On average, it's best to write in the mornings for the following reasons: You have the highest levels of willpower earlier in the day and are less likely to get distracted.
Together, these insights into willpower and creativity hint that mornings may be the best time of day to write—any time from as soon as you wake until the daily tasks of your workday begin.
Good writers write at night, because it's devoid of distraction, there's nothing else left to do in the day, there's no one else to hurry to.
Night writing is great because a lot of the time, you can spit out words far easier than you do in the morning. They just fall out of you, and while many of them might not be poetry, getting words down on the page is half the battle. That's what editing is for, after all.
Writing first thing in the morning ensures you actually get it done. It helps build the writing “habit.” Just as it's smarter to exercise in the morning, so, too, it's smarter to write then.
Know the audience. It's crucial to know the makeup of the audience the writing will reach. Knowing the audience helps make decisions about what information to share, which details to include, and the tone you use.
You can be extraordinarily productive by writing two hours a day, five days a week. I know because I practice daily writing and it works. Many writers find the suggestion to write for two hours every day ludicrous and instead aim to write eight hours a day.
Start small: Instead of a large goal like 1000 words per day, try 50 words per day. Try writing when you're tired: As your inhibitions are lower, you become more creative, like writing after having a beer. Read something inspiring: Ten minutes before you write, read something motivational.
Let's do some simple math. A good goal for many professional writers is to turn out five to ten pages a day during a four or five day work week. On average, a page equals 250 words set in 12 point Times New Roman.
If you're part of that subset, don't even think about getting up 15 minutes earlier to write. Most adults — including writers — need 7 to 9 hours per night. Getting more sleep may be the best favour you can do for your writing.
At night, several changes in our psychology can cause creative influxes. Some writers like Stephanie Meyer have said the main reason they write at night is due to the lack of distractions: with the kids put to bed and the world outside quiet, there's very little that can pull them away from their writing.
Habit is the precursor to becoming a master of your craft. If you're willing to give something one hour a day, you might end up doing the greatest work of your life. If you write for an hour a day, you'll have a reason to get up in the morning and have something to look forward to.
Many of our favorite and most well-known authors like to write at night. After all, night is the time when most people are winding down, going home. or going to bed. Finally, writers get what they so often need: peace and quiet.
The good news is it's easier to make time for writing at the start of the day as you're less likely to become distracted by email, social media, the news, work and other distractions. If you need help, consider free writing about your early morning routine.
Taking advantage of morning energy
Early risers tend to be at their most energetic first thing in the morning, so it makes sense that they would capitalise on this energy to make the most of their writing time. After waking up, the first thing Salman Rushdie does is go into his office, often still in his pyjamas.
He still writes every day, even on the weekends, but as he says, “I used to write more and I used to write faster – it's just aging. It slows you down a little bit.” Earlier on, he used to pump out 2,000 words a day, but these days, he aims to write for about four hours each day and gets down about 1,000 words.
Stephen King writes 6 pages and over 1000 words a day. By being consistent every day or at least every other day, the pressure to create perfect work will be alleviated because you know it's just another day's work.
Following this logic, it should take 25 minutes for the average person to type out 1000 words. And 50 minutes if writing by hand. This is certainly a stretch but helps illustrate how writing 1000 words in a day is not only possible, it's easier than you might think.
Writing is mentally exhausting, and if you work for long stretches of time, it can be physically exhausting too. This is where writer burnout comes into play.
I know the brain is an organ, not a muscle, but the point still holds. So, the next time you spend a day doing significant writing, don't be surprised when you feel exhausted. You've earned that exhaustion legitimately with the stress you've faced and the oxygen your brain has demanded.
Know how many breaks you are allowed to take. This is going to give you a structure to your day. No one should be writing for hours on end without stopping for a break. If you want to avoid becoming tired, you need to have a clear indication of when it is time to work and when it is time to recuperate.
Writing 700 words will take about 17.5 minutes for the average writer typing on a keyboard and 35 minutes for handwriting. However, if the content needs to include in-depth research, links, citations, or graphics such as for a blog article or high school essay, the length can grow to 2.3 hours.
(This doesn't mean you'll write two fully-fledged novels in a year, considering drafts and rewriting, but this is a good way to visualize it.) However, 500 words is still a fairly modest number. A lot easier than NaNoWriMo's 1,667 and half as easy as 1,000 words a day, which has its proponents.
500 words a day may or may not be the right number for you. But if you want to be a writer, it's important to realize that a consistent daily output in the low hundreds can get you a book in under a year. If you're an article writer, 500 a day can get you a couple great blog posts each week.