If you didn’t read the post “The Tall Order of the Creative Sweet Spot” I will read it to you, dramatically and enthusiastically, below. 👇
Reading commences as soon as you hit play. Enjoy!
Notes from the Captain
🫡 Morning tall is all. That’s all I’m saying.
The post “The Tall Order of the Creative Sweet Spot” was inspired by something I read that said we are taller in the morning (link below). As I explain in the video, that’s all I needed to start linking the idea of being tall—metaphorically—with when you are the height of your creative powers and there I went and here we are.
I’ve always envied people who can be creative at night. I can work at night, and do good work at night, but if we’re talking when do I feel most on—most tall—it’s morning morning morning. Between the hours of 5 AM and maybe 8-ish. If you’re looking for weird idea Janeen, that’s when you’ll find her. Well…weirder than normal.
When do you feel most creative?
And while we’re on the subject, what are you working on right now? I hope it’s going well. I hope you’re maximizing your tall time.
I’ve been out on the road for about a month but head home tomorrow to be tall in more familiar surroundings. I’d share more photos of where I am but the fog won’t let me see anything.
Behold! This is a foggy sunset on the Lost Coast of California, where I’ve been hunkered down for a week and trying to catch up on work and writing.
Now, carry on and if you haven’t done so already, find your tall.
Thangs from this episode…
👩✈️ When are people most creative?
The link below will take you to the thing I read—the spark that set the fire for the post—which is a story about a study of 1000 UK workers that aimed to find the time that people felt they were most creative.
“New study claims to pinpoint the most creative time of day, down to the minute” - Via It’s Nice That
Interestingly, It’s Nice That did a followup where they got a cognitive neuroscientist to weigh in and suggest ways to help you to find YOUR creative sweet spot. Have at it! I’ll see you around, being tall.
“How to find your most creative time of day, and make it count” - Via It’s Nice That
👩✈️ When are writer’s tallest?
I found a poster on the Marginalian. It’s a visualization of writers’ sleep habits vs. literary productivity, which you can buy as a print if you like it.
Excerpt image of some 5 AM clubbers like me, plus some obvious insomniacs. 1 AM?! Balzac can have that. Full chart at link in above para.
More links to writer’s habits (with some overlap in content/writers featured):
The Daily Routines of Great Writers - The Marginalian
Ray Bradbury was, is seems, always ready to be tall:
My passions drive me to the typewriter every day of my life, and they have driven me there since I was twelve. So I never have to worry about schedules. Some new thing is always exploding in me, and it schedules me, I don’t schedule it. It says: Get to the typewriter right now and finish this. - Ray Bradbury, The Paris Review
“The daily routines of 12 Famous writers” - via James Clear
When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at four a.m. and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for ten kilometers or swim for fifteen hundred meters (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at nine p.m.
I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind. - Haruki Murakami, The Paris Review
The daily writing routines of Joan Didion, Kurt Vonnegut, Haruki Murakami and other famous writers - The Story
“I awake at 5:30, work until 8:00, eat breakfast at home, work until 10:00, walk a few blocks into town, do errands, go to the nearby municipal swimming pool, which I have all to myself, and swim for half an hour, return home at 11:45, read the mail, eat lunch at noon. In the afternoon I do schoolwork, either teach or prepare. When I get home from school at about 5:30, I numb my twanging intellect with several belts of Scotch and water ($5.00/fifth at the State Liquor store, the only liquor store in town. There are loads of bars, though.), cook supper, read and listen to jazz (lots of good music on the radio here), slip off to sleep at ten. I do pushups and sit ups all the time, and feel as though I am getting lean and sinewy, but maybe not.” - Kurt Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut: Letters (book)
And while he never specifies the time he’s ‘tall’ in this little video, I always like seeing the little shed Roald Dahl worked in and his routine.
Thanks for listening/watching and sharing. Not a lot of links, so easy peasy. If you want to chat about any of the concepts in this week’s post—or just in general—feel free to leave a comment for the Captain (it me.)
Meantime: Do. Make. Be.
Ask for help if you need it.
I’ll see you out there.
Your Captain, Janeen 🫡
Shameless Podcast Plug
Listen to audio versions of early issues of The Stream on my podcast, Field of Streams, available on 👉 all major podcasting platforms 👈
Here’s Apple
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