In which I subvert my nature and become a morning person…
I’ve always been a night owl. 10pm rolls around and suddenly I’m full of ideas and a burning desire to start projects and be creative. This is especially true for my writing, since the late evening is generally the only part of my day that offers any quiet or solitude.
The drawback to this is that when I’m really on a roll with my writing I tend to start keeping vampire hours, writing from 10pm until 3-4am. Sometimes I greet the dawn with bleary eyes before retiring to my coffin. This wreaks havoc with the rest of my life, of course. Responsibilities and commitments suffer, my family never sees me, and the house looks a mess. Make dinner? What do you mean? I just woke up!
I’ve made some attempts over the years to go to bed earlier and get up earlier, with limited success. Waking up at 8am does wonders for the rest of my life, but I end up never writing. With the kids in bed at 9, and me tired by 10, my window of quiet and solitude gets pretty narrow.
So, earlier this week I tried a little experiment. Instead of getting up at 8, I got up at 5. Crazy, right?
It was fantastic.
The sun wasn’t up yet, and neither was anyone else in the house. Perfect silence (give or take a little snoring), virtual solitude, and absolutely no interruptions for a good 3 hours. So far, I’ve managed six solid days of this, and I’ve written more in those six days than I did in the six weeks previous. True story.
For the rest of the day, I look forward to my next writing session. When bedtime rolls around, I’m anxious to get to sleep so I can get to writing.
Best. Carrot. Ever.
As an added bonus, my husband has remembered what I look like, and my kids occasionally eat something other than peanut butter and jelly. Everybody wins!
Ah, the night owl life. ::reminisces:: I’m so glad you’ve been able to find some time for your fantastic novel, Bex. I’ve been fiercely staking out the hours of 9am to 2pm as my writing time, so that I can sleep normal hours, but it doesn’t always work with a toddler at home. A lot of days end up hijacked by other things, come to think of it. Hm. I might try this early morning thing!
Creative thinking at its practical, action level, best!
Wow. I don’t think I could ever be a morning person.
Hard core! I love that carrot idea – it gets me through the day fairly often 🙂
The day I become a morning person, well, that would be the day.
I’m not much of a morning person either, when it comes to getting up, but I’m always at my most productive then, and it’s certainly quieter around here when everyone else is in bed!