Waking Up Early to Write

Or, how I joined the 5 a.m. Writers’ Club and stuck with it.

Since mid-April 2021, I’ve been waking up earlier than usual to write. A major reason why I decided to do this? I went back to the office full-time after COVID-19 vaccinations became more prevalent.

It may surprise some people that I started this habit when working from home ended. Wouldn’t I want to sleep in as much as possible? Why add something else to my schedule?

My reasoning was simple, however: I was exhausted after getting home from work, and I often didn’t feel like writing in the evenings. If I didn’t wake up earlier, my entire day went like this: wake up, get ready for work, commute to work, work, drive home, make dinner, briefly read/write/walk, go to bed. A solid twelve hours of my day, from waking up to arriving at home, revolved around my day job.

No, thank you. That was not how I wanted to live my life.

My discovery of the #5amwritersclub on Twitter was accidental. Not long after I started waking up earlier to write, I learned about the hashtag while reading a post on an author’s website. There is a whole world out there of people who wake up early to prioritize writing. (Side note: it’s an awesome Twitter community full of lovely, supportive writers; I highly recommend checking it out!)

So how do I do this every weekday morning? Here’s how I got going and how I’ve stayed consistent:

1. The obvious solution: Set an earlier alarm

Straightforward, right? But the trick is, how much earlier? If you wake up at 6:30 a.m. normally, you probably don’t want to jump right into waking up at 4:45. Start small, like five or ten minutes earlier than your usual wake-up time.

Once you adapt to that small shift, try gradually ramping up the amount to fifteen minutes, twenty, twenty-five, thirty. Wake up five minutes earlier each week or every few days, and you’ll be surprised about how quickly you can adapt.

2. Do the regular morning routine first

While some people might prefer to write first, I like to get myself ready for work before sitting down to write. That way, while I’m writing, I’m not thinking about everything I have left to do before my commute. I can focus 100% on my writing until it’s time to leave the house.

And sometimes, if I’m doing something that doesn’t require my undivided attention with eyes on the mirror (brushing my teeth, for example) I’ll do a few handwritten edits on printed-out pages. That strategy 1) starts my writing momentum, and 2) lessens my resentment toward the time I have to spend getting ready for work.

3. Set a timer

If you want to make sure you stick to writing without getting distracted by other parts of your morning routine, then setting a timer with an easy-to-hear alarm is a great way to focus. An alarm going off also takes away the stress of potentially losing track of time. You’ll know, for example, that when that timer goes off, you’ll still have fifteen minutes left before you need to start the rest of your day or leave the house.

I swear by the pomodoro method for everything from writing (I would not have finished my dissertation without it), to emptying the dishwasher and doing laundry. A traditional pomodoro is 25 minutes with a five-minute break in-between. You can shorten or increase that 25-minute chunk depending on the amount of time you have/need.

4. Identify clear daily goals

Sometimes, the art of writing happens when you sit down and let words flow without a plan. But it can be frustrating if you set aside time to write during your busy week, and then you sit down at your desk, in your favorite chair, or on your porch, only to think: Now what?

Before you start writing, give yourself a specific goal, whether that’s writing a scene for your novel, outlining a blog post, journaling, drafting a flash story, or following a prompt.

What if you would rather not plan, deciding to go with whatever creative feelings you have in the moment? Sure, that’s great. But if you go that route, have a pen and paper (or your word processor/writing software) ready so that you’re not staring off into space for twenty minutes.*

(*Yes, I know that staring off into space can count as creative time. It’s sometimes the best way to work out a scene, imagine a character, fill a plot hole, etc. If you do end up staring off into space during your writing time, however, please actually think about your writing. Don’t waste time mulling over your to-do list at your day job, deciding what to get your friend for their birthday, or figuring out whether your cat is secretly plotting to take over the world.)

5. Plan even farther ahead

The night before, what can you do to give yourself more time during your early-morning writing session? Set out the clothes you’re going to wear? Get coffee ready to go? Organize your writing station?

Taking this further, can you plan ahead for the full week? Try taking fifteen minutes on Sunday evening to make a list of your writing goals: any overall goals for the week, plus the smaller goals for each of your morning writing sessions.

And last but certainly not least, the most important thing you can do if you intend to wake up earlier to write: Go to bed earlier. You will thank yourself in the morning.