The Doctor is In

Friday + Dr. S O'D = Writer's Therapy

I sometimes give workshops and seminars in my Brooklyn Heights office on topics of interest to writers. If you would like to be notified about upcoming events, email me at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.

Dear Dr. Sue,

When I was working and writing, before I had my children, I felt that my most productive hours tended to be in the afternoon, so I organized my time accordingly. Now, I would much rather write in the mornings, and have my afternoons free for my children—is it folly to try to shift around one’s “creative hours” like that?

Writing Mother

Dear Writing Mother:

In High Tide in Houston  Barbara Kingsolver relates the following:

The remarkable poet Lucille Clifton was asked, at a reading I attended, “Why are your poems always so short?” Ms. Clifton replied, “I have six children, and a memory that can hold about twenty lines until the end of the day.”


Most of us have a sense of the time of day when we feel most competent and connected to our creativity. We may characterize ourselves as “morning people” or “night owls,” or refer to the “three o’clock slump” or the post-dinner letdown. These cycles are real, and to some extent they are biologically based. For this reason, when a writer has found a routine that works, I usually advise against messing with it. But, like Lucille Clifton, we work with what we have—and the beautiful and profound poems Clifton managed to create in snatched moments are testament to the power of the creative spirit to assert itself in defiance of time restrictions and circadian rhythms. If you are able to block off any consistent writing time while caring for young children, you are ahead of the game.


If you are accustomed to writing after business hours, you may find it easier to move your writing time up gradually, first to the early afternoon, then to the late morning, until you have settled into the time period that works best for you and still allows you to spend as much time as possible with your children.

Don’t expect to achieve your previous level of concentration and productivity right away. Writers thrive on adventure and spontaneity, but mostly in our imaginations. It can take weeks or even months to adjust to a new setting or schedule. You don’t need to be overly concerned about this. Just sit down every day in the same chair and pick up where you left off the day before. Once you have established a predictable routine, your work should start flowing smoothly again. 

Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer herself, she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. Her book,  Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity, will be published by Seal Press this spring and is now available for pre-ordering. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.