The Biggest Obstacle to Writing

The alarms blares at 5 a.m.
Get up. Time to write.
No one is making me. I don't have to. I could get another hour of wonderful, restorative sleep. I could write on my lunch break instead...
You know how hard that is.
True.
Get up.
I get up. Fuzzy-headed, I bless the Keurig and watch it dispense a cup of fuel. Then I turn on the laptop, let the dog outside, and sit down to write.
I can't believe I'm doing this so early...
But once I get into it, time melts away. Soon, I'm in a schoolroom in Scotland, trying to piece together a novel that makes sense. And then I realize it's nearly 6 and time to stop, get in the shower, and get on with things.

After so many years on my writing journey, I realize there are no shortcuts. I can spend hours reading about how to write. But it all comes down to actually doing it. And if I don't do it, then all it ever becomes is just a hobby I dabble with, not something that I want, some day, to be what I do. My lunch break just doesn't seem to work. The evenings are filled with other activities and time I want to spend with my husband. So that leaves 5 a.m.

I look forward to the day when it is so much a habit I don't think about it, when I don't have these internal discussions with myself about how much better I would feel with an extra hour's sleep under my belt. But until then, I wrestle with the biggest obstacle to writing of all--myself.

What about you? When do you write and how do you motivate yourself?