I’m A Morning Writer - Are You?
I don’t remember when getting up early in the morning started to work for me. It certainly wasn’t when I was a teenager! As a new mother, I remember being sure I wouldn’t get a chance to sleep in until the twins were in their 20s. Maybe it was years and years later, when I started to sail and discovered how much I liked the early morning watches, waiting for, then discovering that true first light.
But somewhere along the line I found I like early mornings, often as early as 4:30 or 5 a.m. It’s so quiet then, still and almost silent. When I roll out of bed and start to write I seem to be closer to my creative side than at any other time of day. In fact, I’ve been known to take a nap just to get closer to that part of me after noon.
How about you? When do you like to write best?
Write well and often,
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15 opinions for I’m A Morning Writer - Are You?
Manya Chylinski
Mar 20, 2008 at 10:09 am
Anne,
I’m not entirely sure what time of the day is best for me. I’ve been writing at 7:00 am every day for the last couple of months (my first book manuscript is due in a couple of weeks). Before the rest of my workday kicks in.
But if the rest of my work is taken care of, I also feel in the groove in the late afternoon/early evening (sans nap, I’m afraid).
Maybe I should try 5:00 am instead. There is something magical about being awake (and functioning) at that hour.
Thanks for sharing…
Manya
KathleenL
Mar 20, 2008 at 10:25 am
I will admit I am a morning person too.
I know that I have been this way since I was a teen. But I have been involved with horses since I was 13 and livestock need tendin’ to before we do anything for ourselves.
Still, to this day, even though I am no longer on the ranch … I long to sip coffee while watchin’ the sun come up over a pasture filled with Elk, horses and/or Moose. Truth be known … I really do miss the soothing sounds of the morning on a ranch.
But as for when I write best … I get up at 4:30 or so now, I get chores done before I get others up. I have a cup of Joe by myself and then allow others into my morning, but if I get a slice of time to write at 4:30 then I write, if it’s not until noon so be it. I just like to write when I get the time to. Becoming a mom necessitated me fitting in writing when the kids were asleep or at school. As they got older I could do rough drafts with them around, but I usually waited until they were in bed before I’d type and e-mail them out. And now that they are older I make them understand that mom makes money at this and I am working so they need to disrupt me later. I am certain that when I move my computer out to my sewing studio then they will, for the most part, leave me to work. Well, that is most of the time, because even now the kids will come in and sit in my studio while I work.
On Words and Business » Blog Archive » Morning people…
Mar 20, 2008 at 10:25 am
[…] is the most creative time of the day? Mornings? Evening? Late into the […]
Sean
Mar 20, 2008 at 11:22 am
Definitely. Much better for focus, as the parts of my brain that create distraction and tangents and procrastination are still asleep. They get up about 8:30 or 9:00 and it’s downhill from there!
April
Mar 20, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Morning-no, no, no, no, no. LOL
I am a night owl. I write best and focus best especially between 10pm and 1am. I get more writing and planning done then, than I do all day.
I like to sleep. And I like to sleep in :)
mercurial scribe
Mar 20, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Morning = coffee and lounging around reading.
Late afternoon to midnight = writing thoughtfully without a care in the world.
Noon = siesta. :-)
Joan
Mar 20, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Definitely mornings, most often the morning of my deadline. I think it’s the combination of a fresh mind and the pressure of turning something in!
Mary Emma Allen
Mar 20, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I write whenever and wherever I find time. I am an early riser, so often write then, if I’m not dashing off to substitute teach or catch a plane. After my daughter was born…that’s when I realized if I wanted to be a published writer, I couldn’t write on my schedule, but whever I could fit it in and meet deadlines. Also, as a newspaper reporter, I had to write when the stories broke and before the newspaper was wrapped up. So I don’t think there is any particular time I write better than another.
Bob Younce at the Writing Journey
Mar 21, 2008 at 4:59 am
I write best in the morning, as well. I haven’t always, though.
When my oldest daughter started Middle School three years ago, we were shocked to figure out that she had to be up at 5:30 every day. For the first six months, my wife and I took turns getting up with Katie.
After a while, though, I found myself just sort of waking up by 5:30. On days that my wife was getting Katie ready, I’d lay there in bed awake.
Finally, it dawned on me: I could be working. I could start my writing 2 hours earlier, and probably be done 2 hours earlier, as well.
I agree about the quietness. After Katie leaves, I’ve got an hour and a half before my other two have to be up. The only sound is the drip of the coffee maker. Its very conducive to writing.
Graham Strong
Mar 21, 2008 at 7:24 am
I was never a morning person until about 4 years and seven months after my oldest was born. And only then, it was due to necessity. (Don’t ask how I made it through those first few years…)
Today, I wouldn’t call myself a night owl anymore, but I’m still not a “morning person” — that’s just the most convenient time for me to get into the office. And I no longer have a “most productive time” either. Sometimes it is early morning (after reading this comment, I guess that’s not the case today), afternoon, evening… It’s like a roller coaster. Sometimes I’m flying along the rails, and sometimes I’m parked in the station, and there is no real way to predict which it will be at any given moment.
But I like it that way! I’d find it very hard to work if my “optimum writing time” was still two hours away…
~Graham
Anne Wayman
Mar 21, 2008 at 9:15 am
lol, I’m really enjoying reading the different responses… thanks all!
Are You An Early Bird Or A Night Owl Freelancer?
Mar 21, 2008 at 10:28 am
[…] writer, Anne Wayman at The Golden Pencil prefers to work in the mornings, a time she grew to love from morning watch in her sailing […]
Bob
Mar 22, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Great article. Don’t laugh but I go to sleep with a little notebook and pen next to my bed. I have the wildest dreams lately, I wake up in the middle of the night and scribble them down immediately so i won’t forget them. I find that combining you imagination with your dreams provides great writing material.
You’re more than welcome to check my work out, I publish all of it on Triond. There great, pay well and get me great coverage, I really recommend it.
Thanks
Bob
Dan Rafter
Mar 23, 2008 at 5:52 am
Hi, Anne:
Great blog, by the way. I, too, am a morning person. I try to get up about two hours before the rest of the family. I usually wake up, unfortunately, with dread that I’ll never get all the work I need to get done finished. By getting a head-start on the day, I ease that dread a bit. Maybe that’s not the healthiest way to approach things, but at least it gets me started early on my assignments.
SEO Consultant
Mar 25, 2008 at 2:01 am
Hi, Anne,
Good Morning!!!
Nice blog post - But I am sorry i like late night work then morning,so,I am now not in a morning person group. But in my school & college life - it was required to maintain daily morning class schedule strictly. But now a days for My current SEO profession - i have to wake till night due to regional barrier because i am from India and most of my client from UK,US, Australia - so they wants me always with them. hope one day i will get retired from job and will go out for morning walk with a day dream….
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