Old Habits Die Hard

Last year, I babbled a bit in this space about the challenges of finding the time to write while balancing life, family, a regular job, and various other demands on the precious few hours to be found in any given day. Over the course of several years and fueled more than anything else by necessity, I found that I was at my most productive and creative late in the day, after everyone else had gone to bed and it’s just me and one or both family pets hanging out in my home office. 11pm to 1 or 2am was my prime word-pushing time, by golly.

Since writing that article, my personal circumstances have changed. For those of you joining our programming already in progress, I made the leap last summer to writing full time. Now, instead of having to scrounge for a few hours after a long day of work, shuttling kids to and from school or after-school activities, yard work, and so on, writing now has the opportunity to occupy my prime working time.

My current weekday schedule typically is bracketed by my kids’ bus times to and from school. I normally have a plan of what I want to accomplish, which usually consists of a daily word count for one or two writing projects, any blogging I want to do, and various “administrative tasks” such as reviewing contracts or manuscripts or editor’s notes. My goal is to finish my daily “Writing To Do List” before my kids get home from school. I still might work on something after dinner, depending on the evening’s schedule, the proximity of a looming deadline, or if I just feel like “tinkering.”

Yet, more often than not, I’m still working that 11pm-2am shift. You’d think I’d be diving head first into my bed to enjoy some of that...what do they call it?

Oh, yeah: SLEEP.

Nope, not me. That'd make too much sense.

Heck, I wrote this blog post right smack in the middle of that window. Why? Because that’s when the mood struck to write the thing.

I’m still getting that burst of energy after everyone else has gone to bed, and I end up just riding the wave for as far as it will take me. The key difference these days is that it usually ends up being “bonus” writing time, rather than my only or primary opportunity to make my day’s writing goals. Even though I’m still hit by the need to be “productive” during this time, I’m not feeling stressed about it. I’m therefore having more fun with the entire process, rather than having to treat it as the work it was required to be at this point last year.

So, as I said with the title: “Old habits die hard.”

How about you? Have you had a reason to try shifting the time you do the bulk of your writing? How’s that working for you? Have you embraced the new paradigm, or do you find yourself falling back into old routines?