Adventures of a Non-Binary Author – The 4:30 AM Rise
Half four in the morning. It’s probably a ridiculous time to wake up when you start work at eight. But this is the time I naturally wake up Sunday. It was the same time I beat my alarm by on my last few working days too. I’m not sure yet if it will stay that way. I have three days off coming up which will hopefully let my body clock reset a little. Still, being awake this early just gives me a more relaxed pace through my work-morning routine. Something all the more necessary now I’m splitting my morning writing time between my current fiction project and this blog.
Not that I’m writing for the blog every morning. If I’m more in the zone with my fictional work, then that’s where the energy goes. My current writing project is another story set within my fictional town of Neva Aton. The series I’m editing is set there too. Its the third generation of characters from that world. And this story is refocusing on one of them, whilst also connecting back to another series waiting to be edited. Everything I’ve written the last few years is connected. All in the same universe. I like the characters, and the slices of life they give me. Each series is mostly self-contained. So are most of the books. You don’t need to read all them to enjoy any of the stories. But they do flesh each other out. Creating a fuller, more developed world.
The blog writing is because life has been more interesting recently. Not that I didn’t want to get back into blogging. I did. But it can be hard to know what to write. The only subjects I’m truly passionate about aren’t exactly interesting to blog about. I don’t live an overly eventful life. I have a day job which I love. I have my writing. My partner. My gerbil. But I’m pretty introverted. My idea of the perfect day off involves me doing very little once the morning routine has been completed. It’s not that I don’t enjoy socialising. I do, when it happens. I just don’t feel lonely when I’m alone. Although I also enjoy doing a little more with my partner when we have time off together. I’m happy whenever we’re doing anything together, even if it’s as simple as a quiet evening in.
We’ve still been getting those quite evenings together. Even if they’re a little shorter than they were. But that’s okay. It’s all part of the new normal. And it won’t be like this forever. Once we’ve found our home, we’ll be closer to the city center again. Then everything will be set on a new… hopefully easier… path. We just need to find a place first. For now though, all we have is the new normal.
And, for now, my new normal apparently means four-thirty starts on days that I work. Monday and Tuesday only confirm this notion. I am waking up naturally, before my alarm, so it’s not making me feel groggy. Tired, yes. But I’m always tired. I’m not sure I’ve ever not felt tired. It’s all I can remember. As a kid. As a teen. As an adult. This constant weary feeling. That weariness isn’t feeling any worse. So, for now, I’ll just let my body do what it needs to. I have three days off coming up. I don’t need to be up early on those. So if I need the extra rest, that’s when I’ll get it, right?
To be continued…
