Do you have a daily creative routine?

People love to ask artists about their daily routines, imagining some perfectly structured day filled with deep creative focus, morning meditations, and hours of uninterrupted work. That’s cute. But if you’re a parent, you already know—structure is a luxury, adaptability is survival.

My routine? It’s loose, organic, and mobile. It has to be. Otherwise, I’d spend more time being frustrated than creating. With homeschooling my two girls, tending to our farm, and just the general chaos of life, a rigid schedule would be a recipe for disappointment.

That being said, I do have a structure I’m working with—one that keeps me moving forward without boxing me in.

The Weekly Creative Flow

I work in two-hour daily blocks, balancing all the creative hats I wear. Here’s how I currently break it down:

• Day 1: Podcast production (recording, research, interviews)
• Day 2: Podcast post-production (editing, promotion, publishing)
• Day 3: Illustration (new artwork, exploring ideas)
• Day 4: Illustration post-production (turning my work into reels, videos, behind-the-scenes content)
• Day 5: Turning my art into saleable items (books, wall art, t-shirts, socks, NFTs—you’ve got to sell your work if you want to keep making more)

That’s five focused workdays, each with a specific creative goal. The other days? They’re filled with life, family, and whatever art I can squeeze in between.

The Art of Working Anywhere

The one thing I always do? Carry a sketchbook and my iPad with me. Because you never know when you’ll get a moment—waiting in the car, sitting in the park, or in that rare five-minute window when the house is quiet. Those little sketches, those quick ideas, they all add up.

I don’t stress about missing a day, and I don’t force creativity when it’s not there. But I do keep moving. Even if it’s just a rough doodle in the margins of a notebook, it counts. It all feeds into the bigger picture.

Creativity is a Long Game

I’ve learned that the key to making art long-term isn’t about perfect routines—it’s about consistent ones. It’s about working in the gaps, adjusting when life demands it, and remembering that every little piece of creative work moves you forward.

So, do I have a daily creative routine? Yes. But it’s more of a creative survival strategy. And for me, that works just fine.