The best hours of your day

On "finding" time to write, being kind to yourself, and getting unstuck

It’s 7:23 a.m., and I’ve been up for more than two hours. My second cup of coffee steams sweetly on my desk. I met friends for a run at 6; now I’m home and writing. Don’t hate me because I’m a morning person.

What are the most productive hours of your day? When do you feel strongest, sharpest? When do the gears align and you hit your stride?

For me, obvs, it’s early morning. For my husband (he’s still sleeping) it’s late at night. One is not better. But knowing when you’re at your best can boost your writing—or any other goal you might have.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/

If you’re feeling stuck as a writer, or struggling to find the time to write, today’s newsletter is for you. I want to encourage you: you can do this. But you won’t accidentally drift into it.

Being a writer requires intention. It invites you to live deliberately. To manage your time, but more importantly, to manage your energy. That means taking some time to figure out—when is your energy highest? When are your most productive hours?

In Carolyn See’s very helpful book, Making a Literary Life, she recommends writing 1000 words per day. A lot of days, I meet that goal—because my job is to write (and promote, and edit, and manage, and so on). But I’m more likely to write a thousand words if I do it before lunch. How long is 1000 words? About as long as this newsletter.

Those 1000 words don’t have to be perfect. The first step toward accomplishing your writing goals is to sit down and actually just get words on a page—even if it’s a very rough draft, even if you doubt yourself. Write your way through your doubts. But this will be easier if you don’t give your writing your leftover hours.

If you feel stuck as a writer, or blocked, perhaps it’s time to take a step back and look at your schedule. Draw a line across a piece of paper. This represents your day. Write the numbers 5, 9, 12, 5, 9, 12 across the line, about evenly space apart.

5          9          12        5          9          12

The numbers are times of day: 5 a.m, 9 a.m., noon, 5 p.m., 9 p.m., midnight. Essentially, you’re charting out early morning, midmorning, midday, early evening, and late evening in between the numbers. Because we often break our day into chunks.

Look honestly at this timeline. Put an x where you typically wake up, and another where you typically go to sleep (not when you lie in bed scrolling or watching TV).

Then put a star over the hour or hours when you feel most energetic and productive. You may have to just spend a couple days paying attention to yourself and your own energy. Keep track of how you’re feeling at various times during the day. Building this self-awareness will only help you become a better writer.

If I told you that you had to write for an hour, but you could pick the hour, when would you write?

Could you write in the evening instead of binge-watching Netflix or doom scrolling on your phone? Could you get up an hour earlier than usual to write before you head off to your day job, or log in to your first Zoom meeting of the day?

Could you set a timer for 30 minutes on your lunch break and just write without self-editing, pounding out a rough draft of a chapter or an essay?

What would happen if you put that hour or two on your calendar and protected it as if it were an important appointment? How much closer would you get to your writing goals if you did that five days a week?

If you’ve never tried getting to bed a little earlier, in order to get up early the next day, you might want to experiment with that. Early morning hours are quiet, with fewer interruptions than the middle of the day.

If your day job is too demanding to make time to write each day, you may want to set aside one day per week to write—maybe Saturday morning, maybe Sunday afternoon. See it as your side hustle. Make yourself write for 50 minutes, then take a ten-minute break. Then get back to it. Rinse and repeat. You’ll be surprised how much you can get done if you simply dedicate several hours to making time to write.

Because I’m self-employed, I could procrastinate and write any time of day. And also because I’m self-employed, I get to give my best hours to my writing, rather than an employer. And also because I’m self-employed, I get to pay exorbitant rates for health insurance, and don’t collect a regular salary. In case you’re jealous of my “freedom.”

Many people tell me they couldn’t have the self-discipline to be at their desk writing first thing every morning. I know after years of doing this that I get more done in one hour in the morning than three hours in the late afternoon. I also go to bed around 9 p.m. so that I get to access those early morning hours.

People ask, “how do you find time to write?” and I tell them, you don’t find time. You make it.

Now, most writers have a day job. (Mine happens to be editing, teaching writing, helping people self-publish, and so on. But my job is also writing.)

But if you’re an accountant or an administrator or an attorney, you may wonder how you can fit your writing aspirations into that already full life. But you know how to “make time” for your job. The question becomes, how do you make time for your literary aspirations in the midst of a busy life?

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/

Writing doesn’t just happen. It requires intention. It invites you to pay attention to yourself, your energy, your time, and to be kind enough to yourself to give the best hours of your day (or week) to achieving your dreams.