I’m sitting down to write blog posts for this month, mulling over all the various topics that I could write about. Suddenly, I’m distracted. I want to register for a nursing/ car seat cover! But I haven’t yet! So I click over to a new tab, look through the various options, and add a lovely stretchy “multi-use cover” to my Babylist registry.

I click back over to my Google Doc to work on blog post ideas and drafts.

I remember that maybe one of the other cover options was cheaper.

So I click over to that tab again and look through several different options before I decide that I was right the first time and want to opt for that particular cover.

Back I go to my blog posts.

As you can imagine, I haven’t completed a single one.

This is my reality these days, especially as spring fever hits and every task I need to do suddenly feels bright and urgent. I’m thrilled to have a tiny baby on the way, thrilled to do all the necessary and hard work of preparation. But it doesn’t really help me or my future self if I only bounce around from one task to the next and refuse my chances to stay focused, to do deep work, and check a few things off my list.

I know that having a whole new tiny person in the house in just over a dozen weeks will only increase my need for flexibility. I’ll need extra skill to switch tasks suddenly and focus only on what is right in front of me, not the fifty million other things I *could* be doing. And so I’m trying to focus even though it doesn’t feel easy right now.

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I give you all of this context because this is precisely the setting I am in as I try to look ahead and wisely prepare for maternity leave. I’m planning to take some time off of any deadline based copywriting work, and I’ve been trying to anticipate and plan for what that will look like. 

I love hearing the process and knowing what makes other people decide things, so I thought maybe you would enjoy hearing how I’m thinking through my first maternity leave.

#1 – I’m trying to accept the fact that I can’t totally plan it.

The organized part of my brain would absolutely love to neatly divide my time into little blocks. Off work July 1st! Slow re-entry September 1st! Back to work precisely on October 1st! But I’ve heard from enough fellow entrepreneurs who have done this before me, and I’ve been around enough moms waiting for their babies to arrive to know that it’s possible I will actually WANT to work in the last couple weeks waiting for the baby to come. And I might breeze through recovery and feel very ready to take new clients in September. Or, it might be the opposite of that! I might have the baby early, need extra recovery time, or not be able to fit much work in at all until winter. I can’t plan it, and that is okay.

With that being said, I DO have a few things I am planning. I’m trying to hold them loosely, of course, but I know it will be helpful to have some things planned ahead of time.

#2 – I’m planning to take at least 2-3 months off of deadline based work

I have been copywriting for long enough that I know that the most stressful (and often the most fun!) work is work for my clients. Of course, client projects are the bulk of my work and also what bring in the most income… but running a business comes with a lot of other responsibilities. Bookkeeping, marketing, and endless amounts of brainstorming and planning are also party of my daily lists that need completed. However, most of those back-end tasks are a little more flexible. I know that I can pick them up or pause them as I need to, for the most part. So, I am not planning to take any client work for around three months (possibly two, if things are going super well or something) so that I can know that the time away from work does not equal ignoring clients and deadlines and dropping the ball.

(On that note—if you want any copywriting work done before the summer, now is the time to inquire!)

#3 – I am planning to have a few tasks that I can fall back on if I WANT to work

I’m trying to think ahead and designate a few things that I can do if the mood strikes. Things like batching content and ideating new services could feel like a life-saver if I want something to occupy my mind and hands. My friend Liz told me that sometimes it can be nice to have “normal” feeling things to do in the middle of all the newness that comes with having a tiny stranger suddenly living with you. So I’m trying to plan a few things to fill that need, if it comes up.

#4 – I’m planning to set an auto responder in my email 

This one is so simple, but I know it will free my mind up so much! An auto-responder that will immediately reply to anyone that inquires for copy will help me relax and enjoy the moment that I’m in. I don’t want to be feeding my baby and trying to fight off the urge to check my email “in case anyone needs something.” 

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It seems silly to me, in some ways, to write all of this down. I know that I will likely change, likely regret some of it, likely look back at this and think I was a little naive. But I also know that seasons are worth documenting and the process is part of the story. So I keep planning, trying to hold it all loosely, knowing that something beautiful is about to happen no matter how it all plays out.