Creative Peak

People often ask me when I write in a day. I typically write in the evenings on weekdays and in the mornings on weekends. The mornings are my creative peak and I’ll spend those hours on my job during the work day.

Given complete time freedom, I would dedicate my mornings to writing when my creative energy and idea flow are at their peak. I find that I write much faster and more effortlessly during this time. In contrast, writing takes me significantly longer in the evenings. While the actual act of writing is not difficult, the challenge lies in generating ideas, which come more readily to me in the mornings.

I find that many people wait to write in perfect conditions: when they are in the right state of mind, when they have the time, when they are inspired. But perfect conditions rarely occur. Part of the discipline of daily writing is the practice of writing in suboptimal conditions. For example, right now, it’s 1:18am (my personal rule is I have to publish before I sleep), I’m very tired, I struggled to come up with an idea for the past 2h, and I can’t sleep until I publish. Like a boxer fighting in the championship rounds in a bout, albeit with much less stakes, I have to push past the fatigue and dig deep to find something to write about.