Learn Grammarly’s surprising findings about when you ought to be writing content.
One of the best things about running a digital business is that you can do everything yourself.
But sometimes, that means doing things that aren’t your “specialty,” things you don’t have advanced training in.
And now that most businesses are doing content marketing, that includes writing.
The truth is, there really is a peak writing time for creating your content, whether that’s emails or blog posts or social media.
How can I say that?
Apparently it’s true, according to the insights Grammarly collected after analyzing more than a billion words proofread by their writing app over the course of a month. (Read Grammarly’s report here.)
Here’s What They Found
When writing emails, apparently we’re at our best between 4am and 8am. So if you start work at 8 or 9, you’re sunk.
People made an average of 13 mistakes per 100 words when writing emails. By comparison, they made 39 mistakes per 100 words when writing social media posts, but only 6.5 when writing blog posts. I guess we aren’t as careful when we’re on social media. That, or we’re in a hurry and don’t make time to proofread.
Misspelled words account for more than half of all email mistakes.
We write better in the morning. Early birds writing between 4 and 8am made 18% fewer mistakes than night owls writing between 10pm and 2am.
What Are the Top 5 Confused Words?
It doesn’t matter how well you know grammar. Mistakes have a way of sneaking in. But what are the most common mistakes? According to Grammarly, here are the top five.
Apostrophe Mistakes, such as let’s (the contraction) vs. lets (the verb). One I see a lot is it’s vs. its.
Too (as in, “My tea is too hot”) vs. To (as in, “I’m going to the store to get some tea”) The first is an adverb. The second can also be an adverb. But it’s often a preposition or part of an infinitive verb. How’s that for confusing?
Everyday (one word, describing something used routinely, such as “my everyday clothes”) vs. Every Day (two words, used when I’m talking about the fact that I wear those clothes every single day).
There vs. Their (The first is a place. The second is possessive.)
Than (a conjunction, as in “I like this more than that”) vs. Then (an adverb, which expresses something that’s next in time or position). Of course, listening to my accent, it’s easy to see why these might be confused.
Fascinating, Right?
So should you change your writing habits as a result of these findings?
Probably not. Getting your ideas written is the most important thing, and if you have a process for doing it efficiently, then by all means, do what works.
But what this does reveal is how easy it is for mistakes to slip in. We all need an editor or a proofreader. And barring that, you need to allow time for your writing to sit so you can edit your own work.
I actually do all of the above. I’ve got a book coming out soon, and not only did I hire an editor, I’ve got some beta readers reviewing it as well.
I also self-edit my own work. But that can get tricky, no matter how good you are. You have to let your writing sit for a day or two before editing it. Otherwise, you can’t be objective.
Which is why I also use tools like Grammarly. It makes a huge difference catching little mistakes that might slip past you when you’re in a hurry.
So what’s the bottom line here?
Peak writing involves more than getting your words in a document. It’s also about writing well, and apparently, that happens early in the day.
Find your peak writing time. Guard it. And use it not only to write but also to write better.
What’s your peak writing time? Mine really is first thing in the morning. Tell me yours in the comments.
