These four-o’clocks grew from seeds given to me by a friend who is now deceased. They are precious to me, because they remind me of Carol.
Four-o’clocks bloom in the soft light of mid-morning or late afternoon (thus the name), releasing a sweet, heady fragrance as the flowers open. This magic happens twice each day, and it doesn’t last long. Most of the day, the blossoms stay tightly closed.
* * *
One of the greatest challenges I face as a writer is that of making the most productive use of my time. Oh, I stay busy all day long, from before sunrise until long after sunset…but busyness does not always equal maximum productivity!
Mentally, I am most productive in the morning; by mid-afternoon, the gray matter morphs into concretized oatmeal. Physically, I can keep on running like the Energizer bunny, performing tasks like sweeping the floor or folding laundry pretty much on auto-pilot.
So…
I try to WRITE in the morning and early afternoon, and, as much as possible, I postpone household chores that don’t really require my brain until later in the day.
Occasionally, however, life disrupts my better-productivity schedule – days like today, when errands in town and chores around the house kept me so busy that I didn’t have the opportunity to write until NOW, which is way past the optimum-brain-function window.
Still, I am determined to write. I suspect that tomorrow, however, I will do a lot of RE-writing!
What about you: morning person? afternoon person? evening person? night owl? When are YOU most productive?
