Inside the Unexpected Challenges and Joys of Being a Girl Dad Writer: A Day Unveiled

THE RECKLESS WRITER

5:39 AM (or thereabouts)

My wife’s alarm goes off and that means it’s time to get up and get ready. Sometimes I jump out of bed right away. Other days I linger and try to stop my thoughts from rolling in like waves over a capsized boat.

Most days, it’s the boat thing.

Eventually, I head downstairs to let out the dog. About twice a year, the dog is sick and I discover he’s had an accident in the kitchen. If that happens, I clean and mop the kitchen. Most days I make coffee, boil some eggs, let the dog out, and then start in with my computer.

There are mornings where I can get a whole article done before the kids come down. Often, I scroll through comments as I try to wake up. At some point, a cup of coffee is ready and that helps. Throughout the morning, the girls come down and wander into my room to say hello.

Other people might call it an office, but I call it a room. It’s within sight of the kitchen, so I can glance up and see them doing their thing.

8:05AM

The school is close to the house so I drop off the kids. These are valuable times. I find that the most important conversations come in the 5 or 10 minutes of quiet time you managed to steal to have together.

Lately we’ve been talking about the importance of taking AP classes and getting college credit.

“Even if it’s not in a subject that interests you, just get the credit.”

My daughter says it feels like she’s “Cheating the system.”

I told her that in my whole life, I’ve never once followed the well established path. “That’s a sales funnel, it’s not for your benefit.”

Sometimes on the ride home, when it’s just me and the dog, I record voice notes. Later, I’ll make transcriptions of these and write articles from them. I have a folder on my desktop with about 100 voice notes that are ready to be polished off and published.