The other day, I accidentally woke up at six in the morning. I normally get up at the crack of around 9 am, so it was quite the event. Rather than going back to bed and staring thoughtfully at the ceiling, I went to my desk in a different room and did some fiction writing. To my surprise, I wrote a lot, and it was pretty damn good. (Opinions may vary.)
I changed my routine, and it was awesome
I normally get up and spend an hour waking my brain up. This involves 30 press-ups, a pint of coffee, a load of emails, online backgammon, and Wordle. I must have a huge brain, because it takes a lot to get it fully fired up. At least, I think I do.
I currently have a job where I edit the work of about 15 journalists. It involves editing 30 articles a day and takes around 4 hours. I then read for an hour before starting to write. If I need to write non-fiction—which is most days—I do that for a couple of hours. After that, I try to write some fiction, but if I am being honest, my brain has run out of steam by then.
This is why waking up at 6 am was such a revelation. My brain was fresh but sluggish, dreamlike. I sleep incredibly deeply and always get at least seven hours, which is why it takes so much to get me up. I need to be fairly sharp to focus on editing or researching or whatever I am doing. But with fiction, the words just flowed.
This led to some research. Is morning writing a good thing? Should I become one of those early risers? I’d seen them often in my youth, looking all smug while I was stumbling home after a night of having fun. Pricks. But—and this is a horrendous thought—maybe the self-satisfied bastards were correct.
I know how to be productive with writing, so I am just looking for improvements
I have written professionally since I was 18, back in 1990. Terrifyingly, that was increasingly long ago. I know one of the best ways to be productive is to have a deadline and a boss who will threaten to fire you if you fail to hit it. But now that I am freelance and there is the internet, the quantity you write can literally mean more money.
I get a salary for my editing job, but the rest of my money comes from actually creating stuff. On that subject, please check out my books; there are fiction and non-fiction available.
I am also writing a fiction book, so this is a great way to tap into a burst of creativity before my brain and entire consciousness are deadened by toil. Obviously, I am not alone in this discovery of the dawn hours being good for creativity.
Famous writers and their morning routines
I did a bit of research and found the following.
Murakami and Voltaire start (or started) at 4 am.
Kurt Vonnegut began at 5:30 am.
Hemmingway, Asimov, and WH Auden started at 6 am.
Ursula Le Guin – just after 7 am.
Charles Dickens and Stephen King began just after 8 am.
And so on…
There are some who prefer the night and, weirdly, often tend toward slightly darker fiction. For example, both Neil Gaiman and Franz Kafka write at night (although for the latter it was a necessity).
Routine still remains the most important thing
I cannot stress enough, though, that whatever you do, get a good routine going. Some may disagree with that advice, but given all the writers above swear by a good routine, I think it is fairly sound. It certainly works for me.
What is up for debate is location. The work early or work late crowd often do so because it is quiet. If you read books by writers on writing, they espouse the joy of those hours when most people are asleep. It is quiet, and you won’t be disturbed by emails or phone calls. On the other hand, some prefer coffee shops and co-working spaces.
The key is to find what works for you. But to do that, you need to try various locations and times first. Ideally, more than once.
The morning may be your most productive time. You’ll never know until you try.
