Chapter 1.10: Unlocking the Secrets of the Night

Have you ever noticed that night air is so much better than the air you breathe during the day. Somehow it feels clearer, sharper, sweeter, lighter than what we have in the daytime. I have always liked the night better than the day. Maybe it's just because the night is cooler than the temperature during the day. Maybe it's that I love that feeling of emptiness that happens at night, when most of the world (at least in smaller cities like my hometown) has gone to sleep, and it feels like you're one of the few people left in the world.

Or maybe it's that same (sometimes unhealthy) quality in girls that draws them towards the bad boy. I mean, let's face it, nighttime is just inherently more dangerous. The darkness gives criminals a cover and hinders the ability to see what's coming for you. There's a reason vampires are called creatures of the night. When they were originally created, being one with the night added both to their mystique and danger quotient. It made them scarier and warned people from going out after dark, the same way most folk tales are told about what lurks in the dark.

That danger adds a level of excitement to the nighttime. Especially for young girls who follow the rules, never leaving the house at night, unless they have a specific destination, cleared with a parent. Girls who love speeding down an empty road and the way their hometown feels alone. Add a vivid imagination to the mix and is it any wonder the secret of the dark evening draws me to it? Conflict painted at night has an undertone of the unexpected violence and frightening quality of that which is just out of our sight.

During the day, you can see a threat coming at you, if not directly then at least out of the corner of your eye. At night, it blindsides you, the semi-truck with a drunk driver sliding on ice. You can't stop it and you can't get out of the way. It's the pedestrian that darts across the street and seems to fall from the sky. That's how quick and suddenly things can happen in the dark. Possibilities are just waiting for you to grab a hold of them.

Which may explain why for some reason my thoughts seem to be most eloquent and beautifully crafted late at night, often when I'm trying to get to sleep (or sometimes even when I am asleep. Seriously, I once had a dream with this lovely voiced-over speech at the end that was shockingly well said. Word for word, this is what it said: "Things done for the greater good rarely turn out that way. They are acts of evil and nothing is worth that pain. The need for vengeance is purer in both motive and execution. It doesn’t try to hide behind morals or promise of something better. It simply is rage and anguish, rolled together with a need to see someone pay for the wrong they have done and the hurt they have caused.")

Something in my brain clicks at night and suddenly any blocks are gone and writing becomes easy. Yes, I am often tired and can't write very long and at least some of it won't make sense when I read it in the morning, but for the most part I've mellowed out and the words just flow. Maybe it just comes from the near absolute quiet. The only sounds are what music I allow iTunes to softly play, and the background noise from the occasional car going down the street.

And the wonderful thing about being a writer is that schedule totally works. You can stay up until two in morning writing and then sleep until eleven or noon. This only works if you can write full time, but still. Also makes it perfect for people with IBS or other life-disrupting disorders. You set your own schedule so (if you have the self-discipline) you can do write when you're able and set your own pace.

I bet I'm not the only night owl out there, even if you aren't one because you like to write. So, night or day? Regular 9-5 work or something more free? And do you feel able to set your own schedule or do you need a work schedule given to you?