Whendo you typically do your writing: morning, afternoon, or night?
23 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Owl or Lark?”
I get up, get my wife and son off to school, come home and get to work. I’ve got the house to myself and can work without distractions. Some mornings my “day job” intervenes, I work for an online news organization, but the rest of the time is mine and I have no one to blame but myself if I don’t use it productively.
Although I’m not a morning person. Really kind of hate mornings. I’m never asleep before midnight, and if I didn’t HAVE to get up in the morning, I’d probably be up all night. But that’s the way the world is built. The world is run by those annoying morning people who schedule stuff just because the sun is up. Haven’t they ever heard of electric lights?
No doubt I’m at my best in the morning. So, Tues, Wed and Thurs I’m writing at 6:30 am, before work. Fri, Sat and Mon, more like 10:30 (dog duty, house chores, etc.). But rarely do I write anything after supper. Barely able to talk.
Morning. If I am occupied with other business in the morning, I struggle to clear my mind to write in the afternoon.
It will be interesting to see if there is any correlation between the time readers post answers to this question and the answers they give.
Don’t forget time differences, Steve. My post says 11:53 am, but it’s really 7:53am here in Fairbanks.
Lark. Absolutely.
At night I don’t give a hoot.
Owl take your word for it, Joe! 😉
Morning. I used to sleep in, then we had kids. I learned to be a morning person and now I like it. I like to get my writing in before the rest of the day intervenes. I also feel like my mind and creativity are at their best in the morning.
If I didn’t have kids I think I’d be a lark but now that they are up as soon as the sun rises, I write at night. But my new routine as per Monday might change that!
Hullo, this is Gnillii.
I’ve been asked by my brothers to write this one because it is morning, and they are…well, they aren’t morning types, if you know what I mean. Basil’s home-brew can be a bit strong at times.
Outside of those reasons though, we Leprechaun’s in general prefer the dark of night work in what due to the cursed “wishes-granting” thing we are bound to if discovered. So working in daylight can be risky for us as to losing our gold.
We of course, being Alaskan Leprechauns and very modern in our financial planning and retirement outlooks, don’t actually have real gold, it is all in stocks and various international investment portfolioses. Boffin for instance recently purchased a large amount of shares of a company that makes anti-flatulation underpants we read about in the news paper. A definite money maker that.
Having said as much though, not having the gold on hand can be dangerous to our health when giant half-drunk gorrilla-men stop to relieve themselves at the tree in Basil’s yard and discover us out in the daylight. They, being unable to understand the intricacies of the stock market and the long-term wisdom of various investment strategies, tend to violently insist on the bloody pot of gold rather than shares and stock options. Usually we can convince them they’re seeing things and best not to mention their mental instabilities to their friends lest they end up in hospital.
To satisfy the most adamant of them, we do keep a large bucket of highly polished Chuck-e-Cheese tokens in the garage just in case reason fails to suffice.
(although there was the one time when a rather belligerent inebriated wannabe hip-hop star insisted on real gold then ‘riffed’ into a rap lyric that kept repeating “Found a Mo***r-F**king Leprechaun, Gonna turn me into a Mo***r-F**king Pot-o-Gold, Come on Leprechaun man, little man, magic man, turn me into a Mo***r-F**king Pot-o-Gold, turn me into a Mo***r-F**king Pot-o-Gold, turn me into a Mo***r-F**king Pot-o-Gold.”
So we did. But we kept that for Basil to pay him back for the room and board, and keep him supplied with homebrew ingredients.
And that is why Basil writes at night.
G’day.
That explains a lot, Gnillii! 😉
If you check the time my blog posts typically upload, it would seem I’m either a severe lark or die-hard night owl. The truth is, I’m a hopeless procrastinator who sets the alarm to get up early, only because I keep putting things off!
Oh gah! I am not a morning person at all. I did some lunchtime writing today, but it is usually at night. I find being tired breaks down some of the barriers in my head. It feels like goop when I am so spaced out, but reviewing it the next day, it’s not so bad.
You do your lunchtime writing at night…goodness, when do you eat supper then? The next morning?
You say that like it’s a bad thing . . .
Kathryn– It would be interesting–well, mildly interesting–to know whether there’s an age factor involved in your question for others besides myself. I used to work best after lunch and dinner. Now that I’m a geezer, I’m most productive in the morning. After lunch, it’s a sort of continental drift sort of thing.
I was a lark in adolescence, Barry–I set my alarm for 4:30 a.m., because it was the only time it was quiet enough to think! I’ve drifted later as I’ve grown older. I suspect it varies according to the individual. 🙂
Morning, afternoon, and night–whenever I can fit it in.
Same here 🙂
When I’m writing, I am a lark…but, I bring my computer back to bed with me and write perched against my pillows. It is the only place in the house where I can be guaranteed a few quiet hours.
Usually in the afternoon, mainly because my life gets in the way… and my procrastination does too. >>
I’m more inclined to Owl-habits, although when I have checked all my emails, done the accounts – daily reconciliation – checked all the fascinating blogs… and eaten, I might start writing mid-afternoon. Suppose the inspiration to scribble can hit me any time.
I get up, get my wife and son off to school, come home and get to work. I’ve got the house to myself and can work without distractions. Some mornings my “day job” intervenes, I work for an online news organization, but the rest of the time is mine and I have no one to blame but myself if I don’t use it productively.
Although I’m not a morning person. Really kind of hate mornings. I’m never asleep before midnight, and if I didn’t HAVE to get up in the morning, I’d probably be up all night. But that’s the way the world is built. The world is run by those annoying morning people who schedule stuff just because the sun is up. Haven’t they ever heard of electric lights?
No doubt I’m at my best in the morning. So, Tues, Wed and Thurs I’m writing at 6:30 am, before work. Fri, Sat and Mon, more like 10:30 (dog duty, house chores, etc.). But rarely do I write anything after supper. Barely able to talk.
Morning. If I am occupied with other business in the morning, I struggle to clear my mind to write in the afternoon.
It will be interesting to see if there is any correlation between the time readers post answers to this question and the answers they give.
Don’t forget time differences, Steve. My post says 11:53 am, but it’s really 7:53am here in Fairbanks.
Lark. Absolutely.
At night I don’t give a hoot.
Owl take your word for it, Joe! 😉
Morning. I used to sleep in, then we had kids. I learned to be a morning person and now I like it. I like to get my writing in before the rest of the day intervenes. I also feel like my mind and creativity are at their best in the morning.
If I didn’t have kids I think I’d be a lark but now that they are up as soon as the sun rises, I write at night. But my new routine as per Monday might change that!
Hullo, this is Gnillii.
I’ve been asked by my brothers to write this one because it is morning, and they are…well, they aren’t morning types, if you know what I mean. Basil’s home-brew can be a bit strong at times.
Outside of those reasons though, we Leprechaun’s in general prefer the dark of night work in what due to the cursed “wishes-granting” thing we are bound to if discovered. So working in daylight can be risky for us as to losing our gold.
We of course, being Alaskan Leprechauns and very modern in our financial planning and retirement outlooks, don’t actually have real gold, it is all in stocks and various international investment portfolioses. Boffin for instance recently purchased a large amount of shares of a company that makes anti-flatulation underpants we read about in the news paper. A definite money maker that.
Having said as much though, not having the gold on hand can be dangerous to our health when giant half-drunk gorrilla-men stop to relieve themselves at the tree in Basil’s yard and discover us out in the daylight. They, being unable to understand the intricacies of the stock market and the long-term wisdom of various investment strategies, tend to violently insist on the bloody pot of gold rather than shares and stock options. Usually we can convince them they’re seeing things and best not to mention their mental instabilities to their friends lest they end up in hospital.
To satisfy the most adamant of them, we do keep a large bucket of highly polished Chuck-e-Cheese tokens in the garage just in case reason fails to suffice.
(although there was the one time when a rather belligerent inebriated wannabe hip-hop star insisted on real gold then ‘riffed’ into a rap lyric that kept repeating “Found a Mo***r-F**king Leprechaun, Gonna turn me into a Mo***r-F**king Pot-o-Gold, Come on Leprechaun man, little man, magic man, turn me into a Mo***r-F**king Pot-o-Gold, turn me into a Mo***r-F**king Pot-o-Gold, turn me into a Mo***r-F**king Pot-o-Gold.”
So we did. But we kept that for Basil to pay him back for the room and board, and keep him supplied with homebrew ingredients.
And that is why Basil writes at night.
G’day.
That explains a lot, Gnillii! 😉
If you check the time my blog posts typically upload, it would seem I’m either a severe lark or die-hard night owl. The truth is, I’m a hopeless procrastinator who sets the alarm to get up early, only because I keep putting things off!
Oh gah! I am not a morning person at all. I did some lunchtime writing today, but it is usually at night. I find being tired breaks down some of the barriers in my head. It feels like goop when I am so spaced out, but reviewing it the next day, it’s not so bad.
Terri
Devil’s Deal is live!
You do your lunchtime writing at night…goodness, when do you eat supper then? The next morning?
You say that like it’s a bad thing . . .
Kathryn–
It would be interesting–well, mildly interesting–to know whether there’s an age factor involved in your question for others besides myself. I used to work best after lunch and dinner. Now that I’m a geezer, I’m most productive in the morning. After lunch, it’s a sort of continental drift sort of thing.
I was a lark in adolescence, Barry–I set my alarm for 4:30 a.m., because it was the only time it was quiet enough to think! I’ve drifted later as I’ve grown older. I suspect it varies according to the individual. 🙂
Morning, afternoon, and night–whenever I can fit it in.
Same here 🙂
When I’m writing, I am a lark…but, I bring my computer back to bed with me and write perched against my pillows. It is the only place in the house where I can be guaranteed a few quiet hours.
Usually in the afternoon, mainly because my life gets in the way… and my procrastination does too. >>
I’m more inclined to Owl-habits, although when I have checked all my emails, done the accounts – daily reconciliation – checked all the fascinating blogs… and eaten, I might start writing mid-afternoon. Suppose the inspiration to scribble can hit me any time.
All of the above.