Connect with Pepper!

Pepper’s Website

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Thank you Pepper for being so gracious and sharing your day with us!