Want to be a more productive writer? Find your 'magic' part of the day

Image | Vintage typewriter and paper

Caption: The 2021 CBC Short Story Prize is open until Oct. 31, 2020. (Merelize on Stockvault)

The 2021 CBC Short Story Prize is open for submissions. You can submit your original, unpublished short stories up to 2,500 words for a chance to win $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link), a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity(external link) and have your work published on CBC Books(external link). The deadline to enter is Oct. 31, 2020.
To inspire and support you along the way, we are publishing a writing tip each week on CBC Books(external link). You can also subscribe to our writing tips newsletter for even more tips.
This week's tip is from Eva Crocker.
"I like to write early in the morning, right after my first cup of coffee when everyone else is still asleep. For the first two hours of my day, it feels like I'm immune to distraction, the word I'm looking for comes easily and my ideas snap together like Lego, snapping quickly. Figure out when your magic chunk of the day is and make use of it as often as possible."
Eva Crocker is a freelance writer based in St. John's. Her debut novel, All I Ask(external link), is on the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist(external link). Her short story collection Barrelling Forward(external link) won the Canadian Authors' Association Emerging Writer's Award and the Alistair MacLeod Award for short fiction and was a finalist for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Emerging LGBTQ Authors. Crocker was a 2020 CBC Short Story Prize reader(external link).