If the thought of rising early to write has you automatically hitting the snooze button, you’re not alone. I once balked at getting up before the sun to pursue my literary dreams. I’d much rather stay warm, wrapped up in blankets than trudge to my writing desk, and work on something bleary-eyed.

But then things changed. One reason was that my writing friend, Belinda Grant, kept posting about how much she loved writing at 6am with the #6amAusWriters on Twitter. And two, I wasn’t making progress during the day when I was out of bed and trying to write non-bleary-eyed at my desk.

Writing when the rest of the world is up usually means distractions. There are work responsibilities, emails, phone calls, notifications, pets, kids, school runs, groceries, appointments, and all the other things that happen once everyone else has risen with their alarm and gone about their…