My Morning Writing Checklist
☑ Write Like a Morning Person begins Monday
BE AN EARLY BIRD WITH ME
Give early-morning writing a try with me next week.
Paid subscribers are invited to Write Like a Morning Person. Monday, 2/24, through Friday, 2/28, 5:30-7AM EST. Drop in anytime during our 90-minute block. Attend as many or as few days as you’d like.
Current paid subscribers will find the Zoom link below the paywall at the bottom of this email. Hope to see you there! 🌞
TODAY'S NEWSLETTER
I left social media last month, and the only thing I miss about Instagram are those Get Ready With Me videos. Today, I offer the email newsletter equivalent of that.
I have found that when I wake up early to write, the writing goes much better. This is not the case for everyone, of course. But if you think it might be the case for you, today I offer a checklist based on what I do to prepare to wake up early to write.
You know what they say: the Hurley bird catches the worm.
☑ NIGHT RITUALS☑ Set coffee pot to autobrew. Make sure you have your preferred milk in the fridge. (Oatly 4evr.) If you prefer tea, put the water in the kettle and check your tea stash.
☑ Tidy up your writing space. Charge your laptop & headphones. Set your notebook and favorite pen on your desk.
☑ Decide what you’re going to work on during your writing time in the morning. Yes, you can change your mind, but having a plan will help you get started.
☑ Set out your cozy supplies. A sweatshirt/bathrobe and a pair of your favorite socks will make it easier to get out of your warm bed in the morning.
☑ Crawl in bed around 9, book in hand, phone charging in the other room.
☑ Set your alarm for 5:15AM. I swear by my sunrise alarm clock set to birdsong.
☑ Lights out by 9:30.
☑ MORNING ROUTINES☑ Do not force yourself to leap out of bed when your alarm goes off. Leaping out of bed makes me queasy! But try to get up before five minutes have passed.
☑ Slip on the cozy. Right away, get into that sweatshirt/bathrobe/sock combo you put by your bed.
☑ Give your body what it needs to get going. I remove and clean my TMJ nightguard before I do anything else. (Fellow tooth-grinders: I see you. I feel your pain.)
☑ Pour that first cup of coffee and refill your water bottle and look at your phone if you want! Do a little scrolling! Check your noties! Read your horoscope! Whatever you want. Just try and get to your desk at the time you said you would.
☑ Get to the desk at 5:30 and write write write until the dog needs a walk or the kids need to get ready for school or your stomach says “feed me Seymour.”
FOR THE MORNING-CURIOUS ↴
If you want to try this writing routine together, join my Write Like a Morning Person sessions on Zoom next week. Details below.
WRITE LIKE A MORNING PERSON
Close out February with a week of early morning writing.
Paid subscribers of this newsletter are invited to Write Like a Morning Person, a co-writing space for the morning-curious.
We’ll write together every weekday next week: Monday, February 24 through Friday, February 28, 5:30-7AM EST. Drop in anytime during our 90-minute block. Attend as many or as few days as you’d like.
Current paid subscribers will find the Zoom link below the paywall at the bottom of this email.
WHAT OUR MORNINGS WILL LOOK LIKE
5:30-6:45AM EST · WRITING TIME · We’ll begin by sharing in the chat what we’re working on, then we’ll get right to writing. You can use your daily writing time for journaling, working on a project, planning the day ahead: the morning sky is the limit.
6:50-7:00AM EST · DAILY SHARING · Somedays, we’ll use the last ten minutes of our session to take turns sharing how our writing time went. Other days, I’ll read a passage from one of my favorite creativity books, and we’ll take some time to integrate it, setting the tone for the rest of our day.
7:00AM EST · WAVE GOODBYE · Set forth into the rest of your day with your post-writing glow!
Join the session anytime, as many or as few days as you’d like.
SEE YOU MONDAY?
This offering is for paid subscribers of this newsletter. If you’ll be there next week, let me know in the comments!
Join Write Like a Morning Person by upgrading your subscription. Cancel anytime, no questions asked. (Seriously.) Click below.
BELOW TODAY’S PAYWALL
Paid subscribers can access the Zoom link for Write Like a Morning Person below. Happy writing! 💌