The Late Night Cafe Forum All night writing stories.

Something that comes to mind for me, happened about four years ago when I was first starting out in college. It was the begging of the fall semester in 2008, and we had already been assigned a terribly difficult math test. I was writing a book at the time, and, the night before the test, I had promised myself that I would only write for an hour or two. I started typing away and soon two hours became three, three became four, four became five, and before I knew it, I had spent the entire night writing. I had stayed up, writing until it was time for me to go and take my test.  

I failed the test, of course. I couldn't see straight, so there was no way I could do math. I ended up taking a make-up exam and I did a much better job, the second time around. Better still, I ended up with several really nice chapters, which I will never regret taking the time to write. 

That night was a treat :)

One of the first times that really sticks out in my mind pulling an all nighter was a few winters ago. A friend of mine had gone to Africa for the winter and I was sub-letting her apartment in Portland. A small studio, comfy and pretty quiet, and importantly without internet. I have a hard time focusing on writing when I have internet access. But anyway, I had just started up meditation, and so that night I meditated for about an hour and felt myself really open up to a part of me I never felt before, it's hard to explain exactly what it was. I got up, made a pot of espresso in the little machine (my favorite machine, it actually had a pot like a coffee maker instead of just individual cups!) and sat down to write. That was the first time I successfully wrote stream of conscious, which has become a crucial part of my writing since. It was also the first time I pulled an all night writing session, writing until the sun started coming up, peeking through my window, and knocking off about 50 pages. Those 50 pages became the basis for my novel that I'm currently working on, so it was a very profitable night!