I’m not a morning person, but I’ve been especially terrible about waking up for the last month. Alexa is my alarm and it’s all too easy to say, “Alexa, snooze” over and over until it’s get-up-or-you’ll-be-late-for-work time.

So last night in a fit of determination, I moved my coffee station to my bedroom, hoping that if all I had to do is get out of bed and wander ten feet to press a button, I could probably manage it.

I prepped it last night: water in the reservoir, coffee in the machine. This morning, Alexa began to chime and I actually stood up, remembered how to use my legs, and pressed the button.

(Note: I don’t use K-Cups because they’re wasteful. I buy ground coffee at Aldi and use Ekobrew, a refillable k-cup.)

I opened my folding desk (I love it; my sister gave me one for Christmas and even though Luke can still raise his leg and hit the keys, it makes typing in bed more comfortable) and did not go back to sleep.

Two minutes later, my room was perfumed with the scent of coffee and I had a steaming cup of it on my nightstand. I opened my document and started to type.

I also activated Focus for Chrome, which kept me from wasting time on Twitter. Even if I think I’m being good and focusing, it’s easy for me to open a new tab and get lost. Apps like this might be training wheels, but I need them for now.

Instead of going back to sleep, I wrote about 500 words of my book, then got ready for work. I am a happy writer today! The challenge will be keeping this up for two weeks to form a new habit, but I am going to try.

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Update from 2020: After I blearily pressed the button for coffee, forgetting to put the cup underneath, I took the Keurig away from myself and reverted to tea!