writing times

Straka · Jan 2, 2008

I found that my biological clock has changed somewhat since college. I chalk it up to having to deal with the “real” world and a “job.”

One I do struggle with is forcing myself to go to sleep at night instead of staying up and writing. I’ve found I can get into the zone of writing the easiest between 10 and 2 in the morning. By 3 I start to get edgy. This presents a problem when I have to get up at 6:30 am.

What is everyone’s ideal writing time?

Vandal · Jan 2, 2008

I do my best work between 10:30 pm and 11:30 pm. I have to stop when the little voice in my head says, "Dude, you have to get up in less than six hours."

Prawn · Jan 2, 2008

I write best before I get out of bed in the morning. I sit up, switch on the laptop and write for a thousand words (my daily goal). I get my writing done first thing!

Danthia · Jan 2, 2008

I'm an a.m. gal. My best hours are between 7am and noon. I can write in the afternoons if I must, but it takes me longer to get anything decent. I can edit okay in the afternoons though. Night time for me is a creative dead zone.

Thomma Lyn · Jan 2, 2008

My ideal time to write is evening through late at night -- anytime between 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., depending on the day. Yup, I'm a night owl!

ishtar'sgate · Jan 2, 2008

I'm a morning person. When I was working I used to get up at 4:00 am and write until I had to leave for the office. Summer was great because sunrise where I lived was around 3:00 am in the middle of the season. I could go out on the deck and enjoy the cool morning with a cup of hot coffee and my writing. Ah, those were the days. I'm still a morning person and my best writing is done when everyone leaves for work or school, so around 8:30 to l:00.
Linnea

Harper K · Jan 2, 2008

Late afternoon -- about 3 pm - 6 pm. Too bad I'm usually doing the day job thing during that period. I maximize those hours on weekends.

During the week, I find that the 9 pm - 11 pm period works just about as well, though I have to throw off other responsibilities to write during that time.

Once in a while, I love to do the writing-while-the-rest-of-the-world-is-asleep thing. Recovering from a 1 am - 5 am writing marathon is a bit like getting over a hangover, though.

Claudia Gray · Jan 2, 2008

Night is my best time, but I'm training myself to work faster during the day -- that's the only way for me to utilize the weekends.

Thrillride · Jan 2, 2008

Another AM person over here. The muse likes breakfast with me!

~Thrill

otterman · Jan 2, 2008

I write best in the morning and edit best at night. I know, I'm weird.

scarletpeaches · Jan 2, 2008

No way in hell am I getting anything done in the morning. It's all I can do to drag myself out of bed and into the bath before going to work. I do shifts, so my body clock's, oh, what's the technical word for it? Ah yes. Buggered.

I can get out of bed at 6am. I just don't like to. And my head's so fuzzy I can't think straight, so it's just as well my job isn't mentally challenging. If I had to do anything creative, I'd be worse than useless.

For me, the ideal writing time is later on in the evening. Say, between the hours of 10pm-2am. I get more done in those four hours than I usually do in the preceding twenty.

I once typed around 6k words in a day in three two-hour spurts - 9-11am, 1-3pm and 5-7pm. God knows how I managed that. NaNo. I was on a roll. In the zone. All juiced up (metaphorically speaking).

Ah, my precious Neo, though...when that arrived at 3pm one day, I got on it right away and had 10k+ typed by the back of midnight. Yup. 10k in one day. And I firmly believe it was because I was writing according to my natural body clock.

Sure, I can function if I get up early. But I feel hellish when I do so and it's very, very rare for me to write anything worth reading much before dinner time.

johnzakour · Jan 2, 2008

My best writing times are 8am -- 11:59 am. Then from about 11pm - 1pm.

Midday through early evening just has too much going on so I am easily distracted.

Shady Lane · Jan 2, 2008

I cannot write before 6 in the evening. No way. Then it's just a matter of how long I can stay up...

Button · Jan 2, 2008

I'm still trying to figure this one out!

I'm generally a write in the morning, edit in the evening sort of person.

Just Jack · Jan 2, 2008

Un-fortunatley, my best times are from 11 p.m. to about 3 a.m.
Naturally im usually tired during the day.

cethklein · Jan 2, 2008

For whatever reason i have trouble writing at night. I do my best writing in the early morning.

Moon Daughter · Jan 2, 2008

My mind likes to work when my body wants to sleep. I hate it.

johnzakour · Jan 2, 2008

Moon Daughter said:
My mind likes to work when my body wants to sleep. I hate it.

According to my wife, my mouth sometimes works when my mind is sleeping...

britlitfantw · Jan 2, 2008

I tend to be most creatively energized at night, although every once in a while I enjoy writing in the morning.

Judg · Jan 2, 2008

There's a GOOD time to write?

Moon Daughter · Jan 2, 2008

johnzakour said:
According to my wife, my mouth sometimes works when my mind is sleeping...

Well, isn't that just like most men?

johnzakour · Jan 2, 2008

Moon Daughter said:
Well, isn't that just like most men?

Well, I can't speak for "most" because S. Ferret will jump all over me (and nobody wants a ferret on them) but it certainly is the case with me. (I'm slowly learning though to think BEFORE I speak. It's amazing what good motivation a elbow in the ribs can be!)

Enzo · Jan 2, 2008

I'm a morning person, but not an early morning person.

I get up at around 7 am, and do most of my writing with enthusiasm between 9 am and 12. Still write on my WIP in the afternoons as well, but I find my thoughts easily drifting away to unrelated story ideas, or (gasp!) to the Internet.

blacbird · Jan 2, 2008

I wish I knew when I do my best work, but then, I'd have to arrive at a definition of "best work".

caw

kimmeunier · Jan 2, 2008

Thomma Lyn said:
My ideal time to write is evening through late at night -- anytime between 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., depending on the day. Yup, I'm a night owl!

Ditto! I have to force myself to go to bed. Best writing time is around 11 p.m., and 1 a.m.

writing times

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