
What Is the Morning Writing Effect? (2011) - luu
https://www.gwern.net/Morning-writing
======
kieckerjan
In my experience writing (at least writing fiction) consists of two different
activities: the writing proper, in which you produce text, and the editing, in
which you mostly get rid of text. Think of the editing phase as liberating the
statue from the marble, and the writing phase as producing the marble.

These activities, since they are so different in nature, are best separated in
time and space and tooling.

I produce in the early morning, sitting at my dining table in the living room,
using a pen and paper. In the early morning your dreams still linger and your
critical faculties are not yet fully awake. This makes it an ideal time for
just producing stuff. I take this seriously in that I do not even allow myself
to cross out words. Just keep on writing, and sort it out later. Later on the
day I edit, sitting in my study and using a text processor.

As a side note, I would not recommend this practice for writing code.

~~~
dreamer7
I'm curious to know why this process wouldn't work well for code?

Some of the best code I've written has also been in an exhausted/ not-fully-
awake state

~~~
kieckerjan
Because to me designing a piece of software is the analytical work: making
estimates, picking candidates for data structures and algorithms, doing back-
of-the-envelope calculations, considering trade-offs, maybe making a little
prototype in a toy language.

The coding proper can be done in a less vigilant state: it is like laying
bricks or folding napkins. The hands know what they are doing. (Exaggerating
here, but not too much. God knows I have coded tired or drunk or stoned, and
not even my worst work.)

~~~
enobrev
I generally agree that coding can take a lot more planning than writing and
the more experienced I get, the more I plan. I also like to occasionally run
with the "write one to throw away" method, which is very much like splitting
between writing and editing. It's just that the second version is less editing
of the original text and more editing the original approach / methodology /
process.

I so wish I could code stoned. I've never been able to in any meaningful way.
I don't code inebriated anymore, but in my twenties it was preferred. These
days I think my brain basically responds to inebriation of any sort as "why
are you still working while I'm trying to enjoy myself?".

~~~
Aeolos
One of the most complex pieces of code I have ever written, I wrote while
traveling home intoxicated on the midnight train.

It was something I had been considering, analyzing, debating and discarding as
impossible for several weeks prior to that. Then when it came down to it, not
only was I able to implement it, but it worked perfectly for more than 6 years
before anyone was able to improve on that design.

I attribute the success to two things: (a) the fact that I had done a lot of
analytical work beforehand; (b) the inhibition-lessening effect of alcohol
that allowed me to enter the zone and implement the solution without worrying
about complexity or other external factors.

Once the core idea worked - and worked it did! - all that was left was to
revisit it the next day, sober this time, and fix the remaining issues,
documentation and tests.

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MaximumYComb
This rings true with my experience. I typically wake up at 3.30-4am to get
stuff done before the day starts. When I went back to university I was finding
two major issues with doing work at night. 1, I was tired at night from a days
work. 2, Intense mental activity at night kept me awake longer than I'd like.

After discussions with a friend I figured out I could just relax after work
(which reduces stress) and wake up early to get my work done. It was the
single best discovery I made in regards to improving my overall productivity.

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d3ckard
This rings very true. I'm a night owl and in the beginning of my career I
worked in mostly 13-21 bracket, with strong preference for hours after 17 when
office got quiet. It was great, but at some point it started to impact my life
very negatively(days just pass and you do not do much beside work). Early
mornings are the next best thing. You get quiet, you can easily focus, you're
rested and when the day really starts you have something done already, which
significantly reduces stress for me. Definitely recommend to everybody.

~~~
JacobAldridge
I’m a night owl, struggling with the adjustment to fatherhood and expectations
to be present at home right at the time my motor normally fires up.

I’ve always felt 3-5am was the most beautiful time of the day; though I’m used
to seeing it on my way to bed, and pushing myself to wake up early enough to
make it worthwhile hasn’t paid dividends yet.

Thanks for sharing your experience - it gives me confidence I can switch.

~~~
matthewaveryusa
Ah yes, fatherhood will change a night owl. I've made the adjustment for the
same reasons, went from sleeping 4am-10am to 930pm-4am (extra half hour
sleep!) and while the first two weeks are rough, it's been smooth sailing
since. You can do it. The 4am-6am is just as magical as the 2am-4am was for
me. I'll skip breakfast until after 6am so I can jump right in it.

That being said, I still plan on going back to being a night owl when the kids
are grown.

~~~
gmtx725
Jeez I wish I could survive on 6 hours sleep. I need at least 8 to feel fully
refreshed. I can survive on 7 for a day or two but after that it catches up
with me in a bad way. Any less than 7 and I feel like absolute death.

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rrreese
I'm left astonished at the amount of work that went into this article! Not
simply its length (which is padded with large amounts of quotes) but the
number of sections. I had assumed there would be an enormous comments section
at the end, instead section after section after section. Oh look a randomized
study he ran. Oh an enormous table of anecdotes.

Incredible.

~~~
mckirk
That's gwern for you... it's unbelievable how much effort he puts into the
things he's researching. Check out his 'nootropics' article for example.

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telesilla
Absolutely! In summer I get up as early as I can handle, usually 5am in the
height of it. The gentleness of the morning always holds such great
expectations - no one is waiting for a response to emails or calls. Traffic is
quiet, or birds or neighbours.. And you have the promise of the entire day to
get something done, so something usually does..

As for the article, it does try its best to uncover reasons, which ultimately
seems to conclude 'because'. Maybe it's just because it's very taxing, to
write or be creative, and the body is best suited in short bursts earlier in
the day. Skip to _Additional anecdotes of writers’ preferred time_ if you want
the good stuff.

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xwdv
I find this is also true for writing code. Sometimes I wake up at 4 AM and
will easily code until 8 AM, and that will be 80% of my code for the day.

I also found that this is the time when I write my least cynical comments,
that pull in the most upvotes.

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groby_b
I am missing a rather likely cause in the article: The idea that writers lie
about their morning writing because it makes them sound virtuous. (Which also
explains why fiction writers prefer morning writing ;)

Given that a large part of this article rests on self-reported data from
interviews (which are specifically vehicles of self-promotion), and that the
more anonymous data seems to contradict the interview data, I'd consider this
as a more likely explanation than most.

~~~
stallmanite
You may be onto something there. I wonder, has anyone done any real digging on
why the heck so many people think being a morning person is morally good? It
makes no sense to me.

~~~
groby_b
I suspect it's a combination of facts

1) For most of history, we could only do work during daylight. 2) Agricultural
work specifically wants early light - there's a lot of things you can't do in
bright sunlight because it stresses plants.

It's definitely around for a while - the whole "the early bird" thing dates
back to at least the 1600's. Aristotle was mumbling about getting up early as
well. ("Rising before daylight is also to be commended; it is a healthy habit,
and gives more time for the management of the household as well as for liberal
studies."[1])

Personally, I'm more a fan of Diogenes ;)

So, likely it's considered good because it maximizes "productive" time.

[1] Economics, Book1, section 1345a:
[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg...](http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0086,029:1:1345a)

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ajb
Under the heading of "inspiration", the author A E van Vogt had a method
involving waking himself up several times a night. His Wikipedia entry[1]
describes it as "he arranged to be awakened every 90 minutes during his sleep
period so he could write down his dreams", which sounds like an output
process, but in an interview [2] it sounds like an input process: "When I was
working on a story, I would waken myself every hour and a half, through the
night--force myself to wake up, think of the story, try to solve it, and even
as I was thinking about it I would fall back asleep. And in the morning, there
would be a solution, for that particular story problem."

However his output was notably different from other writers (by reports[1]) so
it may not generalise.

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._van_Vogt#Method_and_them...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._van_Vogt#Method_and_themes)
[2]
[http://www.icshi.net/worlds/Plattprofile.htm](http://www.icshi.net/worlds/Plattprofile.htm)

------
lorthemar
Interesting paper, it's really weird that even night owls are writing in the
morning. I write try to write fiction and the best time to do is after an
afternoon nap. You get the sleep-creativity juice going. I'm normally a night-
owl, I finish my other writing and works at night but when I write for myself
it's in the late afternoon.

~~~
jasonv
I'm definitely a "do something early in the morning" type -- whether it's
working out or writing. I'd rather wake up early, do some writing, and then go
for a workout afterwards.

And to your point -- I'm one of those people who can't nap. Napping messes me
up. I can _feel_ my hormones sloshing and bending me around.

To each their own, of course.

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em-bee
i am going through this right now. what i find so far is, that for the actual
productivity, the time of day doesn't matter, but if i set myself a goal of
achieving a certain amount of progress in my writing, then the later the day
gets, the less likely i am to get it all done. so i want to start early simply
so that i can relax later, or use any additional time available to write more.

------
a_zaydak
I have to write a lot of technical reports and I really dislike writing.
Writing first thing in the morning is the only way I can be productive with
it.

------
occamschainsaw
I just had this light bulb moment about separating the writing and editing
processes a few weeks ago. I am grad student and writing is an essential part
of my job. I am not as good as I would like to be, but writing first and
editing later removed a lot of mental load for me. I experimented with a
couple of systems in the past, but always got paralyzed by my inner critic
commenting on every sentence. It was exhausting to even produce "one page
worth" of writing a day. I thought that as I was editing while writing, it
would be of great quality, but it was usually of pretty bad quality. Last week
I just connected a bluetooth keyboard to my phone, opened up my favorite
writing app[1], and started typing while staring out of a window. I was
dishing out page after page of moderate quality writing. I would then wait a
day or two and edit it. It was far easier to convert the moderate quality
stuff by removing the fluff than to try producing great quality writing
directly as I did before.

Appendix: Previous systems

1) Try writing perfect prose on the first try: This is paralyzing. I would
just sit staring at my computer screen for hours, thinking of the perfect
introduction and perfect sentences. I have since realized that this is bad for
my mental health and productivity.

2) Write on paper: I then tried writing on paper. Got more done than just
staring at the screen. It is difficult for me to write for extended periods of
time like this. My hands start aching, and my handwriting goes from bad to
illegible. Typing everything out also adds unnecessary friction.

3) Hemingway mode: I was looking at markdown editors for Pop OS when I
stumbled upon "Hemingway mode" on GhostWriter[2]. This disables your backspace
key. Not being able to edit was frustrating for me at first, but I got used to
this. I also implemented this on my MacBook by using BetterTouchTool to
disable backspace in iA writer. The typewriter and focus modes on iA writer
are helpful for a smoother writing experience. I wrote more using this system,
but still spent a lot of time looking at the sentence I was writing and trying
to make it better in my mind before I typed.

4) Typing blind, or "type the first draft without looking at it": I was trying
to find a hardware solution to this problem. I almost convinced myself to buy
a $500 typing machine with an eink display. That is overkill for me. I figured
I could make my own by somehow displaying the text I was typing on a kindle. I
found out about the kindleberry Pi[3] but that had too many moving parts. I
tried using seashells[4] to output my terminal display from the mac on a
website in kindle browser. That failed. While testing that, I realized I typed
fine enough without looking at the screen! Spent that day experimenting with
some keyboards and apps. I now use a small cheap bluetooth keyboard connected
to my phone, or a nice mechanical keyboard connected to my iPad. I set up a
GitHub repo for my markdown notes, syncing with my iCloud Drive iA writer
folder through Working Copy. The repo is for redundant backup and to access
the notes on my Pop OS desktop. I mostly write on my phone or iPad now, use my
laptop to edit it later. I wake up, meditate and start typing while staring
out of the window. I get about 1000 or so words out in about 30 minutes. This
is better for ideation and stream of consciousness writing. For more technical
stuff, I type blind to get ideas and general framework in place, and use
Hemingway mode to type out the rest. Been very happy with this system so far.
Writing is a joy again!

[1] [https://ia.net/writer](https://ia.net/writer)

[2]
[https://wereturtle.github.io/ghostwriter/](https://wereturtle.github.io/ghostwriter/)

[3] [http://maxogden.com/kindleberry-
wireless.html](http://maxogden.com/kindleberry-wireless.html)

[4] [https://seashells.io](https://seashells.io), it seems down right now.
Some info here
[https://github.com/anishathalye/seashells](https://github.com/anishathalye/seashells)

------
ricksunny
Everyone has their own circadian rhythm. I'm an owl and my writing flows most
easily late at night.

