There's a reason I'm a writer...

I’m not a morning person. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. I hate the thought of getting up before I need to, and I’m not even that good at obeying the alarm clock once it finally chimes in the early hours of the day. So today was one of those days that I dread.

The email came yesterday morning. Channel 3’s Morning Producer wrote to see if I’d be interested in bragging up my book on live television. Of course, I replied “Yes!”, but before I hit the send button, I scrolled back up the page to find the key word that I had missed at first glance. Morning producer! He was the morning producer! Obviously that meant he wasn’t in charge of the nightly news. Darn it!

Well, I never pass up an opportunity to plug a book in front of an audience of thousands, so I happily left the “Yes!” in my reply. Send.

Joyously I reclined in my chair, relishing the thought of the publicity. And then it hit me! I had to get up before the birds! I had to set an alarm that would go off before the sun had even peeked its crown over the eastern horizon. I had to go to bed early. I had to find something to wear. Oh yeah…did I mention that I had to get up early!

I called my husband, Jeff, to tell him the good news – that I would have a live segment on Channel 3’s Morning Show. I anticipated some sort of congratulations, but all I heard on the other end was laughter. “Yeah right, like you’re going to get out of bed that early. You have to be there before 6 o’clock?” And again – laughter!

At 4:30 a.m., I rolled (literally) out of bed. Groggily I made it through the hair and makeup routine – over and over again. First the hair is this way – then the hair is that way. First a shade of Estee Lauder’s beige #112 – then a change of heart and it’s an application of Lancome’s tea rose something or other. A little blush. Then a little more. And then the hair again. Jeff, still trying to get some rest, was getting worn out watching my routine and practically kicked me out of the bathroom so I’d make my early appointment.

As I entered the studio, I found News Anchor Charlotte Deleste sitting behind the news desk. Her makeup and hair were perfectly in place as they are every morning when I watch her – from my bed!!!! Her smile seemed genuine, and if she was tired, it didn’t show. I wondered how she did this every day. Was she as tired as I was? Did she detest the thought of an alarm clock that goes off in the dark? Did she feel as good as she looked?

And then I remembered what the cameraman told me when I asked him how the morning crew managed to get up so early every day. “I tell people that we really haven’t gotten used to getting up early, but we have gotten used to feeling like crap every day.”

Thanks for those words, Mr. Channel 3 cameraman.

That’s why I’m a WRITER!