What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
gwern.net
What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
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Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#2What timing. Couldn't sleep well, and got up even though it was only 4:15am. Pop open HN, and this was at the top of the list. When I grabbed my laptop, it was with the intent of working in Final Draft to work on some things I just can't seem to get to in normal hours. Makes me feel less grumpy about being awake, or for procrastinating by reading HN first.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#3My first question was about how writing prose differs from writing code. The post covers this:
> despite being apparently similar activities (both mostly involve slinging text), the temporal timing of software development & writing are strikingly different. Thinking back, I don’t recall early-morning programming being a trend among programmers (programmers are infamous for preferring to come in late and late-night programming sessions which may wrap around the clock, especially in college). It’s fascinating that the stereotypes about writing vs programming line up so perfectly with the RescueTime data.
I am very curious to learn/think more about why the 2 activities are stereotypically (and empirically) on opposite schedules.
Personally, when writing prose (mostly docs, blog posts, and product plans), I prefer to wake up early and do it in the morning. I much prefer coding at night. My hunch is that this is because interruptions are rarer at night and more bothersome when coding.
For anyone else who is both a writer and coder: do you follow the same schedule for both?
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#4It’s fundamentally an anecdotal thing: Kafka, Joyce, Neruda, Eliot, etc. all wrote at night.
My working theory is something like “romanticism/emotionalism vs. abstract rationalism”; if you’re writing something that benefits from immediate experience and emotional input (e.g. Kafka writing about nightmarish bureaucracy after working all day in an insurance firm) then it is better to write at night, after the events of the day have happened and your mind has been operating for 12+ hours.
Alternatively, if you’re working on a large, broad project that requires long-term, sustained effort and a clear mind, a morning habitual routine is better for making step-by-step progress.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#5My first question was about how writing prose differs from writing code. The post covers this: > despite being apparently similar activities (both mostly involve slinging text), the temporal timing of software development & writing are strikingly different. Thinking back, I don’t recall early-morning programming being a trend among programmers (programmers are infamous for preferring to come in late and late-night pr…
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Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#6My first question was about how writing prose differs from writing code. The post covers this: > despite being apparently similar activities (both mostly involve slinging text), the temporal timing of software development & writing are strikingly different. Thinking back, I don’t recall early-morning programming being a trend among programmers (programmers are infamous for preferring to come in late and late-night pr…
I wake up before 4am (between 11pm the day before and 2am usually). While everyone else spends the last 6 tired hours of their day on their hobbies, I spend the first 6 best hours of my day on my hobbies (writing, coding, etc). I'm definitely nocturnal, I'd just rather not be sleepy, so night is the beginning of my day.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#7My first question was about how writing prose differs from writing code. The post covers this: > despite being apparently similar activities (both mostly involve slinging text), the temporal timing of software development & writing are strikingly different. Thinking back, I don’t recall early-morning programming being a trend among programmers (programmers are infamous for preferring to come in late and late-night pr…
I do both, and I also tend to find it easier to write prose early in the day and code later.
I think it’s because of the depth of focus that’s required and how fragile it is. I can have a productive 30-60 minute writing session all the time, but unless it’s very trivial work, it takes me so long to get fully in the zone of maximum productivity when coding that it’s really not worth doing unless I have a few hours. And my morning rarely offer that, so I use them to clear the decks so I can do deep work like coding or whatever later in the day.
I’m not a natural morning person, but i routinely get up at 430am. I’ve deliberately adjusted to this masochistic schedule over the course of 15 years because I find it so superior in terms of effects on my life. I’m not a natural daily exerciser, healthy eater, relationship builder, etc. either. Sometimes it’s good to push yourself to do things because they’re good for you.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#8My own anecdotal evidences:
1. Waking up early is a great thing. 2. Waking up early allows you to be less stressed during the day. 3. It also projects a halo of confidence around you since people receive your stuff first thing when they arrive at work. 4. But the first thing when you wake up should not be work. You can read the press, listen to the radio, catch up with the day.... 5. At some point - after 30/45m, you'll think it's time to get to work. It's an exhilarating feeling. 6. Best time that works for me is 5:30am/6am. 7. Taking the time to do some sport after 8am or 9am is even better.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#9What timing. Couldn't sleep well, and got up even though it was only 4:15am. Pop open HN, and this was at the top of the list. When I grabbed my laptop, it was with the intent of working in Final Draft to work on some things I just can't seem to get to in normal hours. Makes me feel less grumpy about being awake, or for procrastinating by reading HN first.
Large parts of my second book [1] were written between the hours of 4am and 8am, my wakefulness necessitated by my daughter’s medical issues. Things are more stable at home now, but on my third book [2] I often feel the urge. I’m naturally a morning person, and combined with the benefits of writing uninterrupted, it’s hard to resist, even if it means getting out of bed. If I didn’t, I’d only be composing in my head anyway.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#10My first question was about how writing prose differs from writing code. The post covers this: > despite being apparently similar activities (both mostly involve slinging text), the temporal timing of software development & writing are strikingly different. Thinking back, I don’t recall early-morning programming being a trend among programmers (programmers are infamous for preferring to come in late and late-night pr…
For me, writing prose (mostly short stories, journals, memoirs) is more emotionally taxing. To write well I need to find ways to silence the self-censorship that will inevitably prevent me from expressing the things I really want to say. This often happens when I am in a state approaching mania. Donald Glover says he writes in the morning because it is "closer to dreaming".
Coding is primarily a task about cognition, so focus/concentration wins. I find I code best in the late morning, when I'm well rested and have had a good breakfast.