The Early Bird?

I've never been a morning person. I'm coming out about that right now. When I schedule an interview for 10 or 11 AM, it's because I don't plan to be awake much before that time. But I often spend many late nights in front of the computer, when the house is quiet, the phone has stopped ringing, and I can let the words flow.

It takes a lot for me to admit that. Peter Bowerman, author of The Well-Fed Writer, helped me come to terms with it, finally, when he wrote about keeping similar waking hours (10 AM to 2 AM, approximately).

But this morning, after a day of non-stop "networking" yesterday, I was in front of the computer at 8 AM this morning to finish an article. It felt... peaceful. I was refreshed, not exhausted and accomplished more in two hours than I did all day yesterday.

In proving that the "early bird" does, indeed, get the...gig, some good news awaited me in my gmail box this morning. (Or perhaps it's just the result of all those "Just Hit Sends" I did at the end of last month!) My article, Both Sides of the Fence, will be published in the January 7 edition of the Absolute Write newsletter. Also beginning in the new year, I will be the author of a monthly AW column, titled Living Creatively.

Of course, at 10 AM, the phone rang. Then it rang again. And again. Then I had to make some follow-up calls to confirm information based on earlier calls. So much for peace. And while many people may not view 8 AM as "early," I think I am going to steal these two hours in the morning more often.