As a freelance illustrator, I keep looking for the perfect formula to organize my time during the day. For me, successful time management has always been a work in progress. It seems that if you are meeting your client deadlines, you are successfully managing your time. Right?
However, I’m all about using my time in the most efficient way. Especially as I get older and time just seems to tick by faster. I wish that I had a formula for you to follow but the truth is that what works for me, might not work for you and vice versa. Either way, I thought that I would share what is working for me now and maybe you can take something from my experience.
Creative Time.
What time of the day are you most creative? Let me say that I am not a morning person. In fact, I’ve always considered myself a night owl. However after I drop my kids off at school and come home to a second cup of coffee, I’m ready to go. That’s at about 9:00 am. Does that make me a morning person? Maybe. Probably not. But my most creative time is from about 9:15 am - 1:00 pm. During that time I will set a timer for personal work (this month it’s Birdtober) to warm up and then work on whatever picture book project I have going on. Currently I’m working on Santiago and Great Bear (my debut picture book). My editor sets deadlines for me so I usually have a specific goal that I’m working towards whether it’s editing text or working on a few pages of sketches, the cover, end papers etc. There’s a lot of back and forth and I have time in between when I wait for feedback from my editor. That’s when I work on my other picture book project that I’m developing with my agent, about bird sounds. I will also record videos during this time of day, that I will post or schedule later. For instance, I’m working on Santiago and Great Bear now, but it doesn’t come out until summer 2026, so I have to record the process of making that I will share when it’s closer to the release date.
Make time for personal work.
Making time for personal work has never been my problem but when it takes over the largest portion of my creative time, it becomes an issue. Personal work is important, but I also need to meet deadlines. I set a timer for 30 minutes when I’m working on personal work. This is something new that I am trying. I will let you know next month if it’s still working. Here’s an image from my current personal project and you can read more about it here.
Exercise.
I think that this is really important and I try to do something at least five days a week. My brain might like creative work in the morning, but my body is not awake until 1:00 pm. I usually try to do some form of exercise during this time. Right now I’m really liking strength training workouts through the Fiton app or I go for a walk/run. We live by the water and I like to go looking for shore birds. This is also the time that I can get in some “reading” and listen to my audiobook.
Music.
I started playing guitar about 3 years ago, and then transitioned to bass a year ago. I have a little u-bass that I tinker with and have started playing in a band called The Belmont Shorebirds. We practice twice a week together. I’m looking into investing in a nicer instrument soon so I can learn new techniques. I love this form of creative time as well. I typically pick up the u-bass on my lunch break or late at night before I get ready for bed.
Admin Work.
Emails, newsletter, social media, invoices, things that I don’t need a high level of creativity for. I’ve started saving these for the afternoon/evening, sometime after I have already exercised and picked up my kids from school. This is when I might edit videos for posting later. I don’t like to do video editing during my creative time in the morning, so I’m still looking for a good time to work this into my day. Lately, it ends up being at night when my kids are winding down for bed. I’m also starting a small after school art program, the Shore Art Club, with a great group of students so admin work for that project gets factored into this time as well.
Accountability/Networking.
I have a critique group (through my agency) that I meet with on Zoom once a month. We share whatever we are working on and give/receive feedback. This keeps me motivated and gives me a deadline for personal projects that sometimes get put on the back burner. I want to have something to talk about when we meet, so I’m always working on something. You can also make time to get coffee with a friend who is in your creative field of interest. Set a goal for what you want to share at each meetup and then you have another form of accountability. Conferences are also great for networking. I went to our local SCBWI SoCal Fall Harvest Writers and Illustrators Day conference the first week in October. I left inspired and ready to try some new things.
Deadlines.
Whether it’s from your publisher or you set them for yourself, tried and true deadlines are the way to go. I use a good old fashioned legal pad and list off what I have due and when. I rip out the page and tack it to a cork board that I have on the wall behind my desk. I’ve tried using the notes app on my phone and other organization platforms on my computer. But those don’t work for me. I need everything that is due right in front of my face. If it’s highlighted in bright yellow, even better.
Look at me posting twice in the first month of being on substack. I hope that this was helpful, or interesting to you. I would love to hear how you organize your day as a creative.
Thank you for reading!
