💌 Time Well Spent: Who has the time to work out three hours every day?
My recent rabbit hole into a bestselling beach read author's daily routines
Hi Friends,
If you read Rolling in Doh, you know I’ve been on an Elin Hilderbrand rabbit hole recently. A few aspects of her career as a bestselling author of Nantucket beach reads—producing over 30 books in as many years—have impressed me Free Time-wise.
For starters, I am transfixed by her morning routine, with three hours of exercise every day before starting work:
She wakes up at 5 a.m.
She takes a 45-minute Peloton cycling class, followed by
An hour-long “yog,” a slow run-jog along the water, ending up at
An hour-long barre class in town
Only then is she ready to write for the rest of the day
Who has the time to work out three hours a day, you ask? Elin, who is also incredibly prolific. “For me, [writing is] a job,” she says, “so I treat it like a job. I write every single day.”
Here’s what happens after her morning stack:
“In the summer, I try to be at it by eleven, and I stay until six. I can write longhand and in notebooks, so I do it out by my pool.
When I say I write for seven hours, what I mean is that I’m trying to get three hours of composing done. So I give myself seven hours to compose for three.
I read—I’m always reading—and if I’m at my pool or the beach, I swim. I take a nap. I have my lunch. All of that’s happening.
But if you compose three hours a day, 350 days a year, you can write two books a year.”
But her productivity alone isn’t what I find most compelling. It’s the long view she has taken toward the arc of her writing career; her persistence, consistency, and patience.
Due to limited publisher investment, her first seven books experienced middling sales. Finally, Hilderbrand and her agent shopped for a new home, landing at Little, Brown. With their help, book by book, she climbed the charts.
But could she hit number one?
She did—at last—on her twenty-third try.
So what if other first-time novelists hit the New York Times list with their debut? She didn’t let compare-and-despair—or vanity metrics—slow her down.
Then again, she didn’t speed up, either. She kept delivering what she promised her publisher and community: one book every summer, still a superhuman feat.
Hilderbrand herself would be the first to say that it would have been fine if she never “hit the list.” She would have kept writing and working because that’s the part she loves. “It was in my blood,” she said, continuing:
“It was my job. It was what I did. I did not have delusions of grandeur. I was happy that I was publishing books. I was happy even with my first five even when they weren’t doing well. I was frustrated because I felt like I wanted more readers . . . but I never considered quitting.”
Cliché as it may be, immersing myself in the Hilderverse reminds me to keep going. To ignore the odds. 51/49.
And that writing poolside, longhand on a legal pad, still counts as work.
Read the full posts in The Formation of an Unlikely Hilderbabe: Part One and Part Two
✍️ For Aspiring Writers: New Rules Studio Open House on October 10
“What if writing just felt…easier? And—what if you had a place to do it that was critic-free, judgment-free, competition-free?”
My friend Terri Trespicio, who graciously emceed the Free Time book launch party, has been practicing the Gateless Method of writing for over a decade. In the last year, she created a brilliant writing community around it, where you can drop into multiple sessions each week to support you in whatever projects you’re working on. Learn more and join for the free open house coming up on October 10 — I’ll see you there!
🍁 Fall Voxer Coaching: I would love to work with you 1:1!
I’m opening up a few special spots for a two-month 1:1 Voxer coaching program this Fall, thus steering clear of the holidays :) This might be perfect timing if you are looking for a boost as you reflect on 2024 and set your strategy for 2025.
Whether you want to delegate more, streamline your business systems, license your IP, brainstorm a big idea for a book or speech, or talk through other friction areas, I’m an open book with all my clients. That means in addition to a weekly asynchronous “Ask Me Anything” question, you’ll get every template and resource that I’ve spent thousands of dollars creating and learning about the hard way.
If that sounds like just what you need, I would love for you to join me in this special round of 1:1 Voxer coaching!
🎟️ Enrollment is now open through October 13 or when the five spots fill (whichever comes first), and we begin on Monday, October 14.
📆 Upcoming Events for Paid Subscribers
🔗 The links to register are below the paywall in the footer of this email.
✍️ Write the Thing! Our first session this week was a blast, and surprisingly productive! Join us for the second co-working session on November 6; the link to register is in the footer of this email. This is guided co-working time (and moral support) to write what matters most: an essay, a newsletter, morning pages, an autoresponder, an invitation, an important email, a page of your book—whatever surfaces that would leave you feeling lighter ❤️
Might you also be interested in a NaNoWriMo accountability group for the month of November? If so, comment or reply and let me know :)
💻 Quarterly Office Hours — November 20: Ask anything about a question or challenge in your business, and get input from fellow Heart-Based Business owners.
🎙 Revisit a Podcast Episode from the Archives
Although the podcast is paused, you can still browse the archives and subscribe here »
Here’s to setting even more time free! 🥂
❤️ With Gratitude,
P.S. Extra Goodies Over the Paywall Rainbow 🌈💰
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