I have tried to make myself into a morning writer. I have to get up at 6:30am anyway to get my kids onto the school bus on time, so I figured it would be the perfect time to get my daily workout in, grab a shower, and still have three solid hours to write, write, write. I scheduled my late afternoons for my kids, and my evenings for blogging and hubby time. Perfect, right?
WELL.
My body is sleepy in the morning; it doesn't like exercise at 6:00am, or 6:30am, or even 7:45am. And neither does my brain. I sit down in the morning to write and all I get is a long time of sitting and waiting for my brain to stop going, uuuuuuuuuuuuuhn. And then I surf the blogs, trying to wake up. And then my son gets home from preschool, and I still haven't really written anything.
My peak time has always been the night time. In high school, I used to set up shop sometime after 10 or 11 at night, and work into the wee hours. In college, my absolute best ideas and best work happened sometime between 1 and 4am, and the sweetest time of the night for me was just around 3:45 or 4, when the first notes of birdsong would drift through the pre-dawn skies. The night is my time. The rest of the world is sleeping, but I am AWAKE.
But, you know, kids. Staying up until 2 or 3am. It's not the best combo. So I'm thinking I'll give it another month before I try to make any sweeping changes; maybe if I can make myself sleep earlier, my brain will be more ready to work in the mornings. Maybe.
How about you? What is your best writing time? How do you make it mesh with your non-writing life?
In the morning. I'm a morning person and have always been. I'm always ready to go to bed at 11 PM ^.^ That's when my brain shuts down for the day.
ReplyDeleteI like early morning, though not earlier than eight. I tend to eat breakfast at 8.45 and then write after that. I'm just letting the internet and blogging distract me right now, so I'm not doing much writing :/
Oh! And I'm wondering if you've begun reviewing my manuscript. I'm hoping you're not, because I'm going to tear it apart once again and glue it together (or just rewrite the whole thing!).
My kids are awake before dawn! I am not a morning person.. so I write after they sleep at night... sometimes even while they are watching a movie.
ReplyDeleteIn college, I used to wake up at like 6am and go to the dinning hall, pile up my tray and sit and write or hours to finish an essay. It worked for me then, but I am seriously not a morning person. Night all the way.
ReplyDeleteTessa, I wish I could make my brain work in the mornings! It's so much more rest-of-the-world-friendly. And check your email, chica.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, how do you survive without sleep? Do you drink coffee by the gallon? I write at night too, but I just get too tired after a while.
Quinn, that's cool. If you could make yourself write in the mornings, then it gives me faith that I can do it, too.
Definitely not early morning!! I like to write mid to late morning and early afternoon. Once Amy comes home from school concentration has disappeared!
ReplyDeleteCJ xx
I'm definitely not a morning person. It might have something to do with my 11 PM bedtime (which I rarely meet), but yeah. I do all my writing at night, between 9 - 11. Usually. Sometimes. Whatever. :)
ReplyDeleteCJ, I know what you mean about losing concentration once the kids get home. But that's the way it should be, right?
ReplyDeleteElana, you have an 11pm bedtime? I'm impressed. I'd never make that in a million years. Seriously. I don't even make that once a week, and I should, so if you do, you're doing better than me.