When is the best time of day to write?

Dec 26, 2012 | Writing A Book

Email question: “When is the best time of day to write?

This one gets my all-purpose short answer: “it depends.”  Mostly it depends on you and your world.

When do you do your best creative work? Night owls toil deep into the night, turning out great prose. But larks only turn out junk if they work late. Larks rise with the sun and do their best work early.

When can you get an uninterrupted hour? Early morning and late evenings are popular times to write, but sometimes your obligations rule.

One client with a toddler at home carved out writing time after she put him down for a nap. Another client took a “writing break” instead of a lunch break and still another wrote her book on the train ride home after work.

I think that the most creative solution I know of belongs to the man who decided that writing a book was like getting a degree while working full time. During the week he did research and preparation, including interviews, whenever he could fit them in. On Saturday morning he got up early and wrote for five hours.

The best time of day for you to write is the time of day that works for you.