Today with the time change, I begin (again) a morning writing ritual. Since like most of us, I have a demanding job that consumes me the moment I hit the door and sometimes afterward, I learned a few years ago that I am most prolific in the mornings before the jaws of J-O-B open. Problem is, I am NOT a morning person. But when I embraced the advice of Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way (a fab book for any creative type) to start simply with ‘morning pages’, I found that I quickly transitioned to very productive work on my novel. So I will maintain the routine my body became accustomed to during Daylight Savings Time and continue rising at the same hour to provide the extra time for writing. I will fulfill my obligation to my characters in Dancing at The Orange Peel before the grind of work-a-day life consumes me and I must fulfill my obligations to the rest of the world.
Begin Anew
November 8, 2010
Nov 08, 2010 @ 12:51:11
This is exactly how I made the transition to a job as a full-time writer (it only took about 15 years of getting up at 4:30 to accomplish this). That sounds disheartening, but writing fresh out of sleep is exhilarating and so it is worth the lost sleep no matter where it takes you.
Another thing in favor of writing early is the fact that the internal critic sleeps late, so early morning writing happens without that negative filter. I also always felt, having accomplished an hour and a half or two of writing that, no matter what happened during the day, I had banked that time, those words, and nothing could erase it.
Writing while working is like setting out to build a mountain one grain of sand at a time. The good news is, it works!
Nov 08, 2010 @ 17:35:46
Terrific idea, Gina! Can’t wait to see the results of your daylight savings routine.
Nov 16, 2010 @ 02:12:10