a day in the life of a full-time writer

I’ve been asked roughly 100 times what my days look like.

And my answer always changed. 😅

Well until I found this routine - took me 2 years to nail it - it’s the one that brings me the most creativity, joy, and peace in my life.

It’s the routine that actually makes me feel like a writer.

So here’s a full “day in the life of Heythem” 🥸

Morning

I wake up between 7 and 8 am, get my water, electrolytes, and my coffee, and go straight into writing.

I reserve the first 2 hours for uninterrupted writing.

This is the time I feel the most creative, so it’s holy to me.

I don’t check messages, open social media, or respond to anything.

It’s just me, my desk, my journal, and my work.

The day before, I decided what I’m going to write about. That way, when I wake up, I don’t waste time thinking about what to do.

Some days it’s editing a newsletter draft, polishing a long-form post, or creating posts out of my journal.

My journal holds the raw notes from the previous day. Believe it or not, my best writing actually comes from those journal entries.

On my screen, I usually have these tabs open:

• A Google doc for drafts

• My Threads Blacktwist scheduler

• My Beehiiv newsletter, where I create, edit & post my newsletters

• ChatGPT, which I use as a tool to shape drafts, brainstorm, and edit

That’s it.

After I give myself a break.

I step outside for 15 minutes, get some fresh air, breathe, and stretch a little. Then I come back in, ready for the next block.

Late Morning

The late morning is when I open myself up to the world.

I spend about 90 minutes responding and engaging.

I reply to messages, reply to comments on Threads, and engage with our writing community inside Full Circle — answering questions, giving content reviews, replying to DMs, making announcements, and commenting on posts.

This is when I take time to be present with the people I work with.

On most days, I have community or client calls between 1–3 pm.

This block is more flexible, but the theme stays the same:

Connection.

I find it to be a nice balance:

The early morning is inward. The late morning is outward.

Afternoon

At around 3 pm, the second half of my day starts.

Here everything changes 😄 

From 8 am until 3 pm, I’m online. But from 3 pm until the next morning, I go offline - no phone, no laptop.

What I bring with me are 3 things:

• My journal

• A couple of books I’m studying

• My Nokia dumb phone without internet

Hands down:

The best phone I've ever owned. No kidding. I can’t express to you the freedom this phone gives me.

But this topic for another day…

At 3 pm, I leave the house and go into the forest, to a coffee shop, a lake, or a swimming pool.

It doesn’t really matter where - the point is to change my environment.

In terms of books:

This month, I read On Writing by Stephen King and Save the Cat, which is a screenwriting book.

Right now, I’m diving into The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, On Writing Well by William Zinsser, and some of Alan Watts’ works.

I carry these books with me because they feed my writing.

When I highlight something, it turns into an idea for a post, a line in my newsletter, or something I can teach inside my community.

From around 3:30 until 6 or 7 pm, I spend time reading, journaling, reflecting, and meditating.

During this time, I try not to fall into the “productivity trap” - I give myself silence, giving myself space to absorb, think, and process.

Sometimes I’ll socialize in this window too, but more often than not, it’s quiet time.

Evening

From 6:30 or 7 pm until 9 pm, I train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

This is the part of my day where I move my body.

Jiu-Jitsu is as much mental as it is physical. It’s problem-solving with your body, physically challenging, and it’s an art where you always have new techniques to learn.

After training, I usually grab food with people from the gym, with family, or sometimes with friends.

By 11 or 12 pm, I’m in bed. The next morning, I repeat the cycle. And I love it 🙂 .

Weekends

On weekends, I’m more flexible.

I make time for nature walks, spend more time with family and friends, and catch up on things I didn’t have time for during the week.

During the week, I usually work 4–6 hours a day. On weekends, it’s closer to 2–4 hours.

I use weekends to recharge, but also to make space for the things that matter outside of work.

Still, reading & journaling are always part of my weekend too. 🙂 

So that’s my daily routine as a writer - wake up, write, engage, walk, read, train, sleep, repeat.

The mix of online work in the morning and offline time in silence is what keeps me creative, consistent, and balanced.

And while we are talking about offline, I have one announcement:

I’ll be offline from Friday, Aug 29, until Monday, Sept 1.

I’m heading back into the woods, into a cabin.

I feel called to silence.

Since my last time in the cabin, it’s been on my mind a lot. Recently, I’ve been learning so much from simply sitting in silence.

It feels like it wants to tell me something, and I want to listen. I’ll spend those days walking, reading, journaling, and meditating.

This is something that has been calling me every day for the past 6 weeks, and I want to see what it has to say.

I’ll be back online on Tuesday, Sept 2.

Talk next week,

Heythem

P.S.: today I gave a seminar inside Full Circle on “how to make spiritual/self-development content go viral (7 easy steps)”. If you want the recording, respond with “viral” and I’ll send it to you.