I am a morning person. I always have been. This doesn’t mean that I leap out of bed with a cry of gladness at the sound of the alarm. Far from it. But once I’m up, I’m up. And I am more productive in the morning, no doubt about it. My brain works faster and I’m more motivated to get things done. And yet, despite knowing all of this, I have never tried writing when I first get up. Never. Until this week.
It started like this: I noticed the hashtag #5amWritersClub appearing now and again on my Twitter feed. My first reaction was a natural one: “5 am? They have to be kidding.” But it began to intrigue me. Perhaps I could give this a try.
The advantages were obvious:
- I would be the only one awake in the house, meaning it would be quiet. And quiet is my favourite soundtrack when I’m writing.
- It would be dark outside. No distractions outside the window.
- No other chores would be calling to me. Nice.
- I could be finished by 7 am and still have the whole day in front of me. Even better.
Unfortunately, the possible disadvantages were just as obvious:
- It’s winter here in Australia. 5 am is a cold, dark, unfriendly sort of time. I’m not sure we’d get on with each other.
- I’d have to go to bed by 9pm at the latest in order to get enough sleep. I don’t know if I could discipline myself to do that. Even if I did, it would probably take me hours to fall asleep, rendering the whole effort pointless.
- Could I write anything good at 5am? Could I even think? Morning person, yes, but still…
