Retirement (at least not mine) isn't all sleeping in and late lunches with friends, planning long week-ends away and gardening. 

Mine is more like checking email for job leads, writing a few paragraphs as the muse hits, wondering if I can learn to draw so I can illustrate my own picture book, checking email again, getting lost in a publisher's newsletter, following a list of fiction contests down a rabbit hole, and then claiming to have done housework because a load of towels made it into the washer.

I'm quickly finding that I may not be a candidate to be a freelance writer (different from author). Most ads for those positions require you to be an expert in SEO. Since I had to look it up (it means Search Engine Optimization), I would venture to say I'm not an expert. They want you to write blog copy, website blurbs, or ad copy filled with the industry buzz words that Google grabs like shiny diamonds and throws to the front of the line. 

I'm still waiting to find out if I qualify as a copy editor. You have to take tests for these positions if they are legit. Since it's going on four weeks now waiting for the results of one of these tests, I'm not holding my breath. 

While waiting, I'm working on my dream retirement gig - author. And when I say working, I mean WORKING. 

A day in the life of a writer (published or not).

Get up and check email. Purpose? New submission sites, responses to submissions, notes of encouragemet from other authors (published or not). After email, make a choice - write another 500 to 1,000 words on your WIP (work in progress), edit yesterday's writing, or take off on another great idea and start another WIP. Probably lunch time by now.

After lunch, search for submission targets then submit. Go first for the ones with limited submssion dates. Log the submissions - very important. 

Take a break and read some of the book you're supposed to be reading because you committed to write a review (unpaid but possible recognition). This is a difficult task. The whole time you're reading, you're also comparing all of your works to it - as good as, better than, or so out of my league. 

Check the Twitter feed. Get depressed as you see tweet after tweet of new authors with videos of them unboxing their debut book or smiling while they do a book signing. Close Twitter before you totally lose your writing hat.

Google the latest fiction contest announcements. Sift through them for those with a no-fee entry. Read closely to see if you have, or can produce, anything close to what appears in their "past winners" sections. 

By now your brain is dead. You might have enough gas left to write in your journal or read a chapter or two of a book you want to read just for pleasure (although you know you'll write a review and post it a couple of places for name recognition). 

Not working IS work!