Winter Brain

This morning, as I snoozed under the covers and tried to gather enough motivation to arise, I thought about last night.  Last night I turned on my night-brain by starting to work on a manuscript around 9PM.   Almost two hours later Mark was cajoling me to go to sleep.  I could have easily stayed up until 1 AM.

I'm coming to the conclusion my sleeping and writing habits are connected to my winter brain. I was speaking with Ellen S about how writing in the morning was easier in July and she said, "It's the lack of light that makes it harder to get up."  We live about an hour's drive south of the 45th parallel, and the daylight right now is from about 7:10 AM to 4:45 PM.  The darkness is even more pronounced on rainy days.  On the plus side, we get "magic light" for photography starting about 3 PM.  I think the reduced light makes me channel my inner Ingmar Bergman.

Or else it prompts me to sleep from 2 AM to 10 AM.

During November, December, January and February, it's more difficult for me to work with my lexical brain and easier to work with my iconic brain.  It's not that I can't write, it's simply more difficult to work with words over a sustained period of time--and working with graphics becomes easier and more rewarding.  I'm not sure if the part of my brain that plays with images less active in the summer or stays at the same level.