A beeping sound stirred Chris from his slumber. It was his alarm. It was loud enough to wake him, but not the rest of the house. He reached out to silence it before it eventually woke his sleeping wife or their toddler. There would be trouble if he woke Adam at five am.
He carefully pulled back the covers and climbed out of bed. Feeling his way around the darkness of his bedroom, he tip-toed to the door.
Once in the hallway he used the torch on his phone to light the way. The eerie light illuminated the walls of the stairway as he crept down the steps and avoided the creaky one before he reached the ground.
He switched on the kitchen light and had to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness.
Coffee, he needed coffee. While the kettle boiled he retrieved his favourite mug from the cupboard. It had “Writers do it at 5 am” emblazoned across it a in bright-red font. His wife, Katie, had bought it for him as a joke. These five am starts were rough, but the coffee would help him kick-start his day.
He spooned a heap of instant into his mug. It would have to do. The coffee machine was way too noisy at this time of the day. He poured the steaming water into the cup, added a splash of milk, then took his mug to the dining table.
This was his work space for now. That was, until he could earn enough money to buy a bigger house, with a spare room that could be used as an office.
He powered up his lap top and waited for it to load. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. The house was quiet. The only sounds were the clock ticking and the whirl of the lap top. He looked through the glass of the back door. It was dark outside. It was spring, and daylight was coming earlier, just not this early yet.
Although he hated dragging himself out of bed while the rest of his family slept, he knew there was no other way to get his writing done. He had a full-time job and a family to provide for.
Now, in the quiet and isolation, he knew he would be able to work uninterrupted for at least a couple of hours.
Now was the time to write that best-selling novel.
Chris’s lap top had loaded and his fingers hovered over the icon for his WIP. He hesitated a moment, “Let’s have a look at Twitter for some inspiration, first.”
