Wichita eagle., 1888-11-10
TIE TINE TO WRITE.
THE GREAT DIFFERENCE OF OPINION
AMONG PEN CRAFTSMEN.
No Best Time for Writing Poe,ry-what
Noted Prose Writers Have to Say on tho
Ing Environments.

Ing Environments.
When can man do his best writing with
easel Or, in other words what time is the
best for good wIitingi
heard. recently. this latter question talked
over by some pen craftsmen. and their con
versation brought out great differences ol
opinion. One, writer OF fiction said that
the best time for writing was when you
burned the midnight oil Another main
tanned that the best time was in the early
morning hours when the sun ''ariseth In bis
majesty" While third, a writer Of poetry,
threw out the suggestion that you can write
easily and rapidly when You feel most like
II. Thus the question becomes one that VIII
I've answered n a different way by different
kinds of writers.
Obviously there is, there can be, no best
time for writing poetry # the poets them
selves are To be believed the times for com
posing rhyme, Ike angels visits, are few and
far between. V hen Lord Byron wrote is a
mystery, for no one ever found him writing.
Yet we know that while he spent the day in
pleasure, he passed the night in work Lord
-ennySon regards the morning as the best
time for "oetic thought. and hence we find
1911 ~ - '+-0 - NN<iNs44s over us
pipe of tobacco Longfel ow was an early
riser, and we are tod IN recent biography
of the poet that he found the morning the
best time for solid work There is a tradi-
tlon-and it is only traditon-that Edgar
Allan Poo could dash OFF flowing verse at al.
most any nour of the day or night Indeed
Poe hlmsel- gave color TO this notion, but.
unhappy master of the raven as he was. he
kept lonely viCils far into the night, polish
ing and filing his exquisite verse In truth,
as many, If not more, examples could he
given Of poets whose verse ''s,net of fSo,
midnight oil" as could be given Of rhvlae
breathing the freshness Of dewy morn For
with some writers the dead of night is the
noon of thought
ben we come TO prose writer's there is
the same difference as t. the time for wri T.
ing. The greater part of an authors time. s.
said Dr. johnson, lis spent in reading :"
Thus, Lord Macaulay spent the entire inor-i l.
ing Ill reading, and then when the time can Q
he put his thoughts on paper. Few reader :
Of Irevelyan's Life of Macaulay will forge I
the picture Of the industrious historian rnoui 3
lrg among the manuscripts III the BIRTHS q
museum morning after morning, gleani1 .
the facts for his immortal history. Wit j
writers Ct fiction the case is different Or :,
TO quote DR.. Johnson again, when n ma a
writes from his own mind nc writes rapidly. "
Although Baizsc wrote rapidly from has ov' n
mind, be spent much ti-ne in reading. II o
found the night the best time for writing
and many cup of black coffee he drank n
o-der TO keep his faculties on the alert-ol
edge, as he called it.
Of Er-If-h ,..-~3te@y WILL, (tof7;re fr
prominent example Of an author VINO foun I
the midnight hours the best time for writlns.
David Christie Murray IS another yoluinin-
Gus novelist vino often labors 50 far into the
night that be often 'sees haibelrlier with
an Ak dressed il blacL; and red" coming
towards him III tn. eaten.ng fashion. Ga
the other hand, Anthony Trollopo st abo1t
his work in nethodical way He IL down
every morning to his desk rain or hine. at
5:31. Il allowed mvseifr b. pla .1tiyelv
says, mo mercy. was called by my groom,
and did so much writing regularly before
breakfast william Black also tat 1ks the
morning the best time for writin 2. DO
writes two hours before and two bom , after
luncheon Thomas Hard says
that he writes at irregular intervals some
times IN the morning and sometimes III the
evening. The method Of James Payn ] this:
he carries the plot around in his be al TIL
when be writes IL out rs r .pidly
as possible, often working fifteen cut { II the
-wentyf four hours Of the day.
We may close this part Of the sable ct by
,iting the opinions Of two American iovei-
sts. as 70 tae lest time for writing. SAID
5ir. Ho~ells, IN a recent interview " "a a
ne wspaYer man: The first half OK the day
) the best part Of mans life | al Ways
'elect il for M working hours, Us ialiy
1egin az and stop at l O'Clock To the sline
fleet is the testimony Of the late Z +. Zoe,
4 a recent number Of Lippincoit's Aagaa sne.
Il 20 into my study says he, -irurnedla ely
.tser breakfast. usually about O'clock,
md write until or ia TIE afr
loon, stopping only for Light lunch -"
n former years / wrote at night, tat after
cvere attack Of insomnia tAls practice saz
.lmos1 wholly abandoned.
,naIIy IL should be born in mind that tie
iroo for good writing L largely iDHoerscs<
y circumstances and By eaylroarrez.
iany Of the distressing and Annoying cir
zln.stances incident TO CITY he ars ya-Tt.c1-
ariy untavorabie % easy writing Above
u, noises and harsh SQUADS have evsY Deen
BE bane Of the writer. They dszersr. tSe at
eu.lon and p1t tie mind CIT Of tuns Tor
rderiy and continuous thought Tins c1s
ia .Ea IA. ~