Sleep less work more versus sleep more work better?

[Coragem]

Just interested in your take on this.

We all know that writing (in my case a novel) can be an obsessive business, so we utterly immerse ourselves in the worlds and characters we create. It can be all-encompassing, and maybe there's a sense that we can never do enough?

I've often succumbed to the temptation of sleeping an hour or two less here or there, because I'm so anxious to progress with my work, and bring the ideas in my head to life.

The trouble is, when I'm tired there's a niggling doubt that my work isn't as good as it could be. The writing doesn't feel "just right".

Perhaps I should just be patient, sleep more, and focus on giving my brain (and creativity) the best chance to be lively and alight?

Coragem

 

[goldenapples]

I leave my work a long time, months. Then I feel I'm reading it as others read it when I return. If it doesn't grab me, it won't grab anyone else.

Yes, be patient, sleep more, approach it with fresh eyes more often. There's no avoiding the fact it's damned hard work and putting it out of your mind is almost impossible. If you have the motivation, work, but if you feel it's not going anywhere, stop.

Orwell didn't stick himself on a remote Scottish island to write because he enjoyed the scenery. He needed to get his head down.

 

[Sapheron]

It's possible that he also enjoyed the scenery.

As to the topic I'd say there's a time for both. When you have an idea and are on a roll with your ramblings it might be worth to stick at it and get that few extra words out before bed. On the other hand, when you proof read them sometime later you probably want to be able to think straight and actually see what you're looking at.

 

[Aun Doorback]

I find that, like physical exercise it comes in bursts with me and I can get quite a bit down over small period of time (And when I do go to bed I'm still buzzing about it, so can't sleep anyway) but I'm also a fulltime senior manager for a large organisation and it's all a bit of bugger to juggle everything. I suspect that's why I haven't finished a story yet.

 

[Nik]

It's just gone one AM here, and I've finished another chapter. Okay, I'll tweak 'Day #36' tomorrow, but...

Fortunately, though I'll be up a couple of times making drinks for family etc, I'll get about nine hours sleep before noon tomorrow.

When I was on a writing jag, I was spending several hours a night writing and then got up early. It was automatic writing. Several times, I came back to my desk to find a complete chapter in the printer tray that I hadn't even had notes for...

I almost burned out before my tale was done but, when the voices are in your head, you gotta write...

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

There's no golden rule; go with the momentum when you have it, but be prepared for times when you're burned out. Use those times to revise what you've done and bring it up to the standards you'd like to maintain, if you feel you need to. There are novels that I've read in a single, red-eyed, white-knuckled session (with requisite breaks for sundry amenities) but I suspect that the writing end of the deal requires a little more deliberation.

 

[cornelius]

I keep saying myself that I should write more. But I should sleep more as well. The thing is, writing is a hobby of mine, and I treat it as such: I do it to relax, because I enjoy it, to get my mind of work and other things.

I used to have this schedule with deadlines and the lot, almost killed my book. I lost my proofreaders, lost my more "original" ideas, and I lost some sleep as well.

I think about my book every day, but I don't work on it that much. In this stage of my life, I prefer sleep over writing. I do have the advantage of remembering my dreams, and a couple of those have found their way into my writings...

Not a decisive answer to your question, but I thought I'd give my perspective.

 

[Menion]

I would not encourage less sleep more work. Last summer I spent as few hours a night asleep as I could, suger rush to keep me active, at the end of it you re-read what you wrote and.... total drivel. I prefer to sleep, relax, and just write when it apears in my head, not force it.

 

[STING]

For those with jobs like me, late nights and early mornings are the only options and sleep is part of the price to pay. Even otherwise I think these are perhaps the best times to write.

I find Teresa sometimes posts messages very early in the mornings (US timings). Wonder whether she prefers to write when the rest of her part of the world sleeps.

 

[paranoid marvin]

You can come up with some great ideas to aid you in your dreams. These tend not to come as often when you're exhausted though.

As others have said , if you're in a rich vein of creative writing , stick with it. If it's tough going take a break - if it's hard work writing it may also be hard work reading it.

 

[Full-Iron]

I feel the same way as you do with anything really if I don't get what I wanted done in my head I won't sleep and then I get on a role and end up sleeping a whole day due to no sleep at all. : /

 

[mr-marzipan]

You have to make a judgement and distinguish when you know what you're doing and are itching to get on with, and when you've just got an obsessive headache that is no use to anyone. I'd say quality is better than quantity in terms of time spent, as long as it's regular.

I myself have taken to getting up an hour early - before work, before the screaming kids and screaming wife arise - and have been surprised by what satisfying levels of concentration can be acheived. Previous to this, i was trying to get bits done ALL the time - whilst cooking, on tea breaks at work, on the sly whilst the missus is watching telly - but the quality lacks, see.

I'd also say that it's crucial to know when to stop and just leave it alone. It's always tempting to get to a certain marker point, end of chapter or segment, etc...but sometimes you just need to sack it off for your own good - and for everyone around you. All work and no play makes Jack a psychotic axe murder.

 

[goldhawk]

Don't neglect your sleep; sleep is an important activity of the brain. That's right, activity. When your body is resting your brain is busy at work. Among the things it's doing is restoring its neurochemicals and transferring its short-term memories to long term.

Try to get up at the same time each day. It's tempting to sleep in but our brains are on a 25 hour circadian rhythm. So if you sleep in Saturday and Sunday, when Monday rolls around, your brain wants to wake yp three hours later. Not good.

People sometimes sleep is not important and tell you that Edison only had three hours of sleep a night. That is true. What they over look is that he also took 2 three hour naps. Total: 9 hours a day.

So get your beauty rest.

 

[mad_iguana]

If you have a full-time job and a family, then there's not much choice - if you're going to write, sleep has to suffer. I do 1-2 hours each night after my wife and daughter are in bed, and finish up between 12 and 1am, so I'm certainly not getting enough sleep in the classical sense.

It can damage the writing sometimes, but the balancing item is that you take a couple of nights each week, or at the weekend to catch up.

That of course requires an understanding wife/partner, but it's not really a situation where - if the compulsion to write is in you - you get to choose particularly. It needs to be done, and that means finding the time to do it.

Of course, if you're a full-time writer, then I can only imagine that you sleep til noon each day, write for three hours in the afternoon and then sit in cafés and wine bars smoking cigarillos and making humourous quips whilst drinking absinthe*.

*Please note I may not have all the aspects of this part completely correct.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I find Teresa sometimes posts messages very early in the mornings (US timings). Wonder whether she prefers to write when the rest of her part of the world sleeps.

Not a preference. I've had insomnia for months and months, and now I'm up all night sometimes. That wouldn't be a problem if I could regularly sleep through the early part of the day, but many days there is too much noise from the rest of the family. So I'm perpetually sleep-deprived and rarely very productive. Writing at night did work pretty well, because it was quieter, when I went to bed at about two in the morning, but this business of falling asleep when everyone else is getting up is really no good for me.

Back when I was productive, I was a morning writer. I'd get up feeling fresh in the late morning (I've never been an early riser by choice, although some jobs have required it), start to work first thing and write for two or three hours. Then I had enough momentum that I could go back to it for short intervals during the rest of the day and the evening. If I didn't get a good start in the morning and build that momentum, it was rare that I could do any writing during the rest of the day. Which meant that when I had another job, my writing output went down to about zero.

 

[STING]

FYI: Jeffrey Archer has said in interviews during his just-finished India tour that he writes between 6 am and 8 pm. After writing for two hours he takes a break for two hours. If my arithmetic is right, he writes for eight hours a day.