Is Bedtime the Writetime?

After considering a few different topics late this Sunday night, I've settled on one very close to my heart: Bedtime. I'm not talking about the bedtime of small people who need stories and songs and books and prayers and kisses and drinks of water (but not too many sips because how many times can one mom wash bedsheets?). No, I'm talking about OUR bedtime.

Before I really immersed myself in writing, I went to bed at the reasonable hour of ten o'clock at night. (This gave me enough time to do my dishes AND watch House Hunters.) I had a child who woke up throughout the night still, but I managed to lay down with the rest of the world. Then when I started writing (and okay, blogging) bedtime and I were no longer friends.

This is a shame because I like sleep. I really feel I need sleep. And I've struggled a lot with this because I also really like to write. (You may refer to another post on choosing sleeping over writing. It's not pretty.) Does it have to be one or the other, though? I mean, if I managed my time better couldn't I sleep AND write? (And does staying up late REALLY shave minutes off my life like my mom says?)

I know I'm not alone because there is that little organization of women many of us are involved in-American NIGHT WRITERS Association. So what I'd really like to know is how late are you up? It would be nice to know who is up burning the midnight oil with me. Me? Midnight has been my average bedtime, but I've been shooting for eleven o'clock lately. Do some of you manage to stay up later than this AND function like a normal person the next day? If so, I might be jealous because THINK OF ALL YOU CAN GET DONE! (I really felt like John Travolta in Phenomenon wasted a lot of those nighttime hours by NOT writing a book.)

(Of course, while I'd like to say that EVERY late night is on account of writing, it isn't. There is laundry, movies with Husband, the occasional baking of chocolate-chip cookies at ten thirty, and Children. I'm sure that my children are involved in a conspiracy to rob me of my sleep because often JUST as I lay down to sleep, he wants a drink of water or she wakes up. I may have also blogged about this.) (Wow, three posts in my blogging life on sleep. i need a nap.)