When the Muse Strikes

 Early Riser

My favorite hours of the day are the pre-dawn hours, when the world is still dark and the only sounds are the slowly-waking voices in my head. In this brief interlude of solitude all things are possible. In fact, all things are probable. I can do anything, solve all problems, perform any action, fly.

And write.

I don't know what it is in my makeup that I feel most creative, garner the most inspiration, and am able to court and win the attention of the muse most successfully when it is still dark outside. I would much rather go to bed before 8 o'clock in the evening and get up after the rest of the world (in my time zone) has retired. The creaking sounds of the house settling whisper encouragement with subtle conviction.

Most of my fiction ideas (Amazon authors page) come to me in the time between climbing out of bed and trudging to my office. I've learned to write as fast as I can before the rosy fingers of Dawn claw pastel rents in the starred sky and bring light and self-doubt in equal intensity. My muse is of vampiric habits, and I in thrall must follow (see, in the full light of day I would be ashamed to leave that on the page).

Once I am fully retired and living in New York, I hope to more fully devote myself to this schedule. I manifest my future by picturing myself seated by the window in my apartment, typing away while in my peripheral vision the skyline silhouettes protectively, like a pillow fort keeping the monsters of childhood at bay.