👩🏽💻How many hours can you actually write?
The finite reality of your creative energy ⚡️ and why writing less might help you accomplish more.
Hey Reader,
Did you know I have a new book? It's called The Writer's Career Guide: How to Build a Sustainable Creative Life on Your Terms and it's available now!
To celebrate, all month long I'm sharing professional tips and industry insights on how to make a living as a writer. Don't want to make money as a writer? Click here and I won't send you emails about it for the rest of 2025.
Today, I want to talk with you about the reality of your creative energy.
The truth about productivity as a writer
Recently, a client named Susan asked me a question I get all the time: “How can I make a living without working 18 hours a day at a desk? (Or even more than 3-4, because that’s all I could possibly stand).”
First off, Susan is right. After twenty-five years of writing professionally, I've found that 3-4 hours is about the maximum you can be creative in a day. Sure, you can sit at your desk longer, but the quality of your work starts to decline after the fourth hour.
I learned this lesson the hard way. When I first started out, I thought being a “real writer” meant writing eight hours a day like a traditional job. I’d park myself at cafes, determined to write my great American novel (I fell for the myth too, it isn’t just you!).
After about three hours, my writing would get convoluted, my mind would wander, and I’d end up spending more time scrolling social media than writing.Some days, my ADHD brain will hyper focus and write for hours, but most days I can get only about 90 minutes in before I’m tapped out.
Instead of feeling guilty about not writing eight hours a day, I've built a career that supports my optimal creative schedule. My goal with The Writer's Career Guide: How to Build a Sustainable Creative Life on Your Terms is to help you do the same!
Identifying Your Creative Energy Rhythm
There are a lot of programs out there that will have you do a “time audit” where you track all the time you spend on things throughout a week and analyze it for “peak performance.” While those may help others, they stress me out and make me feel like I’m a slacker who has the audacity to take a nap in the middle of the day.
Instead of a time audit that tells you how productive you “should” be based on capitalism and toxic hustle culture, let’s look at your ideal creative life.
On the blog this week, I have an exercise to help you figure out your own creative rhythm and needs. Check it out.
While you're doing that exercise, it's important to remember this:
Your job is not to judge or “fix” your creative habits. Your job is to lean into them.
That’s where you’ll find your own creative rhythm and be able to flow with it, being the most productive, sane, and satisfied.
The truth is rigidity kills creativity in most of us. If you want a successful writing career, you need to understand that your creative time is limited and make the most of it when you can.
This is why I always suggest rituals over routines – the topic I'll be sharing in next week's newsletter!
What's your creative energy like?
Reply and let me know.
With energetic excitement,
Lauren
P.S. Want to make money as a writer without burning out all of your creative energy? Grab a copy of The Writer's Career Guide: How to Build a Sustainable Creative Life on Your Terms today.
📘Helping diverse storytellers thrive.
School for Writers® is on a mission is to diversify publishing by helping you write, edit, publish and market your books.
We want to help you amplify your voice and thrive as a creative being. Check out our website to find some inspiration, grab a freebie, or enroll in a course.
Because the world needs your story now more than ever.™
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🎨
Your Creative Life Blueprint: Making space for art is a busy and chaotic world.
Build your legacy ––>
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Lauren's Fiction
Because Fat Girl: A queer contemporary romcom
The bestselling novel that's "warm, open-hearted and utterly inclusive." For everyone who’s ever felt too big, too weird, too queer—or just too much—comes a happily ever after for the rest of us.
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Plot Twist: A Collaborative Novel
A Choose Your Own Adventure-style interactive project where you get to decide what the characters say and do next. As the story unfolds, you'll get to vote on key decisions, shaping the shocking twists, exciting turns, and hilarious mishaps along the way.
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Lauren's Non-Fiction
The Writer’s Career Guide: How to Build a Sustainable Creative Life on Your Terms
Want to make a living as a writer without waiting for a bestseller or sacrificing your creativity?
Forget the myth of the starving artist. In The Writer's Career Guide, I show you how to create a thriving writing career on your own terms and reveal exactly how to build a sustainable career that honors both your creativity and your bank account.
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Bawdy Love: 10 Steps to Profoundly Loving Your Body
Longing to love your body as it is right now, right here, no exceptions?
Part self-help workbook and part coloring book, Bawdy Love offers practical steps to help you release shame, break free from negative self-talk, and find peace in your own skin.
This empowering book takes you through actionable exercises and thought-provoking prompts, with fun coloring pages of animals and inspiring quotes, illustrated by acclaimed artist Liza Mana Burns.
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Looking for other book recs? Check out our faves here.
