Ich singe bis der Tag erwacht
Aliens are coming! Or, possibly, the streetlights are on. I didn't have the three seconds to check which. I'm a busy man.
I have no idea why, but I’m more productive when it’s dark out, and I sleep better during the daytime. I haven’t checked tonight’s word count yet, but last night’s was just north of 7,200. Now, that’s a misleading count — a lot of that will go away in the first edit of the project I was cooking on last night — but it’s still not bad for a single night’s work. And as I’ve said before, grinding away at something is a big part of the writing battle. Just getting something down on paper (or, in my case, keyboarded into Notepad [because I’m hardcore, yo]) is the first step to actually getting a novel or screenplay or whatever written.
The main thing I have to do is not start thinking too much in these situations. I mean, I’m working on the third 47 Echo book right now, and that’s one of the writing gigs that kind of pays… but when I’m working on other stuff, I have to not think too much about the end result. About what I’m going to do with it when it’s done. I don’t really even submit much stuff — I just write it and let it sit, or put it out on the Internet. I can’t think much past the ends of my fingers when I’m writing, or I get distracted.
And, for some reason, late at night when no one is awake is the best time for me not to think. The best time for me to just grind, to put myself into the world I’m working in and ignore the world I’m living in.
Now, if I can just teach myself to do the same thing while the sun is up… and teach myself to work on paying projects… I’ll be golden.
So, I’m writing this at the tail end of a night of writing. My work day is winding down while most folks are just starting theirs. And it’s the way I prefer it.
What about you, folks? If you could work any job, and at any schedule, what would you do with yourself?
I definitely work better in the dark hours. I’ve been known to rise at 1:00 a.m and work for five or six hours straight. I need the quiet and the solitude. I suppose I could do it in daylight if I could get the Q and S.
I think that’s a big part of it — the quiet and the solitude. Being alone, with nothing else to do but produce.