Wake up, little snoozers! (Do You Snooze?)

 HANK PHILLLIPPI RYAN:  People always ask all of us—how do you do it? When do you sleep? And I say—whoa. Whenever I can. I love sleep, and I am very careful about it. It’s not the sleeping part that’s the problem. It’s the getting up.  And in order to delay it as long as I can, for some reason, instead of setting the alarm to wake me up at the latest moment possible, I set it for eighteen minutes earlier so I can have two snoozes.

So. The alarm goes off. (Sixties music, sorry to say. And I have counted that I can turn it off in five notes.) I whap the snooze, and burrow down for nine more minutes. It goes off again. I whap it again, And then get nine more lovely minutes. It goes off again, I get up. I’m happy to be in the day, don’t get me wrong . But those 18 minutes are so lovely.

I guess I am somehow fooling myself, that I get to sneak this lovely extra sleep time, And it kind of gets me used to the idea of waking up. And the bed seems especially cozy right then.

My husband thinks I am NUTS. Set the alarm for the right time! he says. You’ll sleep better for the 18 minutes.

Well, that’s not how I do it.

Reds, are you snoozers?

RHYS BOWEN:  I'm not a snoozer. When I wake up, I'm wide awake.  One of the best things about being a writer is not having to get up to commute each day. But when I have to travel, which is quite often, and I know I have to get up at five, I wake up every half hour all night, just to make sure my alarm clock is working properly and I haven't overslept.

HANK: Oh, I do that too Rhys. EVERY hour. Amazing.

RHYS: And one of the pitfalls of being a writer is that I wake up at two a.m. and have an idea that has to be jotted down. So then I'm up, awake and my brain is racing.

But as for setting clocks ahead, John keeps the microwave set about 12 minutes so that we'll always leave the house at the right time. Crazy, right?

HANK: Oh, not crazy. At least, um, I agree. My clocks are all fast too. (Except for the computerized ones, which is confusing.) Jonathan says--why don't you set them for the right time? Why do you have to trick yourself, and do subtraction and addition? Shrugging. It just works for me.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm with Rhys; when I'm up, I'm up. I'd rather sleep until the last possible minute and then bolt out of bed. My youngest, who has to catch a school bus at 6:45am, is like you, Hank. I can hear her alarm go off at 5:50. Then 6:00. Then 6:10. She finally arises around 6:15. Drives me nuts. Wouldn't it be better to get that last 25 minutes uninterrupted? She says no.

Also? I'd rather be blasted awake than have one of those woosh-woosh white noise machines or the gradually increasing mellow music. I want to hear Steve Inskeep and Renée Montagne giving me the news or a recent pop hit blaring away (obviously, I have a clock radio. Probably an antique by now, what with everyone docking their Ipods instead.)

I do think one of life's great luxuries is settling down for a nap and NOT having to set an alarm. Some little niggle of anxiety in the back of my head turns off and I get the best sleep under those circumstances!

HALLIE EPHRON: Alarm clock? I rarely use one unless I have to get up for an early trip to the airport. I just wake up. Usually at around 6 or 6:30, 7 at the latest. And when I'm up, I'm up.

I'm a champion napper. I lie down for just a quickie (20 minutes is perfect), wake up refreshed. Not good if I end up sleeping for over an hour then I have a terrible time waking up and have trouble sleeping that night.

LUCY BURDETTE: Here is a picture of my alarm clock and snooze button, all in one. He starts when it gets light with a soft purr that gets louder the longer we sleep. And if that doesn't do it, he starts patting my cheek with his paw. Very sweet, but utterly annoying:).

HANK: Oh, so cute.  My Leon would do that too. After he knocked stuff off the dresser, to see if that would wake me.When I pretended to stay asleep, he'd knock over the wastebasket. Then he'd paw may face. It was hilarious.

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  Lucy, how adorable. I usually get a big dog nose in my face:-) I am not a snoozer. I don't usually set an alarm because I wake up pretty much the same time every day (not as early as Hallie!) and when I'm awake, I'm awake. When I do have to set an alarm I use my phone and one of nature/birdsong/gradual wake up things, but usually wake up before the alarm goes off. My husband is a snoozer. Fortunately I am almost always up first so don't have to listen to it! So annoying, beep beep beep beep...

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: 

Learned the hard way that I couldn't sleep in after becoming a mom. I remember once sleeping in (an accident) and waking to find Kiddo (about age four): 1) eating chocolate chips 2) watching LAW AND ORDER, and 3) using scissors (!) to cut the hair off one of his handmade puppets. Disaster on so many levels.

Now f I don't get up, our older male cat, Xander, will walk on my head (so very subtle) until I move. Lola, the younger female cat, will watch him do this until I get up, then run ahead in excitement and almost trip me before I get out the bedroom door.

Thank goodness for coffee.

HANK: Susan, I say that EVERY DAY! (And aw, I had a Lola!)
So, Reds, how about you? Are you a snoozer or a sleeper?   Why? And has anyone tried to change you?


And let's give a prize to a random commenter--how about an ARC of WHAT YOU SEE! (I'll have it soon…!)