Jonathan Safran Foer challenged our workshop group to do an experiment.  ”I do it every other day,” he said.  ”I wake up at four in the morning, I turn off my internet, and I just write for as long as I can.”  He asked all of us to give it a try for just one day of the week.  We decided on Wednesday.

I did make an attempt to do this on my own last week, but I ended up turning off my alarm in my sleep.  Jonathan shook his head at me when I told him.  ”You have to set more than one alarm,” he said.  ”I always set three alarms.”

So today was the first day, as a group, that we tried this new ritual.  I set myself five alarms starting at 3:45 am, each one a different ringtone, the five most jarring sounds I could find on my iPhone.  I forced myself out of bed at 4 o’clock sharp, got enough water boiling for several mugs of tea, and sat down at the computer to email the group and check in.

I felt strangely awake as I opened the document containing the latest draft of my novel.  I felt excited.  I think I was energized by the simple fact that I was able to force myself out of bed.  That in itself was a goal, so I guess achieving a goal right off the bat gave me the endorphins I needed to wake up and get to work.

It turned out to be an incredibly productive morning.  There were a couple of times when I felt like I might be zoning out and letting my exhaustion take over, and I would switch gears for just five minutes to reenergize.  I got up and did a hundred jumping jacks.  I watched a funny YouTube video (but only one).  I took a break to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  And every time, those few minutes were enough to make me feel awake once more, and enthusiastic about going back to my writing.

By 8:30 I had done a pretty solid rewrite of 9 single-spaced pages of my thesis.  That’s over 5% of the whole draft!  Imagine if I woke up at 4 in the morning every other day and rewrote another 5% each time!  The idea is so exciting to me — I think I’m actually going to try it.

I think what works so well is that during those early hours the world is quiet and nobody is emailing you, nobody is texting you.  You can turn your phone off with no guilt, because nothing work-related happens then.  It’s the same reason why I used to write primarily between 12 and 5 in the morning.  But the difference with moving that to 4 am is that I get to start the day fresh, with a brain full of ideas, my fingers itching to write.  I get to start my day with productivity.

So go on: I dare you to try it.  Set three alarms, or five, or more.  Tomorrow, just get up and write.