Turning Over a New Leaf

I'm writing this at 6:20 a.m. to prep myself to work on my novel. I am not a morning person but I need to become one. I am definitely a night owl. I don't go to bed until 12 a.m. on average because I do so much. On the days I'm exhausted I'll fall asleep early but then I'm awake again at 12 a.m. Then I usually don't wake up until 7 or 7:30 and then I'm running to get ready for work because I go in at 9. I know you morning people are saying, "WHAT?!"

Today I'm turning over a new leaf. I woke up 5 til 6 and I started on my daily routine early. My new goal is to try and get to bed somewhere before 12 and to wake up at 6 a.m. I can live on 6-7 hours of sleep a night easily.

Rey, my husband, has been telling me forever to wake up early and write. He's actually talking about 5 a.m. early and I tried that a few times but it killed me. I was so tired by the end of the day I didn't have the energy to exercise or do much. The more I thought about it I decided that if I want to finish this book I am going to need one solid hour of writing a day. What is one hour less of sleep??

Mornings are really great because the kids are still asleep and I have complete quiet, except for any soft music I may want to play. I've tried writing for one hour during lunch a few times but to tell you the truth carrying my heavy laptop to work is a hassle. I'll do it If I have to. And even though I'm writing in my blog right now it's still part of my daily writing, even if I do this for 20 min and work on my novel the rest of the time.

I set the alarm for 5:55 with the plan to snooze 5 min but when the alarm went of this morning I told myself, "You need to finish this book to do what you want in life." That will be my daily mantra. I need to remind myself daily that this is the job that makes me truly happy.

So here I am. It's 6:27. I'm set to write for the day. I decided I can write until 7:15 because I'll already have all the morning rituals and breakfast done so I can afford the extra 15 min of writing. Then I don't have to rush to get ready each morning and I'll be at work on time each day and then I gain two things.

I tell myself that I should be able to do this. I used to wake up at 6:30 every morning to be at work at 7:30 when I used to teach Pre-K. But then I remind myself that I was 25, single, and I didn't have 2 small children under 5. Big difference.

Side note: Tomorrow is my EIGHT year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it! Where have the years gone?