“At night, when the objective world has slunk back into its cavern and left dreamers to their own, there come inspirations and capabilities impossible at any less magical and quiet hour. No one knows whether or not he is a writer unless he has tried writing at night.”

 

― H.P. Lovecraft

 

Authors often talk about writing in the elusive, magical hours of twilight. And some of the best works of literature have indeed been written this way. Many famous songwriters do the same out of choice, or because they have found it to be an excellent remedy/reason for sleeplessness or bouts of insomnia. There have even been studies showing a link between creativity and sleep problems - rather accurately dubbed "creative insomnia".

 

Granted, writing through the night might not be for everyone, but it is definitely worth giving it a go if you are interested in experimenting with and developing your creativity. Find a way that works for you, and hours that work for you. Most people say (and we have also found it so) that the time between 10pm and 3am are usually the most productive. So, in an attempt to persuade you to give writing songs at night a go, we’ve compiled the following reasons of why you should.

 

1. You won't be disturbed

 

There is a wonderful sense of stillness and peace to the night. Probably because you should be sleeping. There's something interesting about that word should here. It takes the pressure off, if you feel like the thing you should be doing is sleeping, but instead you are writing - it frees you up a little. During the day you might give yourself a hard time because you should be writing but you are actually doing everything but.

 

2. You are in processing mode

 

Think of a dream-like state, yet you are not asleep. This state of mind is what you’ll no doubt find yourself in, which is perfect really in order to write fluidly and clearly. You’ll have moments, writing at night, when you feel almost caught in between being awake and being asleep, almost delirious. Your brain settles and slows down, like it doesn't have enough energy to control the flood of odd ideas and feelings that come up, and there's no alternative but to allow them out.

 

3. You lose your inhibitions
 
Basically, during this twilight creative time-zone, you become so tired you almost don’t care.
You might try things that you wouldn't try out in the day time and you are somehow at once more disconnected and more connected to your thoughts and through the haziness there is a sharper edge to your focus.
 
You might also find that you feel a growing sense of self-satisfaction about being awake and working when everyone is sleeping, and with this comes a kind of confidence in what you are doing, you doubt decisions you are making less and learn to trust your instincts.

 

4. The discomfort is the drive

 

When writing in normal daylight hours, one songwriting tactic you could use is to not allow yourself to take a break or have lunch, until something is produced. Some days you get very hungry, lunch is very late, and it can feel quite gruelling. But there is something about a) the structure you have set yourself and the work = reward aspect and b) the actual discomfort of it motivates and keeps you in a heightened state, which helps to drive you, almost like an endurance test. While writing at night the discomfort of extreme tiredness does a similar thing.

 

5. You stop counting hours

 

Unfortunately, writing is not really a job. It is not a 9-5pm, rush to the finish line kind of work. It is elusive and unruly and sometimes disobedient and unreliable. A routine is great, but sometimes breaking a routine is even better. Being disciplined is really admirable but sometimes letting it all go and doing something different and rebellious can be even more rewarding.

 

Somehow once you have made peace with the idea of not sleeping, the hours in the night hold less weight than the hours in the day. Like there are not the same markers with which we define daytime hours. So, time becomes less of a pressure and because of this, it seems like there is suddenly more of it and with more time we can slow down and use it in a different and more remarkable way.

 

The hardest task of writing is trying to keep your creativity fresh, and by trying this writing at night routine you’ll certainly be doing this. So, if you feel like your creativity has a dose of insomnia, stay up at night. Trust us, you won’t regret it.

 

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash