Activity

*headscratch* I’m still wondering if this goal-oriented approach to writing is treating writing as some sort of idol. I mean, if you really don’t want to write…but I guess not everyone is like me who is procrastinating her Spanish homework to go write. It’s really important to identify as a follower of Christ first and as a writer second, otherwise when your writing gets taken away from you (and I have actually had this happen, like mental health disasters confined me to journaling instead of other writing) you get to have depression on top of all of the other fun things. Or, you know, you have to do Spanish homework instead of write.

I also don’t think the time of day is important – personally I think the “get up early” people are better funded and have a better marketing campaign, because I have had zero success with this approach. My brain steadfastly refuses to be creative between the hours of 4:00 AM and 10:00 AM, and in its honorable opinion, during those hours I should be asleep. Conversely, I consistently and unfailingly have the most creative energy between the hours of 10:00 – 12:00 PM at night. My creative energy builds throughout the day as I pick up on new ideas from the world and people around me, when I get to the point of processing it during the night hours to build writing work.

The way to avoid procrastination (in my honorable opinion, this is an editorial) is to honor your natural creative process and respect it, regardless of when it operates. This means that I try not to schedule stuff between 9:00 PM and 10:00 AM, and skip all of the late night parties and concerts. I do my social interaction and homework during the day.

If you’re trying to fight yourself to get something done, that’s when you’re tempted to procrastinate. Don’t try to fight yourself to write – find out what works best for you and your set of responsibilities, and go with that, instead of trying to fit your life and your writing into someone else’s box.