So Set `Em Up, Joe . . .

You remember the classic Sinatra standard where he's singing about how late it is, and it's time to go, so the bartender needs to set up one last round?  Well, lately, that's the time I've been getting up.  Not by choice, mind you, I have nonetheless.

Cricket loves it.  She gets up with me out of duty, for several reasons.  The first and foremost is that she loves me.  The second is that she knows she's going to be fed earlier.  (I pay for this, as when I finally start to sleep later, she awakens me about two a.m., as she wants to be fed.)  The second is I give her extra treats for awakening her at such a horrific hour.

Now, you may think I mutter and grumble about getting up this early, but I have to admit something . . . . I love getting up this early.  Yes, I know . . . but I don't think insanity runs in my family.  It gallops, but it doesn't run.  I do have my reasoning for enjoying this odd quirk, though.

As you know, I'm a writer.  (We all have our faults.)  I seem to do my best work when it's dark.  (I guess it's the vampire in me.)  That's when I edit the heck outta my work, and I do so without fail.  I look at what I've done, and go 'tch, tch', 'Awwwww!' or 'Fisher, what in the name of Luke Short does that mean?'  It seems once the sun's up I do more piddling. 

I don't know why this works the way it does.  I wish it was the opposite.  I love my bed.  (I actually sleep better on the couch, though.)  But there's something about the night that stirs my creative juices.  This being the case, it's time to start on another book.  After all, it's 3:50 in the morning.

So set `em up, Joe.