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Reasons why you shouldn't write when you are tired

by Cody Hodge

Created on: November 06, 2009

Why should you not write when you are tired? There are many good reasons why you shouldn't write when you are tired, and when you are fatigued, you are wise to just go to sleep. When you write, you need to be as focused as you can, and you shouldn't be letting your mind wander as much as it tends to when you are tired. If anything, you should save your ideas for tomorrow, and let them start off your writing session in a positive way.

When you are tired, you might be trying to much to rush your work simply to get the article done. In your haste, you may forget to do simple things like spell check, and you might even forget to do something like cite a source. This can bring your article down, and it might be simply because you were tired, and didn't have the energy to do anything but hit the publish button as soon as you were done with the article.

It can be really hard to come up with ideas when you are tired. The two worst times to write are when you are tired, and when you are distracted. Instead of focusing on what you need to be doing, you are more focused on what you aren't doing, or can't be doing. In this case you will be looking at the bed lovingly, instead of writing your article.

Fatigue also causes us to write funny things. I have heard stories of people who will literally run two thoughts together, and still try to publish it, only to catch on the next day to the funny thing that they have written. I have seen people write stuff like "In 1694, the poet ran to the endzone for a touchdown" or something random like that because they were watching TV while trying to type, and just were too tired to notice they blended what they were writing with what they were hearing.

When you are tired, you are just not in the mood to do the work necessary to write a good article. It can be a pain to research, and it can be a pain to have to think so hard about what you are saying. You might just throw out the first thing that pops into your head, and it might not come out right, or it might be your second best effort. You can always leapfrog, but it would be easier to just do the first draft the right way.

Writing while you are tired is not a good idea. It causes us to write a little more sloppy, and it causes us to really not enjoy what we are doing. Fatigue is going to happen in any job, but if you can avoid writing while tired, it might be a good decision for you.


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