Writing a Book When You Have a Full-Time Job

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If I had a dollar for every time a client said to me, “I just don’t have the time,” I could probably retire early and write novels on a beach (hmmm, doesn’t that sound good right now, mid-January?) 

I get it! Most of the authors we work with are not sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike. They’re teachers, lawyers, faith leaders, CEOs and nonprofit directors, healthcare workers, parents, caregivers—people with full lives and very full calendars. Writing is something they want deeply, but it often gets pushed to the edges of the day… or the edges of the year.

And yet—this is important—the vast majority of those same clients do finish their books, not because they magically find more time, but because they learn how to make progress differently. After years of working with authors juggling demanding careers, here’s what I’ve seen actually work.

Redefine What “Progress” Really Means

One of the biggest mindset shifts that needs to happen is letting go of the idea that progress only counts if it’s big. Progress is not:

  • Writing for three uninterrupted hours

  • Completing an entire chapter in one sitting

  • Feeling inspired the whole time

Progress is:

  • Writing 300 words before work

  • Revising one messy page

  • Leaving yourself a note about what comes next

Stop Waiting for “More Time” (It’s Not Coming)

This might sound blunt, but I say it with compassion: there is no future version of your life where everything suddenly calms down. (Well, there was that time at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when everything shut down and one of our authors cranked out a book manuscript in six weeks... but that’s an anomaly!) The authors I’ve worked with who delayed starting (or finishing) because they were “waiting for a quieter season” ended up waiting years. Instead, successful authors ask:

  • Where can writing realistically fit into my life as it is now?

  • What time in my schedule can I protect, even if it’s small?

One of our clients is a corporate consultant who travels constantly. His writing time wasn’t mornings or evenings—it was airport lounges and airplanes. And he didn’t only use a computer; he utilized his phone and “voice to text” to capture his thoughts, and later transferred the text to a Word document on his computer for refining. Was it ideal? No. Did it add up? Absolutely.

Choose a Schedule You Can Keep on Bad Weeks

Here’s a mistake I see often: authors plan their writing schedule based on a perfect week. Who ever has perfect weeks? (Hint: not many of us.) Instead, I encourage authors to build a writing rhythm that survives life happening.

If you can write for 90 minutes on a Sunday, great—but don’t make that the only plan. Pair it with something smaller, like 15 minutes on Tuesday, make notes on Thursday, or writing a paragraph on your lunch break. Momentum isn’t built on ideal conditions; it’s built on repeatable ones.

Lower the Bar for Your First Draft (Way Lower)

Another truth from the editorial side: many busy professionals stall not because of time, but because of self-inflicted pressure. They want the words to be good. Polished. Publishable. But that’s not the point of a first draft.

Many authors will spend months “working on the book” without producing pages. Many times, this is because they are revising the same few paragraphs over and over. Guaranteed: once you give yourself permission to just get it down on paper—even if badly—you will move faster in six weeks than you have in six months.

Your first draft’s only responsibility is merely to exist. Editors (like our team at Inspira) can help with the rest—but only if there’s something on the page.

Make Decisions Once, Not Every Day

Decision fatigue is real, especially when you’re already using your brain all day at work. Granted, the authors who make steady progress tend to:

If you decide once that Friday mornings are for writing, you don’t have to renegotiate with yourself every week; the decision is already made. You just need to show up.

Let Accountability Do Some of the Heavy Lifting

This is where working with an editor or publishing partner like Inspira can make a real difference. Many of our busiest clients don’t need motivation—they need structure.  I’ve seen authors who “never had time” suddenly produce consistent work once they weren’t doing it alone. Writing may be solitary, but finishing a book rarely is.

Progress Is Quiet—Until It Isn’t

Here’s what I want you to remember most: progress often feels invisible while it’s happening.

You may not feel like an “author” while you’re squeezing in paragraphs between meetings or drafting scenes after the kids are asleep. But those pages accumulate and become chapters, which eventually become books.

I’ve had the privilege of seeing manuscripts grow from fragments into finished works—not because the author quit their job or a pandemic lockdown happened, but because they kept showing up in imperfect, human, but consistent ways.

So, if you’re writing alongside a full-time job, you’re not behind. You’re doing something hard, and you’re doing it honestly—which is exactly how real books get written.