A few years ago, a friend of mine gave me some advice about the best time to write to get production up. She is a full-time writer now, but when she had a day job, she wrote first thing in the morning. I do like writing first thing. My mind is fresh, still a little fuzzy from sleep, so it retains some of that dream state.
For a while, that was possible. At BigHugeCo, and with a couple of my contract jobs, getting up in the morning was the best thing for me. I’d get up, shower, make a cup of coffee, and write for half an hour or so. It was great. But two of my contract jobs were in Northern Kentucky, near the airport. I had a 45-minute drive one-way. No bus trip downtown or quick jaunt down to the NKU campus. So I had to take to writing in the evening. Now I have to because I often have to be at work before 7 AM. Even when I’m not, I often have to get AJ lunch money or run an errand on the way to work. Yeah, I know. Putting my family first. Where are my priorities?
So I write evenings. There’s a downside to this. I’m tired in the evening. To make sure I have unlimited time to write, I do my exercise, homework, and any house chores first. Unfortunately, I often run out of time.
This is too bad. Once upon a time, I used to stay up all night writing. I loved it. Couldn’t get enough of it. It was my way of blowing off steam and just enjoying the act of creating. One time, I caught myself writing with my eyes closed and my head lolling to the side. That, of course, is extreme.
It’s tough finding a balance, but I think I’ve gotten better about writing regularly again.
You’re doing what you can, which is all any of us can do. The problem is, too many erstwhile writers use situations like yours as excuses–they call them “reasons”–not to write. This is why people are reading and enjoying your books (ROAD RULES was one of my favorites last year) and they’re–well, they,re reading other people’s books and whining about how they could do that if they had time.
I’m not certain there’s an absolute best time to write, though I seem to do more “creative” writing first thing in the morning and more “fill in the missing pieces” writing in the evenings. I rise, walk the dogs, grab a Mountain Dew, and write fiction for about half an hour before my shower. This is when the new plot ideas, the snappy bits of dialog, and so on pour out of me. In the evening, after a day spent meeting the writing and editing needs of my clients, I return to writing fiction and this is when I tend to flesh out the new plot ideas, write the transitions between scenes, add the set-ups for the snappy dialog, and so on.
Even so, having long, uninterrupted stretches of time on a Saturday or a Sunday, when the morning creative spark blends into evening craftsmanship with no other tasks separating the two, are absolutely glorious. I just wish they happened more often.