What to do With Insomnia
Or…The Dragon suggests you get up and write
If you're a writer, and many visitors to this blog are, insomnia might be frustrating. You toss and turn watching the numbers on the clock click higher and higher until they change over to a new hour and you imagine your writing time during the daylight hours will be adversely affected.
Screw that. Get up and write.
Who cares if your family thinks you're crazy? Who cares if you have to be awake to drive to work in the morning? With an attack of insomnia you're awake and wasting precious moments of "awake time" that your muse is trying to speak through. Do you think your muse woke you just to torture you with the sheep you're trying to count? The thoughts racing through your mind need to be put on paper. That's why you're a writer and the typical insomniac is just an accountant or an insurance salesman or whatever. Get up and write.
During this summer, I've been cursed with restlessness and sporadic sleeping patterns. This can be attributed to stress (as always) and the various drugs pumped into my body during chemotherapy. Do you think I just lay there staring at a spinning ceiling fan? Criminy, I'd go out of my mind. Some nights I can get by with just jotting down some notes in a notebook beside the bed while I get sleepy again, and I highly recommend keeping one of these by your bed if you're a writer. Some nights require I get up and type away at the keyboard in the den. These bouts of creativity can last anywhere from half an hour to a couple of hours, depending on my stamina. But I can tell you this; I'd be pretty upset with myself if I just tossed and turned and did nothing about the ideas and characters flitting through my mind during that time. I've got to put the time to use because I'm a writer.
Of course, I usually sleep through the subsequent night like a baby…no extra writing.
I think another reason those nighttime writing binges are precious to me is the enormous amount of time my day job, health concerns, legal issues, and recent moves have taken from my days. I still have my writing time, but these other issues have dented it. If I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea to advance the plot in a story, I'm going to take full advantage of the moment! I can't imagine a working mother who loves writing not doing the same. Imagine the glorious moments of quiet, alone with your muse and no interruptions.
View insomnia as a gift. Use it wisely. Get up and write!
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: insomnia
Or…The Dragon suggests you get up and write
If you're a writer, and many visitors to this blog are, insomnia might be frustrating. You toss and turn watching the numbers on the clock click higher and higher until they change over to a new hour and you imagine your writing time during the daylight hours will be adversely affected.
Screw that. Get up and write.
Who cares if your family thinks you're crazy? Who cares if you have to be awake to drive to work in the morning? With an attack of insomnia you're awake and wasting precious moments of "awake time" that your muse is trying to speak through. Do you think your muse woke you just to torture you with the sheep you're trying to count? The thoughts racing through your mind need to be put on paper. That's why you're a writer and the typical insomniac is just an accountant or an insurance salesman or whatever. Get up and write.
During this summer, I've been cursed with restlessness and sporadic sleeping patterns. This can be attributed to stress (as always) and the various drugs pumped into my body during chemotherapy. Do you think I just lay there staring at a spinning ceiling fan? Criminy, I'd go out of my mind. Some nights I can get by with just jotting down some notes in a notebook beside the bed while I get sleepy again, and I highly recommend keeping one of these by your bed if you're a writer. Some nights require I get up and type away at the keyboard in the den. These bouts of creativity can last anywhere from half an hour to a couple of hours, depending on my stamina. But I can tell you this; I'd be pretty upset with myself if I just tossed and turned and did nothing about the ideas and characters flitting through my mind during that time. I've got to put the time to use because I'm a writer.
Of course, I usually sleep through the subsequent night like a baby…no extra writing.
I think another reason those nighttime writing binges are precious to me is the enormous amount of time my day job, health concerns, legal issues, and recent moves have taken from my days. I still have my writing time, but these other issues have dented it. If I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea to advance the plot in a story, I'm going to take full advantage of the moment! I can't imagine a working mother who loves writing not doing the same. Imagine the glorious moments of quiet, alone with your muse and no interruptions.
View insomnia as a gift. Use it wisely. Get up and write!
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: insomnia
Labels: insomnia, writer's life
posted by Sandy Lender | 5:39 AM
1 Comments:
Hi, Sandy!
I sometimes have only the night time to write, especially when I work the 2nd shift (3pm-11pm), and I come home and I can't just "go to bed". I'm too wired up. I have to read or write and watch Oprah. Then I take a shower and go to bed and I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, usually. I've also had a head cold I've been fighting off the last couple of weeks, so I've been taking Theraflu Nighttime to sleep, and keep from coughing and keeping QH up. He has to work in the morning, you know, and it's bad enough I snore.
I also keep a notepad and pen by my bedside, just in case. I also have my regular writing time during the day, before I go to work, but there's just something about the silence at night that makes it magical to write at those hours.
Yes, if you can't sleep, then write away!!
Laura :)
Post a Comment
<< Home