I have an active mind. I probably don’t look like it on the outside, but inside my brain is like a whirling dervish of ideas, opinions, and feelings. At night, if I’m not careful, it whirls out of control. That means I have to get out of bed. Partly not to bother hubby, and partly to get it under control. Usually that means writing.

We’ve all been there, especially during holidays, maybe after arguments with loved ones, maybe after disappointments you don’t know how to cope with. It’s when you can’t sleep and definitely cannot think straight. It’s usually worse at night because all you have is yourself staring you in the face. The rest of the world is asleep.

So I sit at the computer. I read emails. I look for pithy sayings on Instagram. Then if my brain is still rolling at ninety miles per hour, I open the chapter I’m working on. Either that or I open a chapter that is particularly emotional. Then I give myself permission to write hard and from the heart.

First, it gets me out of my own head.

Second, it puts emotional depth into my work that might not have found itself there in daylight.

Third, I add to my word count.

It’s a win-win situation. Nothing puts good writing on paper than writing when you totally do not feel like it. You tap feelings that are laid raw already. And little beats writing in the middle of the night, when nobody feels alive to question anything you’re doing. It’s as if you are writing in secret, and reaching that magic that evades you in the light of day.