Meet WriteMentor team member Florianne Humphrey

I want to show you that it’s completely normal, and in fact inevitable, to have to squeeze writing in among other things. My other things include freelance work, like marketing for WriteMentor, and filling my cup to give me the energy to write and work, from hanging out with my dog and fiancé, going on long walks, reading, and visiting family and friends.

So here’s an example of my weekday routine as a writer and member of the WriteMentor team.

Morning

I can’t properly function without yoga and coffee, both of which happen in the garden in any weather (yes, catch me doing Downward-Facing Dog in scarf and gloves). Fully stretched and caffeinated, I go inside to check my WriteMentor emails and any notifications on the Hub. I particularly love scrolling through the celebrations thread with our members’ latest writing and publishing news.

When Honey, my two-year-old Golden Retriever, comes to remind me that her zoomies are more important than my emails, I take her to the woods opposite our house, listening to a podcast. My current fave is The Rest is Entertainment featuring fellow writer Richard Osman.

If I’m back from my walk in time, at 10am I join the Hub writing sprints. The timing of these morning sprints is perfect – late enough that my brain has woken up, but early enough that I feel like I’ve achieved something before my day has properly started.

Daytime

As a freelancer, my day takes on different shapes depending on my current to-do list. WriteMentor isn’t my only day job. I also do marketing for other businesses, run my own creative writing workshops and, my favourite role (apart from WriteMentor of course), write travel articles. Right now, I’m getting things sorted for a press trip to Lithuania and Latvia to review some hotels.

Mostly I’m on my laptop, which often needs to be surgically removed from my hands, except that one one time I left it on an aeroplane. Marketing for WriteMentor means creating designs on Canva, scheduling social media posts on Later, updating the website, writing blog posts, contacting publishers, agents, and other industry people to work with us on the Hub, and generally have a great time working with my lovely colleagues Stuart and Melissa. As authors at different stages of our publishing journeys, we chat a lot about our own writing, sharing advice, updates, and industry insights – a microcosm of the same supportive vibe that we encourage over on the Hub.

My fiancé is also a freelancer, so in the afternoon we take a break from work to go with our dog on a little adventure in our local area. This week we went swimming in a lake and had chips on the beach. Norfolk in the summer always feels like we’re on holiday, which makes it a bit harder to go back to work.

Evening

My evenings start with a couple of hours tutoring English Literature and French online, and then we have dinner. Sometimes there’s a little bit of extra WriteMentor work if we’re hosting an event, like last week when we introduced the new and improved Hub platform, which you can catch up on here. If I’m finished for the day, I do some more writing or, if I’m not feeling inspired, enjoy some much-needed TV time. We’re also renovating our first home together – a 1970s bungalow – so if I want a break from staring at screens, I grab a tool and pretend to be good at DIY. Success for me is not breaking myself or the house because, as a writer, I’m definitely better using my brain than my hands. Then it’s time for some reading in bed and, if my brain doesn’t want me to go to sleep, writing some of my book on my phone.

Want to meet fellow writers like Florianne?