You know how the pragmatic version (as opposed to the philosophical, sociological or aesthetic versions) of why LDS writers don’t produce great art includes the fact that we tend to be so busy that we don’t have a ton of peak energy time to devote to artistic creation? As in: between work and parenting and managing the household and fulfilling our religious obligations, we don’t have a whole lot left in the tank when it comes time to write.
Good news: our lifestyle may very well be a secret weapon.
One of Jonah Lehrer’s “creativity hacks” that accompanys his recent Wall St. Journal article on How to Be Creative is: Get Groggy.
Lehrer writes: “According to a study published last month, people at their least alert time of day — think of a night person early in the morning — performed far better on various creative puzzles, sometimes improving their success rate by 50%. Grogginess has creative perks.”
So there you go. Since for most of us the writing happens late at night or early in the morning or in the afternoon when the baby/toddler is taking a nap, and we’d like to take a nap too, we are totally primed for accruing the creative perks of grogginess. Perhaps we should all teach early morning seminary. Or switch off and on daylight savings every other month.
A Motley Vision 
SWEET. I must be primed for excellence.
Having unpleasant work that HAS to be done often inspires my muse. She doesn’t like actual work any more than I do.
Makes me feel better.