{"id":319,"date":"2025-04-08T16:28:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T16:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/?p=319"},"modified":"2025-04-08T16:28:58","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T16:28:58","slug":"the-early-writer-gets-the-worm-waking-up-early-to-write","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/2025\/04\/08\/the-early-writer-gets-the-worm-waking-up-early-to-write\/","title":{"rendered":"The Early Writer Gets the Worm: Waking up Early to Write"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tirza Bustrum<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Big Idea<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many professionals in the field of writing have sworn that waking up just an hour before your usual start of the day to write will inspire you in unimaginable ways. As a writer who often suffers from writer\u2019s block under the pressure of being creative under time constraints, I was desperate for any method that would help me come up with an idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n
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If you are unfamiliar with the concept, Janet Burroway describes this exercise in Writing Fiction <\/em>as the following: \u201cBegin writing before you are quite awake, before you have read or talked to anyone, before reason has begun to take over from the dream-functioning of your brain.\u201d  The basic idea is that the early writer gets the best ideas. This method encourages writers to wake up an hour or so earlier than usual (ex: If you wake up at 8 AM, set your alarm for 7 AM) and use the gained hour to write. It is recommended that the writer refrain from eating, drinking, or doing any of their daily routines before opening up the computer or picking up a pen and paper. To ensure that the writing is the most raw it can be, untainted by the stresses of life, the writer should write first thing in the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essentially, it\u2019s a form of daylight savings for creatives. The groggy hour is supposed to be the clearest your mind will be throughout the entire day\u2014 and what will come out will either be gibberish or genius. Some are willing to gamble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Experience<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I began this experiment anticipating a big project, a fiction piece that I had no ideas for. I went to bed with an alarm set for 6:30 AM. For a night owl, such as myself, this is a difficult task. I would not wake up early for anything\u2014other than writing, apparently. I woke up, eyes glued together and stumbled to the table where I had set up my computer and notes the night before. The hour flew by, and by the time my usual alarm rang, I had gotten an idea and five pages of mediocre writing. It was a start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After five days of this same routine, I had ten more pages written and the afternoons free to do other homework. Most of the time, I tend to want to focus the most on my big writing projects and forget all about all my other homework\u2014so the extra time was much needed. I did most of my editing late at night and realized the draft I had written was not half bad. Even though there were run-on sentences and \u201cpeople\u201d was spelled \u201cpeple,\u201d the outline of my story was present and coherent.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“Sleepy Sunday<\/a>” by Dan Morelle<\/a> is licensed under CC BY 2.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Is the Loss of Sleep Worth It?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Is losing sleep ever worth it? I think back to the times that I woke up early to go to class. I couldn\u2019t stop yawning, and the lecture felt more like a lullaby than a contribution to my academic pursuits. On the other hand, I\u2019ve had to drop someone off at the airport before dawn, and I don\u2019t lament the loss of sleep even as I rub my eyes throughout the rest of the day. So the answer is yes, for the right reasons, it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does it work?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This leads to the question: As writers, should we heed all the advice that\u2019s sprung on us? Yes and no. Some advice isn\u2019t tailored specifically to our lives\u2014 while it may work for some, it could hinder another\u2019s creative process. After hearing countless contradictory tips, it can get confusing. I\u2019ve heard some people say you should never stop writing. Others say let the right time to write come to you. Some say it\u2019s good to take breaks in between projects. Others say this takes the writer out of the routine. Either way, take advice lightly. It\u2019s ironic coming from someone giving you advice, but truly, use what works for you and try something new every once in a while. You might find your perfect method or maybe something that works for one week. All this to say, try waking up an hour early to write your story, novel, poem, or essay. You might be surprised at how your \u201cworst state\u201d of the day, when you\u2019re hungry, tired, and dirty, might be the thing that keeps the imposter syndrome at bay and allows you to write without worrying about how it will turn out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Burroway, Janet. (2019). Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft<\/em>. https:\/\/press.uchicago.edu\/ucp\/books\/book\/chicago\/W\/bo36156857.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tirza Bustrum The Big Idea Many professionals in the field of writing have sworn that waking up just an hour before your usual start of the day to write will inspire you in unimaginable ways. As a writer who often suffers from writer\u2019s block under the pressure of being creative under time constraints, I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}