It's actually a common shared experience; for instance, writer once shared a Substack post about the "psychopathic" urge to be productive and write at 4 a.m. while "balls deep" in a COVID infection. Similarly, musicians have used that isolated early-morning energy to create original piano pieces or tribute songs .
Please go ahead and share your 4am writing, and I'll get started on turning it into an essay for you! i wrote this at 4am sick with covid
We are the ones watching the shadows shift on the wall, listening to the rhythmic breathing of the people in the next room who are lucky enough to be unconscious. It's actually a common shared experience; for instance,
And yet, in the middle of this, you’re typing. Why? Because the alternative is lying motionless and listening to the ringing in your ears—a high-pitched tone that sounds like a mosquito with a philosophy degree, asking you questions about mortality you aren’t ready to answer. Please go ahead and share your 4am writing,
The (e.g., deeply emotional, humorous, or highly practical with recovery tips) The length requirement if you need it expanded further
So if you are reading this from your own sickbed. If you are coughing into the dark. If you are lonely and scared and exhausted and you cannot remember the last time you felt like yourself—I see you. We are in this strange, feverish hour together, separated by screens and time zones and the peculiar isolation of modern illness.