Experimenting

Want to know when I get the worst writer’s block?

At the end of the day.

After my brain has been used and abused for one hundred other things – walking, driving, uploading, downloading, organizing, talking on the phone, remembering how many ounces are in a typical glass of wine. The usual.

Perhaps you can relate.

See, I never thought of myself as a morning person. In actuality, I was never much of a night owl either. I was more of an 11-7 type. So while there are articles written about how much smarter night owls are or how much more satisfied with life early birds are (why so many bird references when talking about times of day?) I never really related to those articles. I was neither.

Until I decided to experiment.

After all, as writers we’re required to experiment. Even someone simply handwriting a letter or a document experiments with the size of their letters, the angle of their cursive, and similar.

I experimented with what time of day I wrote for myself. This was writing anything from a journal entry to a manuscript.

I started with the evening because that was by and far the easiest. My work for the day was done. I could turn off my phone and not have to worry that I was missing something urgent from a writing client.

That was short lived.

I prefer a dental filling to having to pound out 1,000 words late at night.

I know this factually because I just had one done. A day after I’d tried to write 1,000 words at 8 P.M.

Next, I decided to try the lunch hour. After all, I get a lunch, right? That’s not asking too much from the world.

Turns out, it was. I could never get to my zen place. I was so worried about my phone call with Suzy and my appointment with Jack and my meeting with Mary and those paragraphs I had due to Lindsey.

Finally, I opted to try the morning. Just typing it, I hear the loud groan of displeasure echoing through my skull. My arm even twitched a little like my brain unconsciously asked it to slam down on the alarm clock, ensuring an additional five minutes of rest.

Guess what? 5 A.M. is the lucky charm. I give myself until about 5:30 to eat breakfast (cereal) and make coffee (usually I set a delay the night before so I don’t have to remember how to grind beans). Then I sit down and the words just flow without prompt. I could write for hours. In reality, I write for about one and a half before I start about morning chores like walking dogs and showering for work.

Experiencing writer’s block? Try switching up what time of day you write. It’s a little thing that makes a big difference.

PS: Who knew I was an early bird?