Today’s topic is one I’ll bet every artist has struggled with at one time or another. What is it? Finding time and energy to do all the things you want to do. Most importantly, making art.
Here’s the reader’s question.
How do you manage to find the time and energy to create art, maintain a website, post blogs and tutorials, produce a weekly newsletter, publish a monthly magazine, contribute articles to other publications, and teach? Do you schedule time each day to work on your art? I know some of your projects have deadlines (i.e., the newsletter and magazine) but do you set deadlines for your other projects? I’d love to hear how you organize your time.
Whew! Just reading about all those things makes me tired! But it’s a good question, and whether you have a lot of art-related things to do or you have a lot of other responsibilities, you do want to know how to manage your time.
Finding Time and Energy
Let me start out by saying that I am responsible for all of those things at one time or another. But some things have to be done every day, week or month, and some are more infrequent. So what I’d like to do is sort them out for you, and then talk about each category.
Categorizing My Work
This is probably the most important aspect of things, but it’s also one that happens automatically. Well, almost automatically.
The reader listed eight activities: making art, maintaining a website, blogging, writing tutorials, publishing a weekly newsletter, publishing a monthly magazine, freelance writing, and teaching.
Weekly
Of those eight items, only two must be done every week: blogging and publishing the weekly newsletter. Blog posts can sometimes take a while to write, especially step-by-step tutorials and product reviews. The newsletter is less time consuming, but I readily confess that there are weeks when I begin the day Friday not knowing what the main article will be about. That can be hair-raising!
So I try to work on blogging and the newsletter every day. I don’t set a time limit anymore. Sometimes, I open the blog post or newsletter, review what I’ve already done and close it again. The closer the end of the week gets, the higher priority these two things become.
Monthly
The magazine is a monthly activity, but there are routinely three issues in progress most of the time. In addition, there are times when I have to spend time recruiting artists to be featured artists for months further down the road.
I do try to work on one or another issue of the magazine every day five days a week. For example, I’ll start drafting an article one day, expand on it and maybe finish it the next day, and then proofread it again later. So even though the magazine is a monthly activity, the work is spread throughout the month.
I tried for a while to also produce a new tutorial every month, but that was just too much if I’m writing the tutorial as well as publishing it. So although I’d like to do tutorials on a more regular basis, they actually fit better into the sporadic category.
Regularly
Freelance writing is generally every other month (with my current schedule, anyway). It’s usually a ten to twenty day time period to write, proofread, and illustrate each article. It doesn’t usually take twenty days, but that’s the amount of time I allow.
Sporadically
That takes care of four of the eight items. Of the remaining four, three of them happen only once in a while.
For example, there are periodic maintenance activities for the website. For the most part, my hosting company (Siteground) takes care of that. I get notice 0of updates, but most of the time, I don’t have to do anything.
The blog platform (WordPress) and the add-ons also update without my attention. I get notices of updates. I don’t have to do installation unless I add something new.
MailerLite is my newsletter platform. They do all their own maintenance, so I am freed from that, as well.
In other words, the technical side of things is pretty hands-off unless something goes wrong. Then I have more work to do!
Teaching happens in a couple of different ways.
The big classes and workshops are managed by Ann Kullberg. I have to create artwork and write lessons, but that’s all. She deals with scheduling, customer support, and all the rest.
The other way I teach is less formal. Someone emails me a question and I do my best to answer it. I don’t really consider that teaching because it’s not officially a teacher-student relationship. But I am passing on the knowledge I have, so I include it in this category.
Making Art
And that leaves art. Listing it at the bottom of the list is suitable because most of the time, that’s were it ends up on my daily to-do list. At the bottom. You know what that means. Sometimes I draw, sometimes I don’t.
But it’s not as bad as that, and I’ll tell you why.
Organizing all Those Activities
You may have already figured out that all of the activities have one thing in common: They are related to art. Some of the connections are stronger than others, but they are all connected to artwork in some way. That makes organization a little bit simpler.
Duplicating Time
The first thing I do is find as many ways to duplicate my time as possible. Here’s how that works.
Let’s say I want to write a step-by-step tutorial post. That requires two things: Drawing and writing.
When I work on the project, I’m drawing, so that time is used both for the blog and for making art. I keep art journals for each project anyway, so it’s easy to write the descriptions once, then copy them to the blog post. The bonus is that I have the basis for a standalone tutorial if I decide to write one later. All I need to do is expand on the content.
Duplicating time also happens when I take one article and repurpose it for more than one use. A blog post can be the starting point for a magazine article. I can expand on the topic or take the article in a different direction, but the start has already been made. I don’t know about you, but starting is sometimes the hardest step!
Working Ahead
This month’s posts is a good example of that. It’s November 15 as I write these words. I’ve been working my way through the questions periodically since I began receiving them. I’ve been working on them with more focus all of this week. As I write this, the first two weeks of December are finished and scheduled. I was able to do that in down time from magazine work.
(Downtime for the magazine is waiting for contributors to provide material. I’ve already done everything I can do, so I have time to do other things, like write blog posts.)
I like having posts scheduled ahead. It takes the pressure off from one week to the next. It also frees up my mind to ideas for new posts, and I can develop them in a more leisurely way.
What else do I like working ahead on?
The magazine comes immediately to mind. I am generally at some stage in progress with two and often three issues. The main benefit is that starting each month with a partially finished issue removes a lot of pressure.
But sometimes an article I’m writing for the next issue sparks an idea for the next following issue. If I open that layout and start typing, that idea is documented. It’s one less thing to do later on.
15-Minute Tasks
I don’t do this as much as I used to, but it’s amazing how much you can accomplish by working on something for 15 minutes a day. That’s an hour and a quarter for a five-day work week. Throw in Saturday, and you’ve spent 1-1/2 hours on your work by giving it just 15 minutes each day.
I did this most when I was writing novels, too. I’d limit myself to 15 minutes a day on several tasks, and I’d work through them early in the day. That way, they were done and I didn’t have to think about them while I was trying to work on other things.
Of course, a good timer is required. You can download basic timers and stopwatches for free or get fancier ones for a small fee.
Where Does Art Fit In?
Right now, I’m taking a page from Valerie Brusut’s book. She’s the featured artist for the December issue of CP Magic. She also has a high-stress job. So she treats drawing like a hobby, so she works on it when she can, and allows herself breaks when necessary.
That goes counter to everything I’ve long said about making art.
“It’s a job, so I must treat it like a job and I must make art whether I feel like it or not.”
There are some exceptions, of course. Illness, for one. But I wanted to be successful, so I tried to treat art like a job.
That worked for a while.
It doesn’t work very well right now.
When I read Valerie’s comments, they made sense. I could see how I might enjoy drawing more if I made it more of a privilege and less of an obligation.
You know what? It is working. Saturday is once again the day I’m most likely to draw, though I also draw during other times of the week as time allows.
It’s funny, now that I think about it. When I was single, I had to work full-time to earn a living. Art was my hobby. I always said that when I no longer had a job, art would be my job.
Well, I am no longer an employee, but I have found another job: Everything mentioned in this post. And you know what? Art is once again my hobby!
Finding Energy to go with the Time
I realize now that I’m nearing the end of this post that I’ve talked about time, but not energy. Finding time is easier for me than finding energy. What do I do when I run out of steam?
I take a break to go for a walk, read a book, or even do house chores. Believe it or not, washing dishes by hand is relaxing for my hands and my mind. I started taking “dish breaks” when I was an oil painter and needed to relax my hands. It still works even though the oils have been in storage for years.
The biggest source of energy is faith in God, though. No matter how tired I am, when I take time to give my problems to my Father, He always supplies the grace to do the work. With the grace comes the energy and, quite often, the time, too. I can’t explain how it happens, but I know it does.
Finding Time and Energy Isn’t Always Easy
Most of the time, things chug along in an orderly fashion. But there always seem to times when the unexpected happens. That’s called “life”. Having a good routine, whether it looks like mine or is more orderly, is a good way to prepare for those interruptions.
They also give you a way to get back in the game after a break, no matter what the reason for the break.
I hope this look into my schedule helps you in finding time and energy for all the things you have to do.
This post is part of a series in which readers ask questions about my life as an artist, and I answer them. Most of the posts this month will concern one of these questions. If you have a question you’d like to ask, please ask it. It’s never too late to get your burning questions answered!
Sign up for Carrie’s free weekly newsletter and be among the first to know when she publishes new articles.
