How to Find Energy for Creative Work

Last issue I asked ya'll for questions, and I got some really lovely ones, and then I got hellaciously sick — "just" a respiratory viral thing but had a fever, basically slept straight through for several days, etc. etc. So, no newsletter last week.This week I'm answering the following question, from an anonymous writer.How do you find energy to come home after work and invest time in hobbies that take skill and effort to learn and refine? Even when so-called "motivation" strikes, by the time I commute home I find myself resting on the couch with my dog. It's nice, but I can't help but mourn building skills and being proud of creation, especially when programming was that passion for me until recently given the advent of AIThe classic answer is: Do it every day, first thing in the morning.This has always worked... sort of okay, for me? I go through periods when I can do it and then I go through periods where I don't. I was doing a pretty good job at working on the novel every day, but…