#alarm #sleep #wakeup #retirement I still have no clue what my biological clock is going to do now that I’m not tied to a work schedule anymore. I was a night owl, working afternoon/evening for thirty years, but for the last ten, I’ve been all about that 'early to bed, early to rise' life.

Podsafe audio: https://studio273.bandcamp.com/track/night-owl-or-morning-lark

Over more than twenty years of participating in February Album Writing Month (FAWM), I’ve settled into a workflow that lets me capture a solid recording almost as soon as a new song exists. Everything begins with a guitar progression and a melody I’m humming into place. Once a few words surface, the actual songwriting kicks in. Even with all the digital tools available today, I prefer to keep things grounded by playing real instruments. I print the lyrics in large type, hang the sheet above a camera, and run through the song a few times. Usually the fourth or fifth take is the one I keep. FAWM taught me early on not to get stuck chasing “perfect.” After recording, I pull the audio from the video and drop it into a mixing program. Most of my effect settings are locked in beforehand. Then I add extra vocals and additional instruments—guitar, banjo, piano, keyboard. Once the mix sounds clean enough, I sync it back to the video. Every year I pick a new two-tone color theme for these recordings. If a song is captured this way during FAWM, it’s considered finished. After the month ends, I usually have three or four keepers that I test live on stage. Performing them helps the songs develop, but I never rerecord them. Around ninety percent of everything I’ve written in the last two decades began during FAWM—simple, consistent, effective. These days I use ChatGPT to check my lyrics for grammar and spelling and to offer suggestions; before that, I leaned on native-speaking FAWMers. The audio mix I upload to Bandcamp is identical to the one in the videos.

I loved to work the evening shift my body clock got used to it Feeling fine in midnight light like an owl flying through the night

Got a new job, the rhythm changed early wake, never complained I had to start at break of day like a morning lark I found my way

But now the clocks don’t tell me when don’t have to work ever again No wake-up call, we’ll wait and see nowhere to go, no place to be

Will my nights return, stay up late or will the sun decide my fate? Maybe I’m learning just to flow and find out where the hours go

Now the clocks don’t tell me when I don't have to work ever again No wake-up call, we’ll wait and see nowhere to go, no place to be

Right now I would not know where the hours go Night owl or morning lark it is all a question mark

Now the clocks don’t tell me when I don't have to work ever again No wake-up call, we’ll wait and see nowhere to go, no place to be

Right now I would not know where the hours go Night owl or morning lark It is all a question mark

Now the clocks don’t tell me when I don't have to work ever again No wake-up call, we’ll wait and see nowhere to go, no place to be

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