I've spent a decent chunk of time using Linux as a daily driver; and tinkering in Linux; but I've no official programming experience, and before this I'd never compiled a Linux kernel. I went into it with the expectation that it would be fun and that I wouldn't end up with a completely working system. There's good documentation on the Asahi Linux github, although I still stumbled a few times; and there is very friendly support on the Asahi Linux IRC channels.
Asahi Linux is a group of open-source folk porting Linux to the M1 Macs. There's also a commercial affair called Corellium who've done something similar and have instructions here - https://www.corellium.com/blog/linux-m1 - I didn't try their way; not for any particular reason except a vague loyalty to open source; but maybe it would have been the easier way. Whilst Corellium have tweeted their support for Asahi I don't know how friendly the relations between the two are.
My instructions