A day in the life: Kate Williams
UK, Writer, Editor, Translator
Kate Williams, UK, Writer, Editor, Translator
Kate arrived in Barcelona in 2003 on a break from her career as an auctioneer. She fell in love with the city—and weather—and stayed. Over the years, she worked her way from English teaching to translation to marketing & communications. She now runs The Writer Stuff, a content writing and language services agency, from her home in Vallcarca.
8:15 Alarm sounds, immediately snoozed, not a morning person.
9:00-10:00 After a grueling 10 meter commute via bathroom and kitchen, I’m at my desk with coffee and fruit. The best thing about working from home is not having to drag myself semi-comatose across town in the am. My productivity has shot up too.
Often I’ll take the laptop onto the terrace. We have a great, green view over Parque Güell and it feels like you’re not in the city.
I spend an hour reading news, interest areas and anything relevant to current jobs. I use Feedly to filter topics/sources and not get distracted by sensationalist media before I’m feeling sufficiently robust.
Afterward, I check the various social media communities I’m in, and share anything interesting/useful I’ve read.
10:00-12:00 No putting it off any longer; time to start writing. In the early stages, I do a lot of research and talk to experts to get my head around a subject. What I love most about my work is the opportunity to dive into new worlds and learn about things and people I might otherwise never come into contact with.
Then I start shoveling all that information into something coherent, which is harder. Mornings sometimes involve wailing, gnashing of teeth, rewrites and carefully shaving off excess words. Editing my own work is the hardest thing I do.
Writing is challenging, so to stop me procrastinating I use a timer, working in 55-minute blocks with a five-minute break. I work at an adjustable desk (sitting is the new smoking) and change from sitting to standing, or vice versa, every hour. Phone goes on silent and in a drawer. Relaxing wave sounds drown out barrio noises and snoring dogs.
12:00-13:00 Time for ‘breakfast’ (I have finally become Spanish), followed by a quick jaunt around Parque Güell with dogs, then back to work.
15:00 My funcionario boyfriend comes home. I do my impression of Jack Nicholson in The Shining as he invades my office–pursued by an overexcited furry tornado–to update me on the latest from the civil service front line. Once he’s safely in his man cave, I get back to work.
18:00 Unless I’m on a deadline I generally stop writing now. It’s intense work and I’ve learned that pushing it after my brain starts to smoke tends only to produce future rewrites.
I spend an hour researching potential new clients or stories, pitching and doing admin.
19:00 Dogs out again, this time to Parque Creueta to throw a ball until tired (me, anyway). I like to sit on the edge of the cliffs with a view across Barcelona and watch swifts skim the curves of the former quarry in search of insects.
20:00 Following a debate about whose turn it is to make dinner, the loser proceeds to do so. If I’m victorious, I flop on the sofa and listen to the excellent, eclectic French Radio FIP.
23:00 Final dog walk around a darkened Parque Güell.
23:30 Bed, book, game over.
Kate Williams is a freelance writer, editor, translator and Director of The Writer Stuff. She left her native England for Barcelona in 2003 and never looked, or went, back. When she isn’t writing or discovering all the cool stuff going on in the city, she enjoys hiking in the Catalan countryside, kayaking on the Costa Brava, and volunteers at a local animal sanctuary. You can read more by Kate here.