My Super Weird Writing Hack That’s Led To Viral Articles

Perhaps one of the weirdest pieces of writing advice I’ve ever given to someone was to stay up until 3 AM, then write.

Weird advice, isn’t it?

Before you click out of this article, ask yourself what you feel like at 3 AM?

When you’re lying in bed at night and can’t sleep, where is your mind taking you? For me, as 1 AM turns to 2, my mind takes me through the history of my life. I get very, very nostalgic, and on some occasions the darkness mixed with the nostalgia mixed with the general feeling of “Why the heck am I not sleeping?!” brings me to tears.

I feel helpless. I feel alone. I feel raw emotion.

My friends, what better time to write than when you’re overcome with emotion?

My Best Performing Response Was This Advice

I got 144 fans on a response once. 144! Here’s the proof (and the response):

Clearly this struck a chord with people. People were taken back by this comment. To me it seemed all too obvious. We need to write when we’re emotional. What better time to write? Answer me that.

There is no better time to write than when we’re feeling the weight of the world on our shoulders, and 3 AM has a way of dropping that weight on us like a power lifter.

Stay Up Until 3 AM On Purpose

Here’s where my advice gets controversial. I’ll leave it up to you to put this into practice. Stay up until 3 AM on purpose, or if you’re a natural insomniac, just wait for your insomniac thing to do its part.

I really feel like we see ghosts at 3 AM. Not the scary, Conjuring kind (unless your house is haunted), I mean the ghosts of our past. We think about past flames, past mistakes, the good times, pets that have passed away and maybe even family members we wish were still here.

There is something about being awake at such a late hour that brings it out.

My best performing article of all time was one I wrote for the Huffington Post at 3 AM. I was very upset after a date had gone wrong and basically rattled off about how much introverts are misunderstood.

I published it at 4 AM then went back to sleep. When I woke up at 10, I saw about 50 of my friends had shared it and traffic to my blog hit a massive spike. I was on the front page of the Huffington Post for a while, and it remains to this day my most prized achievement as a writer.

I wrote it in 60 minutes at 4 AM. When my brain was groggy, emotional, and didn’t have the seat belts fastened.

I wrote a super raw piece because of the environment I was in, and the writing Gods rewarded me.

So try it one time. Stay up until 3 AM on purpose. Go on a vision quest. Wait until you feel alone, like the world has forgotten about you, and all that you have are memories of a better time.

And then write about how you feel.

This Can Give You A Bearing Of What To Write About

It’s crazy how many people email me saying they don’t know what they want to write about. Without writing, I’d be lost. I’ve written three articles today and I’m far from bored.

But for those people that are having problems, I suggest you venture into the cold hours of 2–3 AM. If it’s snowing or raining outside, go walk around in it.

What your mind wants to focus on the most will come out, and maybe whatever presents itself is what you need to write about. It’s a clue to what your heart is aching to say.

Pay attention to that.

My favorite television episode of all time takes place in a series called Mad Men. The episode is called “The Suitcase” and follows the main character and his co-worker into the early hours of a random morning.

They spend a lot of time fighting, talking, bonding, and at the end of the episode Don Draper, a man with a bulletproof personality, breaks down into tears.

It’s a really powerful episode that proves my point.

There is something about the darkness of the early morning that’s great for writing. It’s different from 8 AM after you’ve just had your coffee and the world looks like your oyster.

Write when you feel alone. Write when you feel defeated. I guarantee some of your best writing will come at these times. It may happen at 3 AM, or it may happen at 4 PM. Whatever the case, make sure you’re ready to record the dark things your brain wants to reveal to you.

I hope this makes you look at insomnia in a totally new light.