Waking Up Early to Write

This morning, I practiced what I sometimes preach here on my blog, and that's waking up early to make the most of the quietest time of the day.

If you're like me, you have a busy (and noisy) family who clearly don't mean to keep you from writing but often ending up doing just that.  My solution has been to make the most of the time when the rest of the household is sleeping.  That gives me two options: either outstay them later into the night or wake up earlier in the morning than they do.

For me, the choice was fairly easy.  I don't write very well in the night, after all of my energy is spent and my mind is sluggish.  I can't drink coffee late to keep myself up because that may mean I don't sleep at all that night.  And I find it tough to make sense of some of my writing later, to the point where I drop entire words that were crucial to making sense of my sentences.

So the choice was clear: wake up early in the morning to write.  My brain is freshest early in the morning.  I have the most energy and there are no distractions around my house.

Every weekend morning, I try to wake up at least an hour earlier than my family and I write at least a page or two before they come downstairs.  A whole hour, you ask?  And just one page???  That's because I also tidy up the house, putter around, clean, make coffee, and sometimes even cook breakfast.  Even so, it is worthwhile to get that page or two done with because that gives me a sense of productivity and accomplishment that lasts for the rest of the day.

Try it: wake up early and write a page or two before your family gets up.  It will start your day off on a great note.

Photo courtesy of Keattikorn at freedigitalphotos.net