Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Author Feature: Day In The Life of Joanne Kershaw



Alright, I have another great Author feature post for you.  Today I have Author Joanne Kershaw sharing what her day is like.  Enjoy!!!


My name is Joanne Kershaw and I’m addicted to my crazy life.
I am a full time mother of four children (aged 10, 8, 5 and 3), a full time teacher and a soon-to-be published author with Xchyler Publishing. ‘How do you do all that?’ I hear you ask. This is how:

Monday morning.

6:30am           Alarm goes off. Dreadful tinny music on a badly tuned radio. Hit snooze.
6:40am           Alarm goes off. Music is now an advert for double glazing. Hit snooze.
6:50am           Alarm goes off again. This time Only Son—aged five—who has crawled into bed with me, offers to turn it off for me. So this time, he hits snooze.
7:04am           Daughter Number One, aged ten, sticks her head round the bedroom door and says, rather pointedly, “We’re all going to be late, don’t you think you should get up?” I send Only Son to get dressed. I allow myself a few more minutes.

7:22am           Leap out of bed, turn on the light because it is still pitch black outside, and throw a cushion at my husband. Blame him for us being late and get dressed in a rush.
7:35am           Stumble downstairs to find Daughter Number One has made breakfast for herself and her three siblings who are nearly all dressed in their school uniform. Blame her for letting us sleep in. She shrugs and pretends I’m not there—which is probably the best idea.
7:48am           Half eat a bowl of bran flakes—part of my new healthy eating regime—and gulp down a half-cold coffee. Tie up Daughter Number Three’s hair; she’s almost four, over tired and not happy. There are tears, a few sharp words, and then it’s over. As is the last three minutes that I had spare.
7:53am           I get to my car, throw in my bag and laptop, change the CD to something loud and happy and drive to work. I’m a primary school teacher. I work mostly with children who find learning difficult and I help them to find it easier. I love that, it’s the best part of my job. I get to watch a child who has struggled for a long time finally grasp something. It’s like a little bit of magic!
8:02am           Get to school. I am really happy to be back because I truly love my job. That is, I am happy until I get out of the car. I’m greeted by a member of staff who promptly tells me that two other members of staff are off sick. So my whole day, which was planned out all neat and tidy, is now undone.
8:36am           Now I know what I’m doing today. Yay!
8:48am           I check my emails quickly. I have several from the team at Xchyler publishing. My content editor, a fabulous lady named Caitlin who has been an endless font of knowledge and support, has returned a couple of chapters which need a little tidying up. My line editor, McKenna, has also returned a chapter and I also have an email from Dale, the wonderful chap who is going to bring my book cover to life. Honestly, it’s not even time to open the doors yet and I am absolutely exhausted!
10:40am         Playtime. I meet up with my Young Voices choir. Young Voices is a Youth choir which runs throughout the UK. Children learn songs and then perform them with around 7000 other children in a huge arena. Our concert is in less than three weeks and we are woefully underprepared. I add extra rehearsals over the next two weeks, this is on top of the hour we already do after school every week. I manage to grab a very healthy chocolate biscuit and a coffee before I have to be back in class.
12:00pm         I’ve managed to get through the morning. I do ten minutes marking and then grab a bowl of cereal for lunch—guess that’s my healthy eating regime over then. I open one of my chapters for editing and get on with it.
12:48pm         Bell for afternoon classes rings and catches me unawares. I grab my purple pen—the best colour for marking—and jog down the hall at school and into my next class. Two hours of guided reading to go!
3:15pm           End of the day! Well, my working day. I have fifteen minutes to get up the road to the school my children go to as they need collecting.
3:26pm           I’m in the car. As I drive I’m singing to Demi Lovato at the top of my voice. If nothing else, it keeps me awake.
3:31pm           I collect Daughter Number 3 from her wrap around carer. She’s been a madam today so she is wailing at my knees whilst we wait for her older brother and sisters. I know she’s tired and she’s been nursing a chesty cough which has kept her (and me) awake, but I’m still pretty upset with her.
3:40pm           I finally have all four children in tow. With Daughter Number 3 still wailing and Daughter Number Two trying to help her keep pace, we painstakingly make our way to the car.
4:05pm           Home! Hooray! We burst through the door: hang up coats, put away shoes, put book bags on the hook, get changed out of uniform. When all those jobs are done we flake out on the sofa for half an hour and watch some dreadful children’s TV programme. It’s loud, it’s brash, it’s colourful and it’s blurry. I am not a huge fan of kids TV, unlike my husband, but it keeps us all quiet for a bit so we can recharge our batteries.
4:45pm           Stare into the freezer. I have no idea what to make for tea. I give up and resort to a good old favourite. Daughters One and Two and Only Son have porridge, Daughter Number Three has chocolate spread on toast and I have sausage sandwiches. I at least make them eat fruit, so I get at one tick on the Super-Mum check list.
6:18pm           Start to get the youngest two ready for bed. PJs on, teeth brushed, and tucked in by 6:28pm.
6:30pm           I spend an hour on homework, reading and general housekeeping with my oldest two daughters.
7:42pm           I am parked on the sofa with a large mug of coffee, my laptop and a slab of fruit cake. (It’s healthy honest!) I load up a chapter for editing and get to work. It’s peaceful. Out cat, who we love to death but who hates us passionately, is sleeping in her bed next to me.(Just as a side note, we called her Dipstick. Her hating us makes sense now, doesn’t it? Though it backfired on us! Have you any idea how ridiculous we sound shouting her name when we want her to come inside. I bet our neighbours think we’re crazy!)
8:17pm           The phone rings. My mum. We chat for nearly forty minutes whilst I answer emails and update facebook and twitter.
9:14pm           I’ve been working for all of about twenty minutes when the phone rings—again. This time it’s my mother in law. She wants to sort out visiting for Only Son’s sixth birthday in three weeks. For some reason I cannot fathom, this conversation takes half an hour. We don’t have much to talk about! Maybe, secretly, I am procrastinating?
10:28pm         This is getting ridiculous now. My husband calls me. He never calls me but the pub he works in is so quiet that he has nothing else to do. He spends fifteen minutes telling me all of the things he’s done in the last two hours and I try to listen, I really do. He eventually asks what I’m doing and, when he realises he’s disturbed me, he lets me get back to work. How very generous! He started work at 1pm and will finish at 1am, so hopefully he’ll be home around 2am. Then he’s really lucky because he gets to wake up at 6:30am tomorrow and do it all over again!
12:39am         I’ve finished the chapter I was working on and I email it on. My eyes itch and my back is hurting but at least I’m done. I turn my laptop off and tuck it away for a few hours. I briefly wonder if you can overuse a laptop but I’m so tired the thought barely sticks.
1:08am           I am finally getting into bed. Upside: it’s about time and my bed’s really comfy. Downside: my brain is wide awake. I end up putting on a DVD to fall asleep to. I hear my husband come home but manage to fall asleep before he comes to bed and his snoring can keep me awake.
6:30am           Alarm goes off. Dreadful tinny music on badly tuned radio. Hit snooze.
6:40am           Alarm goes off. Music is now an advert for double glazing. Hit snooze.

Well . . . I think you get the point!

Joanne’s book, a paranormal Young Adult adventure romance drama, is currently due for release in the spring. To find out more information check her out at Kershaw_Joanne on twitter or search Joanne Kershaw – Author on facebook! 



WOW!!! You are nonstop.  Joanne, Thanks so much for sharing your day with us!!! 

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