Just now on Facebook, I saw a quote from Leo Tolstoy that was something along the lines of 'writers should write first thing in the morning because that's when they're most creative'. Or that's when their minds are most receptive to creativity. Or something. I didn't copy the quote and I'm not looking it up.
Umm... No. Maybe Leo was his most creative first thing in the morning, but that might not necessarily hold true for other writers. It sure as hell doesn't hold true for me.
I love how people make blanket statements like that, never thinking that a new writer might actually take them seriously and then assume there's something wrong with them because they can't do what some famous author said they had to do.
Bleh.
Good thing I never saw that quote when I was new. I couldn't write in the morning. When I first started writing, I had a full time job and a kid. Mornings were for getting ready for work and getting her ready for school. Then, after eight hours of work, getting dinner on the table, and putting her to bed, I could write. Not long after I started writing, I got married, and I was a stay at home mom. I wrote a bit in the mornings then. It lasted about 9 months, which was when we pulled the Kid out of public school and I started homeschooling. Once I started that, there was no writing during the day. At all. We'd get done with school, Hubs would come home from work, there'd be dinner to do, and THEN I could sit down to write.
Now, when the Kid's an adult and the Hubs is retired and I can write whenever, my brain is still trained to write new words at night. I can write other times, if I have to. I guess. But I don't like it. And the words always need more editing afterward. Nighttime is the best time - FOR ME.
My point? Write when you can. Don't worry about someone else's schedule or their idea of what's the proper time for writing. Go ahead and write in the morning, if that's what works for you. Write during the day. Write on your lunch break. Write at midnight. Do what works for you.
Getting the words on the page is what's important not when you put them there.
Preach it, sistah! There is only one "writing absolute" that I embrace whole-heartedly. I believe it was Nora Roberts/JD Robb who was first associated with this "rule," but whoever it was was right: You can't fix a blank page.
ReplyDeleteThat's it. That sums up writing in six words. However you get those words on the page is up to you. :)
Bingo! Can't fix what ain't there.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of fixing, I really need to get off my dead butt and work today.