A perfect example of what being a writer is all about ...

It's 3 a.m. and I'm sitting at my desk having made a very difficult deadline and celebrating with a very adult beverage -- think 14 Year Old Caribbean Cask -- as I try and unwind enough to crash.

For those who wonder about the the process of writing and all this is sort of when everything comes together. I'm tired, I have a book deadline looming on Saturday and this season has kicked me in the holy rear. And I feel great.

The deadline was for the next Alabama game program, and one of the assigned stories was about the upcoming Kenny Stabler tribute. That's a story you don't dare screw up and will hopefully be well received. It's also not much fun writing about someone you met and liked who has died.

I've actually known for quite a while that Alabama was going to do the tribute, and even joked when the Crimson Tide beat writers included in their stories that there would be a special story in the game LSU program: "Well, I guess I better write it."

It turned out to be one of those stories that got delayed by other things and then nearly every person I called to interview called back at the last minute (at least they called -- thank you one and all). I then struggled with it all day and couldn't get it right, couldn't nail down the lede, and just didn't have the right focus. Meanwhile, we've reached that point of the season in which the LSU fight song is going through my head almost non-stop along with "Waterloo" after seeing The Martian a few days ago (Thank you Captain Lewis).

So I did something I've never done before, I took a nap at about 9:45 p.m., and it worked. With the mind cleared and a little less fatigue I cranked it out and another feature that was also due.

Tomorrow I'm sleeping in and will begin the final push on the book deadline while playing anything that might get Abba out of my head. Maybe the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack.