Friday, June 5, 2009

Writing and Our Circadian Rhythms

Van Gogh Siesta

I’m definitely a morning person. I get up at 5:00 each morning, if not before. Actually, I’m up most of the night, but that’s the insomnia thing.

Because of this schedule, I find I’m most productive first thing in the morning. That’s when my writing flows fastest and when I’m more creative.

In afternoon, I’ve already switched to mindless housework (laundry, straightening up, wiping down counters and bathrooms).

By evening, I’m pretty much done. I watch the news, read a book, shoot emails, and go to bed (I get my best sleep before 1:00 A.M., then the insomnia kicks in.)

Today, I’m going to try to switch this completely around.

Can it be done? I have no idea. But my daughter is having a sleep-over here tonight, and the girls will be up really late. I need to be up late too, and I thought I may as well get some good writing time in while the girls were occupied with movies, nail painting, and Barbies.

This means, though, that I will be writing at night. And I’m not a night writer.

I’m curious to see how this experiment goes. Are there many night writers out there? Do you write in both morning and evening?