Few thoughts: For me personally, I experience a lot of ego depletion during the day. But having kids tends to do that. There's no way I can write at the end of the day, I'm just way to mentally tired. Also as someone who both codes and writes, writing is far more emotionally taxing. Coding is problem solving - there is usually a clear path to follow and I generally know when I've solved a problem. Writing for me is unclear and amorphous. There is almost never a road map, and I never really know when I've "finished." Finally, I think that lark/owl stereotypes are overblown. Up through college, I was absolutely an owl and did my best work from 10pm to 2am. Once I entered the workforce, I was forced into becoming a lark and after a painful transition, loved mornings and did my best work from 6am to 10am. 18 years later, I'm still a "lark" but from time to time, I have to pull late nights and my "owl" tendencies come back quite easily for short periods of time. But I need 8-9 hours of sleep... I can't do both lark and owl at the same time. I think studies show that the vast majority of people are in the middle - neither larks nor owls, and for those people, I believe you can train yourself to be whichever one you want.
What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
21–30 of 74 posts
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#22I write a lot: probably average writing 1 book every 1 1/2 year over the last 35 years. This may be key: “Yet another version might be that sleep itself is the key: sleep, aside from any resetting, is also responsible for memory formation and appears involved in unconscious processes of creativity.‘ I find the morning is my best work time for either writing or designing and writing software. It seems that often good…
> sleep, aside from any resetting, is also responsible for memory formation
When my son was little, he had to memorize the 13 colonies of the United States for History class. He was getting frustrated that he just couldn't remember them all. I told him to just read through the list again right before he went to bed. He did so and came home from school that day to tell me, "It worked!".
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#23Alternative explanation for modern writers: write then there is less breaking news.
“Important” news feels important and one may feel more justified in attending to it.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#24Anecdotally speaking, I tend to write well late in the nights -- when everyone's gone to sleep. I tend to focus well, think throughout the evenings. I think it also depends on the most distracting-free time. For me, it is late night.
Can it also be about geography? I am not sure if there is a correlation between the region an author belongs to and his writing habits. I couldn't find any reference in shared article.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#25Few thoughts: For me personally, I experience a lot of ego depletion during the day. But having kids tends to do that. There's no way I can write at the end of the day, I'm just way to mentally tired. Also as someone who both codes and writes, writing is far more emotionally taxing. Coding is problem solving - there is usually a clear path to follow and I generally know when I've solved a problem. Writing for me is u…
I'm reading a terrific book -- "When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing"[1] -- that reviews the literature on this exact topic. Recommended.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#26The question of timing -- finding the optimal "when" for various activities -- is an interesting and useful one to study. I'm reading and enjoying a book[1] that does precisely that.
1. [When: the Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing](http://a.co/hY8eixX)
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#27I'm in circumstances (allergies, noise, etc.) that leave me feeling relatively poorly in the morning. They can clear somewhat during the day, leaving me feeling better and clearer headed in the evening -- except that then I'm fighting tiredness.
I'd suggest it may not just be morning. It may be also how you feel -- then and at other times. This is my point: That it may not be just time of day, but also your state of health and well-being at that time of day.
I hope to move to circumstances that leave me feeling better in the morning. I miss it.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#28Few thoughts: For me personally, I experience a lot of ego depletion during the day. But having kids tends to do that. There's no way I can write at the end of the day, I'm just way to mentally tired. Also as someone who both codes and writes, writing is far more emotionally taxing. Coding is problem solving - there is usually a clear path to follow and I generally know when I've solved a problem. Writing for me is u…
I'm reading a terrific book -- "When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing"[1] -- that reviews the literature on this exact topic. Recommended. 1. http://a.co/hY8eixX
Any takeaways from that book?
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#29Alternative explanation for modern writers: write then there is less breaking news. “Important” news feels important and one may feel more justified in attending to it.
As a former beat journalist I can anecdotally attest to this. By number, I've definitely written about more "breaking news" in the morning than at night. The content I'd write about at night would invariably have to be more interesting to me than whatever needs to be written about in the morning due to personal fatigue more than anything.
Re: What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
#30I'm in circumstances (allergies, noise, etc.) that leave me feeling relatively poorly in the morning. They can clear somewhat during the day, leaving me feeling better and clearer headed in the evening -- except that then I'm fighting tiredness. I'd suggest it may not just be morning. It may be also how you feel -- then and at other times. This is my point: That it may not be just time of day, but also your state of…
Anecdotally, moving to the desert and waking up feeling dry and stuffy in the mornings has reduced my morning writing urges.