8:00 PM

Well, this is it. The due date on this essay is tomorrow, and I haven’t even thought about actually working on it up until today. Fortunately, as usual, I have a cunning plan: I’m going to stay up all night working on write this log of what I do while working. This will help keep me focused on the essay, remind me every time I go off-task, and, if I ever have to write late at night again, show me what to do and not do. I can handle writing two things at once, right? What could possibly go wrong?

Right, it’s time to start working on that essay. I feel enthusiastic! Maybe if I finish writing early, I’ll have extra time left over to do other work. Or sleep. Sleep is also good.

9:00 PM

I started out with this blank document at 8 PM:

I went to work immediately, and after an hour of furious typing, I ended up with this:

Okay, so typing out my name isn’t exactly the progress I’d hoped to make by this point. Still, it’s something. I did try to think about what to write next, but I couldn’t figure anything out. Fortunately, I still have a good amount of time before I have to finish, so if I can't get a whole lot done this early, it's not such a big deal. At the same time, finishing early so that I could have some time to sleep would be great. Maybe if I look around the Internet for a little while, it will help to jog my brain…

10:00 PM

I spent most of the last hour on the Internet, avoiding actually writing my essay. Unsurprisingly, it really wasn’t productive at all. I just couldn’t motivate myself to keep working, for some reason. I wanted to finish the entire essay early in the night so that I would have more time to sleep or do other things, but at the rate I'm going right now, that's probably not possible. Still, it's worth it to keep trying. I don't have much else to say here, so I'll get back to work. I have an idea that I think could help...

11:00 PM

I reread the prompt and rubric for the assignment a few times, and at long last, I’ve managed to get some real work done on my essay! It’s just the introduction and thesis right now, but that’s always been one of the hardest parts of writing essays for me. I think I just needed to get my mind on track with what my assignment is actually about. With the main point of the essay out of the way, I am already coming up with the points that will support my thesis. Even just this little bit of progress helped get me pumped up to write the rest of the essay. Speaking of which, I should get on that right now, while everything is fresh in my memory. But, with so much done and so much time left, can taking a little break really hurt? 

12:00 AM

Naturally, I just got distracted again.

As it turns out, it's hard to do anything useful on a computer late at night. There's an ever-present possibility of finding something else to do which is far more interesting than working. And eventually, everything becomes a confusing blur of bright lights.

The rush of energy I got from finishing the introduction is gone now, but that’s okay. I did manage to get a few sentences in on my first main point, and I have ideas for beginning the rest of my body paragraphs. As long as I’m thinking about doing that, I’ll actually do it right away. For real this time!

I’ve also put on some music to listen to while writing. There's all kinds of sounds, but it’s all instrumental, so there are no words to get in the way of my thoughts. The music makes writing a little less boring.

1:00 AM

Over the last hour, I’ve been working off and on. It’s sometimes difficult to get my thoughts in order, but I’m doing my best to remain free of distractions, and the music really is helping. Finishing quickly is no longer an option, so now I’m aiming to do the best job I can. Whenever I want to do something else, I think ahead to how the essay will be when it’s finished, and hopefully I will get a good grade on it. It is a pretty big part of my grade for the class, which makes me even more frustrated that I’ve procrastinated until tonight. Oh well, I can’t change that now, so for now I’ll just keep typing away.

While I was working, it started to rain. Usually, I like it when it rains at night, because the sound of the rain helps me sleep. However, the last thing I need right now is something that will make me feel more tired than I already am. I’ve kept up my energy so far by taking short walks and hot cocoa breaks, but I have school early tomorrow, and I can only hold out for so long… 

2:00 AM

The good news is that I’ve written my entire essay up to the conclusion.

The bad news is that I really, really hate writing conclusions.

The worse news is that I’ve gone back to distracting myself in order to avoid writing the conclusion. And, of course, being distracted is only making writing harder. I’m starting to feel the effects of sleep deprivation, and that is not helping me either. I don’t want to write any more of this. I hate writing essays with every fiber of my being. But if I don’t finish this within the next few hours, it’ll be late, and then I’ll be sure to get a failing grade.

I really don’t want to think about that.

3:00 AM

How is it 3 AM already?

Nobody should ever have to be up at 3 AM, but here I am, and here my finished essay isn’t. I greatly regret not finishing this up earlier in the night, or even earlier in the month, but these regrets aren’t helping me work now.

What did help me work was, ironically enough, more work. At the beginning of the night, reviewing my prompt and how I was supposed to go about writing this assignment helped me get on track for writing the introduction, where I outlined what the essay would be about. Then, when I had done that, I was able to think more clearly about what to write next, and even though I also found myself distracted, I was able to make the job a little more enjoyable with music, and I slowly worked through the body of the essay. But now, the only reason I feel I have to keep going and finish up is for the sake of being done. I can’t write well in my current sleep-deprived state, and it’s far too late to get any meaningful amount of useful activity or sleep out of my remaining time after I’m done. I’d really much rather lie down and nap now, but that will just add on to my regrets later, when I fail the assignment because I couldn’t finish it on time. So I’ll write the conclusion now, but I’ll hate every wasted second of it.

4:00 AM

I did it! I stayed awake until 4 o'clock in the morning! (Well, I also finished my essay and turned it in, but it's good to put the important things first.)

Before I can claim the rightful reward of my efforts, I still have one last piece of writing to finish up: this blog.

Overall, I think this situation would have gone a lot better if I had motivated myself to get working before the due date. Unfortunately, the best way I’ve found to get myself motivated is with deadline panic. After all, it's much easier to work once you've already started, but just getting started is difficult, especially when it seems like there is plenty of time left. Still, I’m glad I stayed up and kept this blog. Looking over the hours I’ve spent, I realize that this tells me a good deal about what helps me work, what doesn’t, and how I can best get myself to work under pressure.

My hope is that after this experience, I and others after me will learn an important lesson about staying up late at night to write whole essays due the next day: Never do it. I'll be sure to keep it in mind once I head off to college. Of course, I'll never have to resort to such extreme measures in college, right? Right??