Morning Glory.

My mornings are sacred.

There used to be a time (we’ll call it “college”) where I considered myself a night owl. Classes were carefully chosen to start much later in the morning, if not in the afternoon, and I was a closer at my job, sometimes not getting home until two in the morning. And then I would still do stuff after that. Eventually, I got out of college and got on a regular schedule, but, even then, it was staying up until one. That’s when the Easling Pool hit. The Easling Pool is the aquatic center of the Grand Traverse Civic Center in Traverse City, Michigan, and I was hired to do some clerical and customer service work there. This required being at the pool bright and early at five o’clock to make sure everything was ready for the early birds who came in at five thirty to get in their laps before the work day. Fast forward about two years later, and I still get up at five o’clock nearly every morning (today was six o’clock, since I was out celebrating a friend’s timely new job until two in the morning, a rarity for me!), and it works out pretty well. My friends and coworkers kind of boggle at how soon I go to bed and how early in the morning I get up, but maybe Ben Franklin was onto something with that whole “early to bed, early to rise” thing.

My roommate is definitely one for sleeping in when she can. She’s also the type that can get up and be ready for work in half an hour; I am the complete opposite and need an extra hour to oh-so-slightly curl my hair. Needless to say, since she doesn’t usually get up until eight on a weekday (and later on weekends), I have the mornings all to myself, and it’s glorious. I do my best work in that chunk of hours, when the day is getting started. Sometimes, I can manage to continue after its been interrupted, but, more often than not, my focus leaves me and I can get a little more work done, but it’s between house work and talk radio.

Still, those morning hours are invaluable to me. Usually, when I work in the afternoon, I don’t have the same motivation and drive to work on my writing like I do first thing in the morning, but I am getting better at that, especially since, lately, writing is all I want to do. Have you ever gotten to that crazy level where your friends plan something and all you can think is, “Man! That’s going to cut into some valuable writing time!”? I’ve been having some moments like that lately. All I want to do is work on my little system that allows me to write and read. It’s fantastic.

But it’s also a little strange. Sometimes, because writing is my passion and what I love to do, I feel guilty about the time I allot to it. I’m sure some of that guilt might be lifted once Bowlful of Bunnies is actually posted and in the market, but there’s a little voice in the back of my head right now that’s trying to tell me I should be doing more productive things with my morning. I’m pleased that this voice is lately encountered with a swift reply of, “What could possibly be more productive?” but there’s always that niggling doubt that this is all just a big waste of time.

This is my dream, my passion, and it’s coming together, especially in those glorious hours of the morning where I can really focus and get my work done. And the fact that I feel a desire to have those morning hours last all day help me believe that I’m definitely on the right track.

When are your sacred hours, when the craft really strikes and you feel that inspiration and that strong conviction that things are finally coming together? Do you often get the doubt creeping in on you that threatens to abolish that conviction? I’ve sat here and rambled at you for a good bit, so feel free to ramble back!

I’d also like to thank circles under street lights for being my latest follower! Thanks for reading the blog! Great to have you with us.