I drank coffee until well into this afternoon, and now I'm paying for it. It's almost 1:00 a.m., probably will be by the time I publish this. When I get in this mode, lying in bed is just like lying in a bowl of swirling paint, all the thoughts taking over, but not in a pleasant dream-like way, more like someone has taken a stick and started stirring up my brains, around and around. I go over the same unlikely scenarios again and again, and usually they are bad ones...I have whole arguments with people in my head, and then I'm mad at those people but they haven't done anything wrong. It's silly.
I'm getting quite good at telling when I'm having normal, pre-sleep thought wanderings, and when they are the steamroller variety, so I don't lie for long. I've been up a couple of hours by myself, watching the gerbil on her wheel, writing stories, and playing computer games till I work out whatever has me agitated. I wish I could talk it out, then maybe I could get to the bottom of it.
Actually, I've been a bit agitated all day, because of a very real and poignant dream, in which I lived with one of my children on a tiny island, a utopia of sorts, and my only means of communication, apparently, was messages in bottles thrown out to sea. My "husband" had left me, and I thought, Well I guess I don't have to live on this island anymore. I sang "The Way We Were" while scrubbing the dishwasher in the front yard... woke up halfway through the first verse.
So anyway, this evening, while I waited to get sleepy, I started a story I've been thinking about for quite a while--seems like things have to ferment with me--and I wrote another as an impromptu exercise, but it turned out...interesting. It's not a story so much as a one-sided conversation about a story. But the good part is that the story I was talking about sounded pretty good, so maybe I'll put that in the idea still and let it ferment a while.
I guess I'm sleepy now...or maybe I'll play a little more Dynomite...
Sunday, November 29, 2009
I'm the same way; I have to let an idea stew for a bit. When I was little my mother used to make homemade spaghetti sauce, but we never had it the same day. She'd let it simmer way into the evening then cool before storing it for use the next day. She said it would be better. It was. I suppose I write that way too.
ReplyDeleteI like to have arguments with people in my head, or conversations. In my head I'm always right and I always win.
:)
I have had a problem with insomnia my whole life. It can be maddening. On the other hand, it has been some of my most productive time.
ReplyDeleteAt least you were productive with your insomnia! I usually just get stuck at the yelling at people in my head part. Like Darc, I am always victorious. Sometimes I even pound people into the dust too, but then I just get all sweaty and who can sleep when they're all sweaty?
ReplyDeleteYour dream was very interesting. Sounds like some changes are in store for you.
Well darn it, I hope so! I really have felt isolated the past few years.
ReplyDelete