Welcome to the Early Morning Writing Boot Camp! What’s that? You don’t remember signing up for an early morning writing boot camp? That’s OK. I don’t remember signing up for “adulthood,” and yet here we are.
The rules of Early Morning Writing Boot Camp are simple. DO talk about Early Morning Writing Boot Camp. Tell yo friends, tell yo wife. Tell fellow writers. Talk about it to the point where you become That Guy, the one who can’t stop talking about the thing, even though you’re like, ‘Guy, we get it, you’re allergic to wheat.’ Or, you know, whatever situation you were imagining.
Make yourself accountable.
Ever since the Women’s Fiction Writers Association retreat last month, I’ve been rediscovering the joy of writing before the sun comes up and the busy pace of the workday takes over.
A little obsessed with space after reading “The Martian”
But first, I had to fight my natural tendency to sleep until 2pm if left undisturbed. Normally, I set an alarm for an hour to two hours before I need-need to get up for work. Then I annoy my neighbors by hitting the snooze button every 8 minutes in a bleary haze. It’s OK, they annoy me, too. I’ve long fantasized about all the great things I’d do if I could just wake up earlier. I needed to break an old habit and create a new one. But how?
Baby Cat gets it.
As luck would have it, my friend Larissa Popp recently shared a “4-step plan to break your snooze addiction,” and I decided to try it out. Larissa is a master of healthy living and eating, so she knows things. To summarize, she suggests you:
- Put your phone away from your bed.
- Splash cold water on your face.
- Brush your teeth.
- Do a 7-minute workout.
“This four-step plan, I promise, is going to help you break your snooze addiction, and wake up feeling more energized each day,” she says.
I’ve now been using this plan (with occasional variations) for the past two weeks of Early Morning Writing Boot Camp. So far, it’s working wonders. I’m at the point where I can actually get crazy and plug my phone in next to my bed without fear that I’ll hit snooze for 2.5 hours (OK, I did that the first day of Early Morning Writing Boot Camp, but that was IT.) Also, in lieu of a specific 7-minute workout, I do 15 entire pushups (pushups are extremely hard, you guys) and a few Sun Salutations. Lastly, the list is missing one key step: 5) POUR THE LARGEST CUP OF CAFFEINATED BEVERAGE THAT IS LEGAL IN YOUR STATE OF RESIDENCE.
Mine will contain tea.
Waking up early is hard, but plenty of things are harder, including but not limited to:
- open-heart surgery
- marathons
- getting higher than the 2048th cell on the game 2048
- being stranded on Mars by yourself
- more than 15 pushups
I’ve been aiming for a wake-up call anywhere between 5:30am and 6:30am. My writing goal is 1,000 words per session. I’m quickly learning that while sleeping in feels good, getting a thousand words in before heading to my job feels even better.
Early Morning Writing Boot Camp is the perfect tool for achieving my current goals of finishing a draft of my second book by the end of October, and revising my first book by the end of November. Drafting a new novel during Nanowrimo? Boot Camp it.
If you miss a morning, don’t sweat it. Just try not to miss two or more in a row. Funny, I was reading the same advice about Nanowrimo just the other day.
How about you — are you an early morning writer, a night owl, or are you able to write during the day? Have you ever tried out a different schedule, and noticed any changes? Let me know what works for you!