Quote of the Day:
If I'm trying to sleep, the ideas won't stop. If I'm trying to write, there appears a barren nothingness.
~Carrie Latet
How many of you get your ideas from dreams? Does your brain go on overdrive the second you lay down to sleep?
I’m curious because I’ve noticed that when I am up in the middle of the night, plugging away on one of my WIPs, there is almost always at least one writer buddy of mine doing the exact same thing. In fact, the middle of the night is the time it seems to be the easiest to get a hold of my friends, the time when we chat and email the most. Also, most writers I’ve asked rely on some sort of sleep aid to get to sleep at night. Because, like me, they suffer from that irritating habit the mind has of saving up every worthy thought and replaying it over and over as they try to sleep.
Like Ms. Latet said in the quote above, sometimes I will sit, staring at my computer or open notebook, and get nothing. But the second I lay down and close my eyes, a million thoughts start dancing through my head. Some persistant enough that I have to get up and write them down. Taking a shower or doing the dishes often loosens the mind muscles as well. But trying to get to sleep is the worst.
In fact, it’s so bad that I will often stay up until I can barely keep my eyes open, just so I will fall asleep as soon as I hit the pillow (doesn’t usually work, but it does help). I assume this happens because when I try to sleep, my body is still, the house is quiet, I have nothing else to focus on. It probably wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t married…it took my husband a while to get used to my tossing and turning. On a good night I can fall asleep within an hour. A bad night it could take 3 or 4.
I also got in the habit of waking up constantly during the night (courtesy of my children) and have never really gotten over that. So I have very vivid dreams as well. Now, this is kind of cool. I’ve gotten a lot of really good ideas this way. But the preliminaries of falling asleep are a bit irritating.
So I was wondering how many other writers are insomniacs…or at least night owls, like me. Do you fall right to sleep or toss and turn for hours? If you have learned how to shut your brain off…share your secret! :D
