What does a typical morning look like when I write a blog post?
Well, I work at 6:30am So I get up at 4am. Unlike a sane person I do this to be ready for the day. I do it so I am not waking up at work. I do it so I can enjoy time to myself. It is something I have done for longer than I can remember now. That is waking up earlier than needed. I think structurally it started in 2002. That sounds right. I used to wake up early and read the Bible, I would study it. Then I moved on to other books and prayer walks, by 2005 I would wake up at 3am, but these are things a crazy person does. Even though the bible study and prayer walks are no longer part of my life, I have yet ceased to be a crazy person. So about ten years ago I wanted to become a fiction writer. So I wrote Books, NaNoWriMo style, not intended for publishing, but for practice. I think four sit on my old computer- dead to me and the world. They were good practice. Somewhere between now and then I started this blog and killed it, started it and killed it again. But the practice of waking up and writing has stuck. Because writing takes time, I get up at 4am with an intention to write. I don’t always write. Sometimes the morning gets away with me.
I start the morning like everyone else, turning off my alarm and pissing out yesterday’s fluids. From time to time I look in the mirror and realize I need more sleep. Today I looked and knew I was going to have to make an extra cup of coffee to go. I get to the dining room and turn on the light. Coffee is the first thing made- always. Because I am on a keto diet right now I make eggs. I move at turtle speed, check my phone while I cook. I pull out my laptop and turn it on. Then I remember I have to take vitamins, I get those ready and scramble my eggs some more. By this time It is about 4:30 I have choices, get caught scrolling on my phone or write. Breakfast is made I put it in front of the laptop and one of three things happens: I start writing, I keep scrolling, or I think about life and all its challenges. Side note: sometimes I just write affirmations or draw. But those are much more infrequent lately.
If I start writing like I did today, I try to get done before 5:10am so I can edit. Unlike today I have no idea what I am going to write about. I just start writing. Either I will have a title in my head or I will start the first paragraph. Then I am off to the races. I really am a bibliophile and have listened to more books than I have read and that continual love affair keeps my mind well stocked with ideas. They just sit there in my synapses a part of me and slogging around. So I don’t think too hard when I am writing. Side note: I figured out how to free myself from any worry when it comes to writing on my blog. My blog, this blog isn’t advice, it is not counseling, it is not legal advice, it is like Fox News, entertainment. I am not trying to sell you anything, or sway you anyway, but to be the most outgoing you and to enjoy your short life. Those things are what I want for myself and others, particularly you my reader. If I were to sell you anything, it would one day be a book, because I haven’t given up on being a writer, professionally that is. To The point, I am free to write for intellectual entertainment, neither of us have to do anything with this but enjoy the mental break from our lives. Sometimes in an inspirational or motivational way. It is like watching Rocky.
What happens most of the times when I am writing is I will still stop and scroll through my phone, check my horoscope, and make a second cup of coffee. By that time it is 5am and with the second cup of coffee, I feel like it is a fresh start. Two things will happen at this time, I will feel like it is time to wrap up and edit or I will continue to write and make sacrifices with my personal hygiene. I try to leave my house by 6am. Time is a real asshole at this moment. Because if I keep writing, I might also not be able to go back and edit, and there are times, I grimace at what I hit publish on. But it is out there in the world and gone. I try to hit that publish button by 5:30, which gives me little time to get ready. Let’s not forget I am still moving on turtle speed, and not ninja turtle speed. By 6am ready or not I am out the door lunch box in hand and the hope that no matter what happens I have a good day.
In closing, when I say at the end of the post, I am running out of time, or gotta go, It is like we are on an instant messenger app. I know I don’t have to do it this way. I could write in the morning, edit when I get home, and publish the next morning, shit I could take the time and do SEO research and really punch up the post to try and gain traction. I could. I should. I am not gonna. For me, writing right now and was in the past an entertaining outlet, a place of expression, it is a quick sketch, it is art. It feels more alive to me in the moment to publish than it does to wait. I am sure I will come around to doing it a better way, especially now that I have addressed it, but until then, Good morning!
I really gotta go now.
Later Gator 🐊
Nino Olson 