5:30 a.m.

After more than a year and a half of being a dad, I’ve come to the conclusion that 5:30 a.m. is the golden time, or as close to it as I’m likely to get.

On a good day, Sue’s asleep, StarGirl is [fingers-crossed] asleep, and I can catch a shower and spend an hour writing in front of my computer before the rest of the house is up. By making a concerted effort to get up at least three mornings a week at 5:30 a.m., I was able to make serious progress on some of my lingering projects (most recently the redesign of the my D&D campaign’s web site and a bunch of my freelance assignments).

The rest of the day is pretty much a wash, writing-wise. I can usually pound something out over my lunch break at work (which is when this particular entry is penned). When I get home, I can always coordinate with Sue if I need time for some freelance project, but I try not to do that too much, if for no other reason than it cuts into my StarGirl time.

So that leaves 5:30 a.m.

It is, without a doubt, an ungodly hour. Even the dogs blink at me as if to say “what the hell are you thinking?” (the cats, of course, just demand to be fed). It’s made worse by the fact that I’m a late-night kind of guy. I’d much rather be up every night until 2 or 3 a.m., then going to bed at 10 and crawling back out of it before the sun’s even risen.

But once I’m up, had my shower, and slurped down a Mountain Dew (you didn’t think I was doing this all uncaffeinated, did you?) enough of my brain is working to get some serious work done.

Now if only I could find a way to avoid sleeping entirely…

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