✍️ Your Calendar Might Be Costing You Clients

Smarter ways to prioritize, automate, and delegate.

Hey writers — just a quick heads up: some of the best freelance writing gigs I find don’t make it to the official job board before they expire. If you want to catch these in time, I’ll be posting them in the Subscriber Chat thread as I spot them. Keep an eye out over there for early access to great writing jobs when they pop up:

🎉 Also! Huge thanks to NPR for featuring me in their Morning Edition segment this week. If you’re curious about how I left Hollywood to become an author, freelance writer, and Substacker, you can listen to the interview here:

In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about:

✨ A freelancer’s exercise for reclaiming your time

✍️ High-paying writing jobs you may have missed last week

📚 Writing wins from the community here at From the Desk!

✍️ Missed This Past Week’s Writing Jobs?

Did you miss it? Here are the writing jobs on this past week’s job board:

1. A top superfoods brand needs a sharp freelance copywriter to elevate their storytelling. $50–$75/hour

2. A major media outlet is hiring a senior editor for a high-impact content project. $60/hour

3. A national publication is seeking compelling road trip essays and outdoor profiles. $1/word

If you missed the last issue of my writing job board, check it out at the link below:

🙌 Writing Community Wins!

Here’s what some of your fellow writers in the community have been up to lately:

• The Dry Diaries just launched their Portugal retreat for writers! Here’s what they shared: “One big win is that I recently launched my curated writing trip to Portugal called Play + Write! Small group, lots of dedicated writing time, catered meals, daily adventures, and being in community with other writers! I ♥️ Portugal so much, and I’m so excited!”

• Caitlin Hofmeister has been making great progress on articles for her Substack as well as pitching! Keep up the momentum, Caitlin :)

• Kayla Davis says: “My win is finding and subscribing to this Substack! I need a little push, and the success and excitement of others drives me to do better. I'm a copywriter by nature, but need the external influence to keep up with flexing my long-form, ghostwriting muscles a bit more.” Kayla also became a Founding Member, which means she sponsored another writer’s subscription and paid it forward. So glad you’re here, Kayla!

• Ashley Hackett just applied for her LLC as she moves into full-time freelancing which will replace her previous 9-to-5. Congrats on making writing your job, Ashley!

• Alison has just started her interview series, and her win is giving others a place to tell their stories! You can read the first interview here. Congrats, Alison!

❓ Want to see your community wins featured in an upcoming newsletter? Every week in my subscriber chat I ask for what amazing feats you’ve achieved that week, and I pick a handful to highlight.

Access the subscriber chat below:

🫖 Sunday Tea: Your Calendar Might Be Costing You Clients

Freelancers are scrappy by nature — we pride ourselves on doing it all. But sometimes, doing it all is exactly what’s holding us back from making more money and doing better work.

Over the weekend, my partner Kyle and I did a full audit of everything we handle in a given week — from my client calls to his business operations to life maintenance like errands, laundry, and cooking. We estimated how much time each task took, how impactful it actually was, and asked one essential question:

Do we really need to be the ones doing this?

One big surprise? Laundry.

The machines in our hundred-year-old SF building are $5 a wash, $5 a dry, and half the time they eat your quarters. The nearby laundromat wasn’t much better — just another errand that drained our time and energy.

When we were trying to find a better solution, we did our research and asked around until we found Rinse: they pick up our clothes, wash and fold them, and return them clean. We don’t even have to be home. That one change gave us back a chunk of our week — and the mental space to actually enjoy it. (P.S. I have a $20 off coupon* if you want to try it out.)

When you’re a freelancer, every hour is either making you money or costing you money. If your calendar is packed with low-value tasks, you’re not only burning out — you’re blocking yourself from finding new clients, delivering your best work, or writing that book of your own that you keep putting off.

And outsourcing doesn’t have to be expensive. Here are a few lower-cost ways to buy back your time:

• Grocery delivery (Amazon Fresh, Instacart, Costco, etc.) — often under $10 in fees

• Meal kits or batch cooking one day per week to save time in the kitchen

• Contract automation using tools like Dropbox Sign or Bonsai

• Email templates for common client responses

• Calendar tools like Calendly to eliminate the back-and-forth of scheduling

If you do some combination of the above, you could save as much as 2-6 hours per week. What would your life look like if you had those hours back?

✨ So here’s your challenge this week:

• Write down everything you do in a typical week

• Track how long each task takes

• Rank each one 1–10 for impact and importance

• Ask yourself: could someone else do this for less than my hourly rate?

Because your time isn’t just money — it’s your actual life. Every hour you spend buried in errands or admin is one less hour for writing, resting, or just going outside and enjoying the sunshine. If you’re in a position to buy back your time, it’s worth doing. You only have this one precious life, after all.

You don’t need to be superhuman. You just need to be strategic.

Do what only you can do — and let the rest go.

💫 Amy’s Favorites: We Went Nuts

This week’s favorite? Nuts. (Yes, really.)

We ordered a ridiculous amount of bulk organic walnuts, cashews, and peanuts from Nuts .com, and have been making our own peanut and cashew butter in the food processor. It’s super easy (just blend until creamy!) and wildly cheaper than store-bought. Plus, their shipping is fast and the pricing for organic nuts was much better than the grocery store.

A little kitchen magic, and you’ve got homemade nut butter for days.

You can use my code for a discount off your first order:

*FYI, these are affiliate codes, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Enjoyed today’s post? Please give it a “heart” ❤️ and share or restack it.

Sending creativity and good writing vibes your way,

-Amy