Navigating that space between sleeping and being fully awake is often a very personal thing. I admire those who go immediately to the meditation cushion or head out to the running trail. I smiled this morning when my writer friend posted on her blog about the important role coffee plays in her own routine. I’m like that myself, even to the point of sometimes hurrying off to bed in anticipation of that wonderful cup of lavender-flavored coffee sweetened with honey that will greet me the next morning! Dr. Meg Fitzellen, the main character in my current novel-in-progress (THE FOURTH TIME), shares this predilection. In the passage below, she is waking up on her first morning back at her archaeology field site in Belize.

“Blending with the steady beat of rain on the tin roof, Meg could discern the rhythmic sounds of Indra going through her yoga practice just the other side of the paper thin wall that separated their rooms… Meg envied Indra the gentle discipline of yoga, but had never been able to commit to it herself, tending to get over enthusiastic and pull muscles anytime she tried it. Meg’s wakeup routine centered on coffee. That was what was on her mind as she rolled out of bed and pulled on her field pants and work shirt. She pushed her boots to one side, pulled the rubber flip-flops from under the bed and rolled up her pants legs in anticipation of wading to the kitchen where she hoped Elodia would have coffee ready.”