Making Time to Write: Optimal Time for Writing
Is there a best time to write? When discussing the best time for writing with my writer friends, I find that each of us has our own pattern, our own optimal time. I think the best time to write is as individual as the writer.
I know I’ve shared this before, but my best time for writing is morning. Even though at first, I chose to write in the morning because it was the ONLY time I had alone, since I’ve been writing early in the morning for a long time, I would pick that time even if I had the whole day free.
Different Times for Different Tasks
My critical voice seems to be still asleep in the morning. It’s not often at 5:00am that I whine about how awful my writing is. Usually at 5:00am, I’m just happy if I can get something down on paper while I’m still a bit sleepy. It’s later in the day when I get disgusted with my writing. And later in the day, I’m usually busy with my day job, parenting, and running kids from one activity to another.
I recently watched this video of the Kerlan acceptance speech by Kate DiCamillo. It’s a great video to watch, and she talks about how she performs different writing tasks at different times of the day. She does drafting in the early morning, just after she stumbles out of bed, because she needs to draft during the time that is most like dreaming. When she needs to revise her work, she tends to do that in the afternoon because that’s when she is more critical of herself.
Morning Benefits
“The unexpected benefit is that if you work on your dream in the morning, it gives you a natural boost that can last the entire day.
One of the things I love about writing before work in the morning is that I am pumped for the rest of the day. I feel like I got something accomplished, and I tend to think about my writing more.
Words in the Night
I’m usually not a night person. I was always the first person to fall asleep at slumber parties. Even my high school roommate, from boarding school, and I recently talked about how she was such a night owl and was an early bird. But I find that when I’m really into a story I’m working on, it keeps me up at night.
The other night, I was trying to sleep after a totally exhausting first week at school. I was excited about sleep. But in my semi-conscious state, my new novel started writing itself. As I went over the words again and again in my brain, I was sure I would be able to remember them the next morning. But when I woke up early on Saturday, they were gone. The story itself wasn’t gone. I knew what was going to happen, but those words from the dark were gone.
So even though I’m not a night writer, I still get ideas late at night. I just have to not be too lazy, and rouse myself enough to write them down on the paper next to my pillow.
When is your optimal time for writing? When do you get your best and/or most writing done? Is it when it’s still dark outside in the morning, before anyone else gets out of bed? Or is late at night when everyone else is settled in for the night? Or are you able to write in the middle of the afternoon , when the rest of us are sleepy from lunch?
