Friday, January 15, 2010

Maybe you really do need eight hours of sleep

"You don't have to stay up nights to succeed; you have to stay awake days."
-Source unknown

Ok, it stung reading that little quote up there. Ouch. I'm the exact opposite. I go to bed around 2AM every night (eeek or shall I say morning) and get up five hours later. I wasn't always this way, but since I started writing I've become an extreme night owl, justifying it with the reason that it was all part of me pursuing my dream to become a published author. And most of the time it's all fine and good, but then I read something like that quote or have a week where I'm dog tired all day and still pushing myself to stay awake at night to get things done. Those moments make me wonder why I think getting less sleep will allow me more to be more productive and creative. Sounds like a little backwards, doesn't it?

This brings me to my little light bulb moment. More sleep=Feel better=Write better.

I make my child go to bed early so he can be all refreshed and ready to learn and be happy the next day yet I don't do it for myself. SO I think it's time I give it a whirl. I'm going to get my butt in bed earlier and see what happens. Who knows maybe I'll end up writing a novel in one sitting.
Or not. I'll settle for a few chapters.

3 comments:

Elana Johnson said...

Good luck! I set myself a bedtime and I've been sticking to it. So far, so good. And I'm not so grouchy and I can do more... Yeah, sleep is a good thing.

Susan R. Mills said...

I need to do the same thing. I'm a night owl, and then I'm typically tired for a good part of the next day. It's worth a try to see if we're more productive if we go to bed earlier. I'm going to join you in this.

lisa and laura said...

I've become the same way! Lisa's husband has her on a midnight curfew so I usually try to do the same. There just aren't enough hours in the evening--that's the only time I can get anything done!