Early Birds vs Night Owls

As much as we’d all like to write from nine to five during the day, sometimes that’s impossible. Work and family (and not to mention that inspiration doesn’t always strike when we want it to) might lead us to squeeze in writing time before and after hours. There is a long tradition of early birds and night owls making use of those magical hours at daybreak and nightfall, here’s my guide to how you can too…

Early Bird

Some prefer to cut their slumbers short and hit the keys as the sun rises. Early birds find that rising early allows them to launch straight into their writing with a workman like attitude. Earnest Hemingway, Barbara Kingsolver and Toni Morrison all awoke to the early chimes of their alarm clocks. Early morning writing can give a certain clarity, probably because the harsh inner critic hasn’t woken up yet. As someone who loves lie-ins, early morning writing can be a challenge. But making writing your first priority of the day, working while the world sleeps, lends an exciting impetus to your craft. Sometimes, early birds may find that their brains don’t kick into gear as quickly as they need them to, which can lead to a frustrating start to the day.

Try it out: Set your alarm clock for ten minutes earlier than usual. Grab a notebook and just write for ten minutes about anything or a specific project. Test out how this effects your creativity during the rest of the day.

Night Owl

When the moon comes up, the stars are out and the world falls silent, some writers hear the muse asking them to start working. In the silence, night owls can hear more clearly the words they scramble to find during light hours. Famous night owls include Charles Dickens, George Orwell and Robert Frost. Dickens’ nocturnal writing routine extended to him walking the streets of Victorian London after dark searching for a story. As well as tapping into a late-night wisdom, I’ve found that writing late at night becomes a time to test out daring ideas. There is almost a sense of writing outside of a curfew where new, unusual, playful ideas occur to you and its fine to test them out because it’s not ‘official’ writing time. The biggest negative of being a night owl is, of course, tiredness. Some can’t fathom the idea of doing anything creative after midnight, or if they do may find themselves paying for it in the morning. But I do believe that nocturnal inspiration should be tapped into on an occasional basis.

Try it out: After your usual bedtime hour, go to the window and look out into the darkness of the night. Listen to the silence of your surroundings. Set a timer for ten to fifteen minutes and write like no one’s watching.

Are you an early bird or a night owl? When is your favourite time to write and how does this impact on your output? Let me know in the comments below…