Evening

Evening has always been my favourite time of day. I am most definitely an owl rather than a lark. It takes my eyes at least half an hour to fully open every morning, never mind forming a coherent sentence or managing anything tricky like breakfast. To me, people who are upbeat and energetic in the mornings are like flesh-eating bacteria: a fascinating alien species that should ultimately be avoided.

Evenings, on the other hand, are a different matter. There's something magical about the setting sun and the gathering twilight that no morning, however beautiful, can match. People talk about the dawn chorus, but the dusk chorus is far more haunting – as anyone who's heard a lone robin singing his heart out from the topmost branch of a silhouetted tree can testify. Evening is when the stars come out and the world hides its face behind a veil. Evening is a time of mystery and wonder.

More personally, evening is when my brain begins to wake up and my ideas start to flow. Left to myself, I'd probably start my writing day in the late afternoon and finish in the small hours of the morning. Much as I enjoy sunshine, it doesn't inspire me to do anything more than sit out in it with a book and a nice glass of something cold. Creativity requires darkness, or at least the promise of it – preferably with a little wind and rain thrown in for good measure. When it's two in the morning and the rest of the house is asleep around me … that's the perfect time to be writing.

Unfortunately, though, most employers aren't really interested in an employee who wants to start work around the same time everyone else is finishing. And somehow I don't think referring them to my natural body clock is going to cut it. So for now, I'll have to keep working during the day like everyone else – and make the most of my magical evenings when I can.

What about you? When's your most creative time of day?

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