WHY I WROTE AWAKE
It started at 2:47 a.m.
Not every night. But most nights.
I'd wake up and lie there in the dark, waiting for sleep to come back. It never did.
Perimenopause, they told me. Hormones shifting. Stress. Age. All the usual explanations.
But knowing why didn't make it easier.
I felt alone in those hours. Like I was the only person awake in the world. My husband sleeping next to me. The house quiet. The town dark.
Just me and the clock and the weight of being awake when I didn't want to be.
I Started Writing It Down
One night, instead of lying there stewing in it, I got up, walked to my study, opened a notebook and wrote.
Not to fix it. Not to solve it. Just to... witness it.
To say: this is happening. This is what it feels like.
The fog in my brain. The heaviness. The small, strange thoughts that only come at 3 a.m.
I wrote about towels. About my job. About church bells at three in the morning.
I wrote about the things I was angry about. The things I was grieving. The things I couldn't say out loud during the day.
And I kept writing.
One night became ten. Ten became twenty. Twenty became sixty.
All written in real time. All written when I was supposed to be sleeping.
I Realized I Wasn't Alone
When I started sharing pieces of these nights with a few friends, something happened.
They said: Me too.
I'm awake at 2:47 too.
I thought I was the only one.
That's when I knew this wasn't just my story.
It's the story of so many women in midlife. Women whose bodies are changing in ways we weren't prepared for. Women who are exhausted but can't sleep. Women who feel invisible during the day and wide awake at night.
We're all awake at 2:47 a.m.
And we're all alone together.
This Book Isn't About Fixing It
I want to be clear about that.
This isn't a self-help book. I don't have solutions. I don't have seven steps to better sleep or a magic supplement that works.
I just have the nights.
And I wanted to share them—raw, unfiltered, exactly as they happened—because maybe someone else needs to know they're not alone in this.
Maybe you're awake at 2:47 too.
Maybe you've felt the fog and the weight and the loneliness.
Maybe you've tried all the supplements and the sleep hygiene tips and the meditation apps, and you're still awake.
If that's you, this book is for you.
Not to fix you. Just to sit with you in the dark hours.
What's Inside
60 nights. 75 pages.
Short entries—some just a few sentences, some a page or two.
Real time. Real feelings. No filter.
You can read it in one sitting (most people do). Or you can read one night at a time when you're awake at 3 a.m. yourself.
It starts at 2:47 a.m.
Where do your nights start?
Get Your Copy
AWAKE: Notes from the Quiet Hours is available now:
📖 Paperback: $11.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXXHH9M9
💻 Ebook: $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXTSKP6B
If you read it, I'd be honored if you'd leave a review on Amazon. Even a sentence or two helps other women find this book.
Thank you for being here. For reading these words. For being awake with me.
S.A. Sterling