I love writing early in the morning. In fact, I look forward to it. My pre-writing morning routine goes pretty fast: take the dogs out, greet the cat that's waiting for us right outside and watch her stretch, take the dogs back in, prepare the dogs' and cat's breakfasts, feed them all, boil water for me, and do all my stretches in the ninety seconds it takes for the water to boil. By then, everybody has eaten, and I get to wash their dishes. I squeeze a lemon in the water and add salt to it and take my mug of tea to my laptop, ready to write... or so I think.
Some mornings, the brain just isn’t ready to play. I sit there, determined to write, but instead of words flowing onto the page, there’s a fog — thick and stubborn, especially following a day like yesterday. It was the second anniversary of the Woman Life Freedom movement in Iran, and I spent the entire day drawing and painting because I couldn't focus on much else.
So my brain has its reasons for not playing this morning — and sometimes other mornings — but morning brain doesn’t have to be the enemy. In fact, it might even be a creative asset: When the mind is still waking up, it sometimes drops the filters and lets randomness through. I've had some of my best ideas on mornings like this.
I often use one of several tricks to overcome the fog and get ideas flowing:
1. I write the first things that pop into my head, no matter how ridiculous they seem. This simple strategy can unlock a creative thread I wasn't expecting, as it has in the past.
2. I open a book to a random sentence. Even a single unexpected phrase can shake things loose. The more out of context, the better — it jolts the brain out of its morning fog.
3. I think about one of the bigger projects that I have already thought about or even outlined but haven't started yet, and I start with bite-sized tasks.
Having a foggy brain in the morning isn’t a curse; it’s just a different type of creative space. So embrace the fog, and see where it takes you!
