Once in a while, I stay up past my normal bedtime so I can make things. On either Friday or Saturday night, I stay up past 10 or 11 with the plan to draw and make stuff.

The thinking behind this is simple, and has proven itself to me over and over again.

There is a voice in the creative’s head that basically tells them that they suck, and that the thing they are making sucks, and everything pretty much sucks. Some of us battle that voice pretty nobly during waking hours some of the time, but sometimes that battle is too taxing to deal with.

But as you get more and more tired, that voice starts to wane. The volume not so high, and then one can get in some work. It may not be the best stuff, or most impactful, but sometimes the issue is just getting stuff out on the page, on the screen. Free of that voice telling you that your work sucks, it’s prime time to do some work.

But there’s a drawback. While your inner art critic clocks out, another kind of critic can pop up. In the quiet of the night, your personal critic can clock in.

I discovered this recently, and while I’m not too happy about it, and caused me to abort an otherwise productive night, it got me thinking.

If everything isn’t going well, or right, a voice pops up and ignores your art and goes straight for your personal jugular.

You know your friend is mad at you.

You may have been too hard on that worker that got your order wrong.

Your mom is really disappointed that you haven’t helped her with her phone.

Your girl would rather watch TV without you.

And so on. In the still of the night, your creative brain is cranking, but it’s also busy making shit up. Exaggerating, embellishing, and you’re in a prime position to listen. You may be putting down some good things on the paper, but your brain is dumping a lot of toxins into your subconscious as well, making that time normally frutful for creativity a really ad time if things in other areas of your life aren’t the best.

So, when this happened, instead of pushing through it, I sighed, closed my sketchbook, and went to bed. Tomorrow’s another day, and God willing, the more positive voices in your head will clock back in, assess the damage, and work at getting you back from the precipice of self doubt and overwhelmingly negative thinking.

Besides, sleep is great.