Getting myself into a regular routine for writing has been a pivotal moment in my career. As I have so much going on at any given time, making sure blogs, books, videos, and clients are taken care of is a challenge. And I’ve been trying to balance everything since 2013.
That’s when I quit the school district to become a full-time freelance writer.
Unfortunately, the chaos that surrounds me often derails my efforts. Not all of it is the universe trying to see if it can break me, though. A lot of the chaos I manage is self-imposed.
Nonetheless, on the days when someone isn’t wrecking a car or requiring medical assistance, my writing routine keeps me quite productive.
My Daily Routine as a Writer in an Ideal World
These are the blocks of time I try to set up throughout the day. It also depends on the day itself, as I only make videos every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Plus, I alternate things like cardio workouts and going to the gym throughout the week.
1. Exercise/Gym
The first thing I try to do in the morning is to get the heart rate going. Studies show that routine exercise boosts brain power. And as a writer, the brain is the most important organ.
Not to mention the fact that it can affect your energy levels and mood throughout the day. So, getting some kind of exercise is ideal if you want to give yourself the best chances for success.
Usually, I’ll play around 25 minutes on the Oculus or Xbox Kinect. Though, lately, the Xbox 360 has been having issues logging in to Microsoft. But if I can’t get in some gameplay, I’ll go for a fast-paced walk around the backyard.
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, however, I try to spend around an hour at the gym. I mix in using the treadmill while using the weight machines.
2. Blogging
My first block of actual writing time in my daily routine centers around one of my blogs. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I write the next week’s posts for WriterSanctuary.com. Tuesdays and Thursdays usually center around CrossingColorado.com or ColoradoPlays.com.
Ideally, I would love all of the blogs to be on a regular publishing schedule. Unfortunately, the client work often disrupts that flow and I’m only able to get in a few posts here and there.
During this time, I can usually write about 2,000 words, but that also depends on the topic. Sometimes, things need a bit more research or several screenshots that wind up tapping my time.
3. Writing Sprints
After blogging, I’ll take a 30-minute break to walk a bit and get set up for the live writing sprints on YouTube. This is a two-hour chunk of time while running four, 25-minute writing sprints to background ambient sound.
The writing sprints helped me finish the first draft of Shadows of Atlantic City as well as several chapters in Fury, Kingmaker’s sequel. At the time of this post, I’m using the sprints to work on the edits for Shadows.
The idea behind writing sprints is to keep focused on a single task and put in maximum effort. I’ve had people join as bloggers, some will do school work, and others just like having the background sound while they do other tasks.
Because of how hectic my life is, the writing sprints are the only way I can guarantee myself time to work on my books every day. Otherwise, it would take so much longer to write and edit them.
4. Video Production/Blogging
Once the writing sprints are done, I’ll have a quick lunch before getting set up to either make a new video or write a blog post. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are ideally for YouTube videos while Tuesdays and Thursdays are often assigned for the other blogs.
Like WriterSanctuary’s blog, I want the YouTube videos to be a week in advance. That way, I have time to finish them should something take longer than expected or if a client needs something.
Although I am getting to a point where I can maintain a video schedule, it’s still been exceptionally difficult. It seems clients and kids need my time after lunch more than at any other point in the day.
I have no doubt that if I could have maintained a three-per-week video schedule since I started the channel, I would have been monetized a long time ago.
5. Exercise 20-25 Minutes
As the video is rendering on the computer, I’ll take another 20 to 25-minute chunk of time to exercise again. That’s because I am working on trying to be more physically active than I have in the past.
Between wanting to lose the last 30 pounds and preventing my heart from stopping, I try not to be as lethargic as I was 10 years ago. Besides, why not give myself an extra boost of power to the brain?
During this exercise session, I often play the Oculus or go for a walk. I only have time for the gym in the morning, so I work out at home. No matter what I decide to do, I work up a bit of a sweat.
It’s harder to do this during the school year. By the time I want to exercise, I have to spend an hour driving to pick up my daughter from school on the other side of town. That means I don’t get to exercise as much as I’d like until my “workday” is over.
6. Blogging/Marketing/Substack
The last block of time for my writing routine involves a series of different projects throughout the week. Sometimes, I’ll work on finishing a longer blog post. Others, I spend two hours working on social media posts. Or, I’ll spend the time working on the Substack newsletter.
What usually happens is that I’ll have to address more client issues. Remember, they are the ones paying my bills. Until the blogs or YouTube channels start paying enough to replace the income, I’m kind of in a box.
Essentially, I’ve prioritized my day where the more important tasks are done first. By the time this last block of time rolls around, it’s not as bad if I have to spend it working with clients rather than posting on Substack or marketing the blog.
Plus, there are times when I try to make up missing a few things over the weekend.
Client Work Usually Disrupts My Flow
This writing routine is something I would love to commit to on a regular basis. However, as I pointed out before, I have clients that pay me for certain tasks. And since they represent the vast majority of my income, they have to come first.
In fact, clients currently make up 97.52% of my income throughout the year. Yes, I’m a geek with a spreadsheet and keep track of everything I earn from various platforms.
The bottom line is that I never get to fully follow my daily writing routine.
My goal is to derive less than 50% of my income from clients. At that point, I might consider dropping them and going full-throttle with all of my plans. But that’s going to take a great deal of time and effort.
My point is that sure, there are a lot of things I’d like to do as a creator. But I’m not going to sacrifice a paycheck for the potential to make enough to support my household. That means trying to find a balance to do it all so that one day, I can say goodbye to the freelance work.
I personally know several people who have given up a guaranteed paycheck for lofty goals and dreams. Although a few made it work, the vast majority of them live off the generosity of others.
I’d rather make sure that I can sustain my mortgage and bills before moving on to something that doesn’t even generate 3% of my yearly income.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. I thoroughly enjoy helping my clients and I work with some amazing people. At the end of the day, though, I’d rather work on myself and promote my blogs and channels as a creator.
6 Tools I Use to Manage My Writing Routine
My daily writing routine is nothing without good tools to help me see things through. Although there are a lot of tools I use on a daily basis, I’ll share the ones that are specific to writing content of some kind.
One of these days, I’ll go over my entire schedule and all of the tools I use. But that will probably be after I can make a decent living outside of client work.
Asana (free)
I’ve been using the free version of Asana for several years. It lets me add up to 15 team members while assigning blocks of time to them and myself. Out of the many project management apps I’ve tried, Asana has been the best for what I need as a writer and blogger.
I have all of my blogs and clients set up as projects in Asana, and they’re all color-coded to make it easier to find in the schedule. Then, I keep track of all the different types of content I make for myself as well as the clients.
It’s one of the few apps I have that are free to use and has everything I need without worrying about upgrading.
Mindomo (free)
Mindomo is another free app I’ve been using for several years. Although you can only create three projects under the free version, that’s all I’ve ever needed.
Mindomo is a mind mapping app you can use to help plan out a variety of projects. You start with a single point and then branch out with ideas.
I use Mindomo to help structure blogs, client content, and build content strategies in general. It’s been an exceptionally effective tool for helping me visualize what needs to be done for both myself and my clients.
Google Sheets
I have so many spreadsheets saved in Google that it’s making me feel a bit self-conscious. I have spreadsheets for damn near every data-related element you can think of as a writer. And several that have nothing to do with writing.
For instance, I use Google Sheets to plan out my blog content. This includes the primary category each post goes into as well as tracking performance in Google searches after six months.
Another way I’ve been using Sheets lately is to help plan out the blog-to-book content. Each “chapter” is another long-form blog post, which I plan on turning into an eBook at the end.
Reedsy Studio
I use the Reedsy writing app for all of my books at the moment. It’s my favorite writing app for a variety of reasons. When I’m writing my books during the writing sprints, I’ll share the goal progress screen so others can see that I’m working on my manuscript.
Now that Reedsy added collaborations, I’m looking forward to taking the platform even further.
Anyway, Reedsy Studio is a free app and has a lot of great functionality. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s definitely worth a few moments of your time to see if it fits your needs.
Self-Hosted WordPress
As a blogger, I use self-hosted WordPress with GreenGeeks Web Hosting. I’ve been using WordPress since 2008 and have built a lot of websites on the platform.
I also have a lot of great plugins installed that help with content creation, and the Grammarly Chrome extension works perfectly in the Gutenberg editor.
Having my own blogs is part of the reason why I don’t spend more time writing for Medium, Vocal, or Hubpages. I believe that if I have the time to work on those sites, I have the time to work on my own.
I would still like to experiment on other blogging platforms eventually. But right now, I’m trying to keep what I can balanced throughout the week. I don’t need to add more to my plate.
OBS & YouTube
I’m adding OBS and YouTube in my writing routine apps because they are what I use to produce the writing sprints. And as I pointed out earlier, the writing sprints have played a pivotal role in how much of my books I was able to complete in 2024.
OBS, (Open Broadcaster Software) is a free program you can use to stream to your favorite video platforms. I use it for both YouTube and Twitch, but it’s quite versatile for a variety of other services.
If it wasn’t for the audience I’ve been accumulating on YouTube, I doubt I would be as far as I am as an author and creator. They have inspired me to keep doing what I can to help others become writers themselves.
And I greatly appreciate every single viewer.
LibreOffice Spreadsheets
Lastly, I use the spreadsheets in LibreOffice to manage my time throughout the day. It’s what I used to make the writing timesheet you can download from this website.
Essentially, I use it as a time clock. I “clock in” when I start writing and “clock out” when I’m done. This is how I know with great accuracy how long it takes me to write the average blog post or how many words I can write per hour in a manuscript.
It’s also responsible for the pricing I give certain clients. Because I know relatively well how long projects will take, I can offer a fair and reasonable price based on my time.
My Writing Routine is Fluid
Until I am able to generate enough income from my other projects to replace my client income, my daily routine remains fluid. This means that I try not to stress when I can’t get one of my personal projects done when a client needs something.
I also have to remain fluid to take care of a few things around the house, such as taking my daughter to school and picking her up in the afternoon. It’s called being an adult and parenting.
Sure, it gets frustrating sometimes. I can’t generate enough watch time on the channel if I can’t make enough videos people want to watch. And when I have to sacrifice video time, it just means it’ll take that much longer to reach my goals.
But that doesn’t mean I’m going to toss in the towel.
Life happens. Sometimes that means you need to jockey stuff around to better accommodate the things that are a priority in your life. For me, my family and home are absolutely number one. If that means I have to write for a client all day long instead of working on my book, so be it.
If you want a successful career as a writer, you need to get out of the mindset of instant gratification and success. Depending on what’s going on in your life, it could take years to get you to where you want to be. Yet, that doesn’t mean that it’s a waste of your time.
In 2012, I didn’t think it was a waste of my time to work with content mills. In February of 2013, I was able to quit my job with the school district.
My point here is that you never know when success will strike. It may take a bit of a balancing act for a while. But perhaps that one piece of content you created yesterday will go viral and put you on a path to a sustainable income as a writer or creator.
Get More Done with a Writing Routine
Developing a good writing routine can do wonders whether you want to be a blogger or a self-published author. The most important part of that routine is consistency. If you can turn it into a daily habit, all the better.
Just be patient with yourself. Try not to get overly frustrated when life keeps interfering with that routine. There are a lot of things that are more important than writing. Take care of those first and readjust your schedule.
It takes a bit of practice and sacrifice, but it’s worth investing the time. This is coming from someone who has been writing since 2012 and had no idea what he was doing at first.
Eventually, you’ll make your mark.
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