Are you a night owl, staying up after everyone else is in bed, fast asleep? Do you sit at your computer and write as the moon rises and then begins to set?
Are you most creative during the day? Maybe you have the days open to write. Maybe you have to sneak in thirty minutes during your lunch break.
Perhaps you save up your words and thoughts until the weekend when you tell the kids they need some Daddy time, shut the door to your writing room, and sip hot tea while your fingers fly over the keyboard.
I used to stay up til 2 or 3 in the morning. That was when I got the most and best writing done. Now I write during the day, although I have to admit, I’m not getting much writing done. Not fiction writing, anyway. I’m doing mostly non-fiction now.
When are you most creative? When do you actually write, even if it’s not when you’d like to be writing?
I'm most creative in the mornings usually. Sometimes way early - I wake up with an inspiration at like 4 or 5 am and just start pounding away. Then by mid-afternoon I've got tired head and I'll do something else for a while. I usually spend at least 4 hours a day writing in WIP's and a couple hours writing blog posts and blog-hopping.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm in the blessed writer's "zone" though, when the stuff is really pouring out of me faster than I can key, I'll write for days at a time with very little sleep or diversion.
I am most creative in the middle of the day.
ReplyDeleteI've never set a writing schedule. It's probably the only thing not structured in my life, too! I write a little here and there. If I am approaching a deadline, then that 'little' bit of time becomes a couple hours.
L. Diane Wolfe
www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
www.spunkonastick.net
www.thecircleoffriends.net
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ReplyDeleteMarvin, I used to be like you - write for hours at a time in odd hours of the night (I usually stayed up late). Now, I'm more like Diane - writing whenever I can fit it in.
ReplyDeleteMorning, definitely morning. I'm no longer a night owl and if I can I write for a couple hours in the morning, but even a bit of blogging will do me on busy days.
ReplyDeletewww.wyattswriting.wordpress.com
www.panhistoria.com
Afternoons seem to be the best for me. I'm actually mentally awake by then.
ReplyDeleteI write in bursts, lately I have had few bursts. I keep several writing pieces alive, albeit barely alive, at all times. When the mood, inspiration, or energy strikes I write what I feel. Currently I am working on three novels: a western, a mystery and a children’s adventure book. I also blog sporadically and publish some sports pieces. This also solves the age old problem of novel submission—at the rate I am going now I will never finish anything. Just kidding, as a full time teacher most of my writing comes during the dreaded cold of winter and in the summer, late at night.
ReplyDeleteATTENTION--A burst of inspiration has just hit me –I’m off to work on my western and I’m burning daylight! Or maybe I will watch some golf on TV.
Pan and Meg, you're inspirational. And Old Guy, you are so funny. It'd be a hard choice to make, between writing and watching golf. I started to say that I didn't think I could keep straight three different projects at once, but then I realized I'm doing that right now.
ReplyDeleteI used to stay up and write into the wee hours of the morning, even if I had a next day obligation. It was the silence. Then I was home full time, freelancing and the silence in the house during the day made it so easy to write. Now... it feels like right now I can't get a quiet moment to myself long enough to finish a short story. It's a little frustrating. I may need to start staying up all night again just to get some real work done.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand Jenny. Too many projects, too much noise, too much going on. I need silence to be able to hear my own thoughts.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is much the same as yours, Helen. I'm a born night owl but have to be a morning person (I teach morning exercise classes). To be effective I have to follow Margie Lawson's advice and DO IT FIRST!
ReplyDeleteI write in the early morning hours. It's a good thing I'm most creative then because I don't really have a choice. By other job starts by 7 AM and often runs into the night. Even if I manage to finish by 7 PM, my brain is mush - not good for creative writing.
ReplyDeleteOn quiet weekends, I can write throughout the day, but usually in bursts. I have to do something totally unrelated in between the bursts - walk, clean house, do laundry, watch TV, or take cat nap. I know when it's time to get back to the keyboard because ideas bubble into my conscious mind and I have to get them down.
Charlotte
The morning is my most creative time. Sometimes in the early morning inspiration hits and I have to get it written while it's there. Later in the day my mind gets slower and less open to inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI do a lot of marketing on the train. Lately I've been doing my creative writing and editing at home on my desktop computer, which has a nice 19" monitor.
ReplyDeleteMorgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
I try to write from around 2pm to 6pm daily but it doesn't always work out. If I have an 'inspiration' I try to stop whatever I'm doing and write immediately. Right now I am on the road, sharing a computer, and have little time to write (or visit my favorite blogs) period.
ReplyDeleteJane Kennedy Sutton
http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/
I tend to write most late at night, when everyone else is asleep. Otherwise there's far too many distractions. Beyond that, I've scheduled Sundays as my official "writing day." If I'm not working on a book, that's when I get blog or promotional articles written. And with a dedicated day, I'm less inclined to get sidetracked by "guilt duties." You know the ones. "I want to write, but SHOULD be doing this..."
ReplyDelete--Lisa
http://authorlisalogan.blogspot.com
I envy your monitor, Morgan.
ReplyDeleteWhen DH and I travel, we share my laptop, so I know what you're going through, Jane!
I usually sag around mid afternoon, then perk up about 10, but I have to get up in the morning now, so my late nights at the computer are gone, for now anyway.
I do most of my writing at night when the rest of the house is asleep. It does make it tough sometimes to get up in the morning. Other times inspiration hits at odd times. If I'm in front of a computer, I'll write. If not, I make notes.
ReplyDeleteHelen,
ReplyDeleteI'm such a night owl, my work day is at night. My clients know I'm usually not in the office until late in the afternoon ... but then I might be there all night. That doesn't mean I'm getting any writing done for myself, though—it's probably work for clients. I'm trying to save Sundays to work on my next novel, but I'm not being as productive as I'd like.
Stop by my blog to pick up an award I gave you.
Lillie Ammann
A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye
nights and early mornings. In spirts.
ReplyDeleteI am a morning person and I'm at my most productive moment at dawn. Since I write coursework as part of my job, I need to be alone in a quiet place. The kids in our house are sleeping at that time, of course, and so I have ample time to do my work.
ReplyDelete