Writing early in the morning.

It seems to me I do my best work early in the morning. I don't always get my quota written before noon, but when I do I feel good about what lands on the page. Sometimes I wonder if my subconscious mind is still partly asleep, and that while still in my dream state I visualize more clearly the world I'm trying to inhabit. The words seem to come out better, too, and my sentences feel fresher, more new. Early mornings are my witching hour.

It also helps if it's my turn to walk the mutts. I love those brisk morning walks along the pretty stream that runs through my town. It has been a wonderfully rainy summer, too, so the grasses are high and green, and the air is moist with the smells of pollen and grasses. My morning walks get my blood into every crevice of my brain and fingers so I'm all revved up for plenty of imagining and typing.

I imagine night writers must be a very different sort, transcribing deeper whispers from the parts of the world that wake up in darkness. Night writers are probably very pale and spooky people, who walk hunched over and nibble on their fingernails while at cocktail parties. Night writers probably all look exactly like Neil Gaiman, with wicked senses of humor and a wry, worldly view of life.

If some cosmic event brings about a change in my circadian rhythms, I wonder what it will do to me. Maybe I'll start writing about werewolves and goblins. Maybe I'll get in touch with some restless spirit that demands I write a dark historical romance. I could be completely transformed if I became a night writer. If only I could stay up late enough to find out.