Normal phrases are: "Это займет какое-то время." - It will take some time. "Обычно писанина занимает много времени." - Usually writing takes much time.

(Normally you should put something before "время".)

On the other hand phrases like "It takes time to XXX" should not contain word "это". They should be rephrased like "XXXing takes much time" = "XXX занимает (займет) много времени."

Constructions like "Это долго писать" are very colloquial though in speech are used more often indeed.