Writing Time

Happy Monday everyone!  This week, like last week, has a theme and we'll be talking about writing and time.  This is less doing with the idea of time in your setting, although we might discuss that, and more about the time of day to write.  This is more of a personal, you need to find what works for you, but I thought I'd share what works for me.  I'll also give you a bit of tips to help with focusing your time and figuring out the best time for you to write.

Now, there are a lot of people who give the advice that sometimes the best time to write is in the morning.  Wake up a bit earlier and write for a half a hour on a project or whatever comes into your mind.  This is a very good idea for those people who are morning people and like to get up.  Me... not so much.  I am very much a "five more minutes" and snooze button sort of girl.  However, I had to figure this out.  I tried doing, no matter what time I woke up for the day, that I would sit down and write for a half a hour of whatever came to my mind.  It worked, for a few days, until I woke up late on a day where I had to leave at a scheduled time.  That day, I couldn't write in the morning and everything fell apart.  I didn't write for a few days until I got back into it and it was not in the morning.  So, while it can work and does work, it just not for me.  There were also, those few days, where I couldn't mentally focus because I wasn't awake yet.  I thought it was more me than the idea, which it is, but, again, it might work for you.

Let's go to the other extreme, which is writing late at night.  You're up at midnight, toiling away on the novel, and the words are flowing great.  You're in the zone and then the next thing you know, it's 2 in the morning and you're exhausted.  However, that chapter is written, even though it now needs to be heavily edited from the typos that make no sense.  I have written a ton of words late at night.  I pride myself on the fact that I always start NaNoWriMo at midnight sharp and can write at least 2,000 words before I get some sleep and write another 2,000 to 5,000 words during the day.  However, this wasn't the best for me either, although it works during the magical month of NaNoWriMo.  There were times, just like with the morning writing, where I just got too tired and had to go to bed before writing.  I thought "Oh, I'll write more tomorrow" and then I didn't.  I would be behind and try to catch up, but I never did.  Or something would catch my interest, I'd go do that, and the writing wouldn't get done.  So late night writing wasn't the best either.

The best time I've found for writing, for me, is during the day.  It does treat it a bit like a job, but, honestly, I don't mind that.  I don't have a regular job, so being a writer is my full time job.  With that comes that I should be writing every day, which I try to do, but I'm not perfect.  Nobody is, really, and even during the day, there are a ton of things that distract me.  Or there's people calling or chores need to be done.  However, it is the time that works the best for me because I am more likely to get words written during the day.  I am less likely to be distracted by a movie or family time or even needing to sleep.  So, it works, but I didn't realize that until I tried it.  And there's no real good set time during the day.  Writing happens when it happens and it just is during the day.  I tried to set a start time but that kept on tripping me up.  So now, as long as I get words in during the day, then it's been a writing day.

So, what works for you and what doesn't with your writing time, dear readers?  Feel free to leave a comment below and keep on writing.