How To Make the Time for Writing When It Keeps Nudging You
How I make time for writing with a full client roster and an active, homeschooling family.
A change of scenery with cafe writing is the best inspiration to shake things up.
How I make time for writing has looked different over the years.
And it’s been about a decade since I’ve been intentionally making the time. First, there was the stage where I was reading books on writing while not writing. Sure, I was writing, but every word was for my corporate management consulting job.
When I got the inkling to write for myself, I was enjoying sharing stories on my plant-based food blog. And when I started my blog, I’d write every evening on the couch after dinner. While my husband picked something on TV, I'd have my laptop balanced on my knees, and I'd write — every day.
When I first started, I published a blog every single day for weeks. My voice at the time had corporate tones, no contractions, and was very formal. Even though I was telling personal stories, there was a wall up.
Still, I committed and got it done.
In 2015, when I committed to writing a mini-book, I woke up every day around 5:00 a.m. and headed to the couch to write for an hour. Then I'd shower and get ready to drop the kids off at school and head to my 9-to-5 in Chicago. I'd also make time on Saturday mornings, heading to a coffee shop for an hour or two of focused writing. If I took the train to work that day, I'd have a solid 40 minutes of writing.
At that consulting job, I'd pack my own lunch and eat it at my desk so I could write. Often saying no to colleagues who wanted to go out to lunch.
When I first went full-time in my copywriting business, finding clients and doing client work was a priority. I knew how important it was to create consistent content — blogging and social media content. I made the time to do writing that directly supported my business, doing a little each day because this was the work that would position me as an expert, give me a place to teach, and be an avenue to share my expertise.
Then, when it came time to write my first book book, I didn't see it as a direct path to clients. I saw it as a peripheral one. But I wasn't writing a book for my clients. I was writing a book for myself. This made it much harder to put it on the schedule.
I HAD to write the book. It knawed at me until I let the words out.
To get the first draft done, I'd go back to an earlier writing habit I had when I wrote that first mini-book when I had a corporate job.
Book writing wouldn't be a part of my work day, but it would be the first thing I did each morning before getting dressed and ready for work (yes, I mostly get dressed and ready for work, even in my entrepreneurial adventures.)
I drafted the book during my first NaNoWriMo challenge — every morning, before doing anything else, I'd write around 1,700 words. On the chance I had to get my day started before I could hit my goal, I'd revisit the writing in the evening to get to that word count.
I've always been writing in the cracks.
Today, it looks a little different. For me, my words are what draw in new potential clients and encourage my writing community and existing clients to do the writing work they either need to do or want to do, whether it's to move their businesses forward or finish a personal writing project that keeps tugging on their hearts.
How I make time for writing today
Notice I say make and not find. If you look, you'll find the time.
I'm drafting the first draft of this blog post for you on a Tuesday morning at 5:40 a.m. I got up (I woke up naturally at 5:00, with no alarm), quietly, came downstairs, grabbed some lemon water, and wrote without disturbing the dogs (unsuccessfully).
Sixteen minutes into writing, they could smell and hear me (as dogs should 😂). I was in the flow and wanted to keep going. But nope. I interrupted the flow, got up to let them out, and came straight back to the page.
Writers and creators rarely have four-hour swaths of uninterrupted time. Even today, as my kids are 12 and 15, we're all at home. My husband works from home, and the kids homeschool. If I can write for a solid 55 minutes, that's a huge win.
If you've never set a timer to see how much you could write in a short sprint, I encourage you to do so. When I took the break to let the dogs out, I checked the word count. It was around 550 words in just 16 minutes. I could have easily called that a good writing session and picked up the rest of the writing and revising later. I could easily triple those words with another 45-minute pocket of time.
In this season of my life, here's how I make time for writing.
And not only writing but my work ON the business, not in the business.
Writing that grows the business
Lead gen
Networking
Blogging
Social media sharing
Course creation
Book brainstorming, writing, or editing
I do at least one thing every morning ON the business or for me. That's writing a blog, working on a book, or planning a new offer.
Here are some practical time-protecting tips:
Block Mondays and Fridays from meetings. Sometimes, I still have meetings on these days, but these are the ones I schedule
Automate my calendar. I set up my Acuity calendar, so meetings mainly happen Tuesday through Thursday between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (I’ll occasionally adjust throughout the year if I have more capacity).
Protect my best writing times. Because I know mornings are my best times for writing, I do my writing then and protect the space.
Community writing sessions. With the writing community, we have two two-hour writing sessions together each week. These are additional times I work on my writing. Announcing to my community what I’m working on helps keep me accountable. Also, over the years, I've gotten really good at doing what I say I'm going to do.
Track time. I used to track my time for everything I did in my business—even my writing projects. I track time for blogging, social media, book writing, and book marketing. This habit easily carried over from my days in consulting, where I had to track time in 15-minute increments. I could also very quickly see if my results aren't where I want them and where I may have been easing off the gas. I used time-tracking to get me going, and recently stopped tracking. It can be helpful to do for a short time to get some insights.
Blocking weeks for integration time. I started scheduling integration weeks over a year ago. I realized I needed a break from talking to people (I quit video in 2022, so I have much more energy for meetings and conversation now), but a week to focus and go deep on whatever I was working on was a dream. I could add a meeting if needed, but again, I have total control over this schedule. I also blocked the time for the writing community to integrate and have fewer calls on their calendar. So I thought I should take that time away from calls, too. Looking ahead to each quarter, I block the week around new moons. Check Cafe Astrology for new moon dates and mark them on your calendar.
Blocking a few days before and after holidays. Who likes rushing back into email and work after being unplugged for days (I mean, when I unplug). Blocking a few days before and after holidays gives me time to focus and not feel rushed.
Making time for my writing is non-negotiable.
I feel better when I'm writing. It's my meditation, my work, my expanding body of work. It's what connects with my readers and clients.
If you need help making writing a priority on your calendar, there may be a deeper underlying reason why you don't see it as important. Maybe the reason you don't blog regularly is that you don't see content creation as a valuable activity for you yet. Or you haven’t started writing your book because you don’t know how it fits into your business, so it hasn’t been a focus — but it keeps nudging at you.
Whatever writing is nudging you, I invite you to spend the next 15 minutes exploring these questions — I suggest in a journal with pen and paper:
What writing keeps nudging me?
Was there a time when I successfully put my writing first? What was it? How did I do it?
What project feels urgent for me to finish?
💙 Jacq
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