What Is the Morning Writing Effect? (2011)

Re:What Is the Morning Writing Effect? (2011) by dexen on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @07:24AM (#23688955)

Thank you for the visual write-up. You've named and described something that wasn't even aware of - how I came to develop my best functionalities. Initial work in a half-dreamy state, and clean up later on. Probably more of a holistic, rather than analytical, approach to design.

The secret might have been, all along, wake up late, arrive at work shortly after without doing much in between[1], and start designing already while commuting.

Notably I've been able to achieve a little bit of the same while half-falling asleep, with the added caveat that it requires jotting down good ideas for the next day. And they may be not quite discernible the next day.

Bears repeating - not quite the best code, but certainly the best functionalities.

[1] breakfast before work is a productivity killer

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Re:What Is the Morning Writing Effect? (2011) by cainxinth on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @09:15AM (#23689641)

A quote often misattributed to Hemingway puts it even simpler: “Write drunk, edit sober.”

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Re:What Is the Morning Writing Effect? (2011) by KineticLensman on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @09:33AM (#23689807)

“If an important decision is to be made, they [the Persians] discuss the question when they are drunk, and the following day the master of the house where the discussion was held submits their decision for reconsideration when they are sober.”

Herodotus, allegedly

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Re:What Is the Morning Writing Effect? (2011) by madcaptenor on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @11:57AM (#23691365)

You left out the rest of it: " Conversely, any decision they make when they are sober is reconsidered afterwards when they are drunk." So it's not just that all decisions should be considered sober; it's that they should be considered both sober and drunk.

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Re:What Is the Morning Writing Effect? (2011) by KineticLensman on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @12:37PM (#23691874)

> You left out the rest of it

Intentionally, yes. I couldn't find a definitive translation that I liked. Here's another take:

"They [the Persians] are accustomed to deliberate on matters of the highest moment when warm with wine; but whatever they in this situation may determine is again proposed to them on the morrow, in their cooler moments, by the person in whose house they had before assembled. If at this time also it meet their approbation, it is executed; otherwise it is rejected. Whatever also they discuss when sober, is always a second time examined after they have been drinking."

I really just wanted to riff on the subject of involving alcohol in decision making.

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Re:What Is the Morning Writing Effect? (2011) by jacobush on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @09:02AM (#23689557)

Breakfast for me is the occasional weekend perk. A lazy luxury. I love it. But not for working days.

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