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winken, blinken and nodding off

Why is it that I'm the most creative right before I fall asleep?

Maybe it's because I'm free of distractions -- no basketball games in the background, no ABC Bachelor drama to captivate me, no husband yammering in my ear (unless you count, at that moment in time, his snoring.)

Yes, I lay awake and stare at the ceiling and the internal monologue/ narrative of my ms just flows through my thoughts as if it had been there all day, waiting for my undivided attention. I'll think of a phrase so beautiful, long to get out of bed to write it down, but stay where I am -- because if I get up I'll start writing and I'll never get any sleep. My husband will wake up and find me hovering over the laptop (or sitting on the floor of the bathroom with notebook paper) and gauntlet's will be thrown about what lack of sleep does for my overall sanity well being.

Yes, I stay where I am, warm and full of words. I'll keep repeating things I particularly like -- sentences, phrases, metaphors, similies, symbols, scenes.

Don't forget that.
Don't forget that.

And in the morning it's gone -- or worse, half there and as cloudy as a leftover dream.

And I can never get it back.

And it makes me sad.

Comments

MJenks said…
Pad of paper + pencil + night stand = solution.
MeganRebekah said…
I used to have this problem all the time. Almost every night.

Then (like INDefatigable above) I started putting a pad of paper and a pen on the nightstand. If I get an idea I reach over and write it. Its usally slanted across the whole page, but they're often really good and worth remembering.
jayme said…
i left you some of your very own chicspice on my pagespice. cluelessspice.
Travener said…
I sometimes lose the idea between it popping into my head and reaching for a pen to write it down with.
I did that, just last night--had an idea about something I wanted to write, and forgot it completely. And it's totally not the first time. I'll have to make sure there's a notepad/pen by my bed, too.
carissajade said…
Ah I do the same thing. I need to keep a pad by my bed, but even then I think I'd be too lazy to pick it up!
Melissa Hurst said…
I keep the pad and paper in my room too! Works like a charm. I even use it to scribble down snatches of dreams that have a huge impact on me, but I know I will forget once I start getting ready.
@mjenks: you + me = fighting. divided by your snide comment. times you complete me to the nth power. cubed. where y is your face.

@Megan Rebekah - Yeah, I've tried that before and gotten the same slanted results. I guess it's better than nothing at all though.

@ jayme: thank you for the award. I am speechlesssssspice.

@ Travener: I was going to tell you that, oh, um... I forgot.

@ Just Another Sarah: You and I need penlights! Someone have a giveaway. Any takers?

@ Carissa: Yeah, it's one thing to lay there and write internally. It's another thing all together to reach for the pen and write and it down. :) Let's get little tape recorders and do audio first drafts!!

@ Melissa: Okay, I'm putting the pen and paper by the bed tonight. We shall see!
MJenks said…
Alright, smart guy...er...gal...see these fists? They solve for x.
Natalie said…
I have this problem too! I keep telling myself I need to get some paper by the bed, but I've been telling myself that for the last 2 years and it hasn't happened yet! When I get a really great idea late at night I make myself get up and go to the computer to write it down, no matter how tired I am.
Yvonne Osborne said…
Get up! You have to get up and write. I get up in the middle of the night all the time. And, yes, my husband thinks I'm odd.(And maybe I am) But this much I know. What I write (or edit) in the middle of the night, I don't usually change.

I love this....warm and full of words.
Aimee Bontreger said…
A little bit late on the comment (I'm really behind on my Google reader)... but I SO know what you mean, I hate that this happens, and my solution was to get a voice recorder so I could mumble keywords, sentences or ideas into it without having to turn on the light. Also, trying to decipher notes I'd written in the middle of the night was like trying to read hieroglyphics. I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to say.

The voice recorder worked superbly. Until I got lazy enough to not want to talk in the middle of the night.

I can't even count how many ideas I've lost in the last month. It's most maddening, I think, to know there WAS an idea, and to simply not be able to recall it no matter how hard I try.

Guess I need to get un-lazy...or risk going crazy. :)

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