Monday 13 December 2010

Sleep Brain!

Life as a writer is never easy. This is especially true when you have been doing a heavy editing/writing session and you can't switch off. I get those nights every once in a while. I'll show you...

I've been tapping away on my edits, but now I need to sleep. My eyes are drooping. I turn off my laptop, put away my hard copy streaked with red pen, and settle down for the night:

I'm in my PJ's. I'm warm under the covers. I've got in a comfy position. I'm all set for the sleep train to take me to dreamland, but my MC's have other ideas -- they want to chat. Add that scene in that I left mid-point to start back on tomorrow. They. Just. Won't. Shut. Up. So  I can guarantee I'm be like this an hour later:

I figure the best thing to do in this situation is to give in for a bit. I'll write the idea/dialogue/scene in my notebook. I also may pop on Twitter, get a drink, watch some mind-numbing TV. That should do it, right? 


My brain does this:
My brain thinks it's still party time. It keeps going with ideas and non-thoughts (these are my no specific topic thoughts) that keep me awake.



I do drop off in the end but, as is always the case, I never know when this is. :)

So does anyone else get this while in the middle of revisions/writing?

*pictures from Hyperbole and a Half

19 comments:

Al said...

Yuck! I hate insomnia.

Vicki Rocho said...

Luckily, I don't have a problem with that. Lately I've been dozing off while typing...

I recognized Hyperbole's art...and thought at first you either had the same style or you had another, secret, hyperbolic identity. Now I just see you borrowed the pics. LOL

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

For some reason I have no problem shutting my brain off at night. Sometimes during the day as well!

Renae said...

I soooo have this problem. It's especially bad when I know I have to get up and go to work the next day.

Matthew MacNish said...

This is why I usually stick to writing on weekends. With a 6AM shift at work missing sleep is not an option.

Sarah Ahiers said...

oh yeah, i had that this weekend. I hate it. Sleep time is sleep time, not lay awake and think time

Jaydee Morgan said...

I've been there too. Good luck getting a good night's sleep!

Jamie Grey said...

OMG - I totally get this. And the deeper into revisions I go, the harder it is to fall asleep. I've given up trying to edit at night b/c I know I'll be awake for ever afterward!

So now I have to get up early to start my revisions. Not a lot of fun, but at least I get to sleep! LOL

Good luck - hopefully you find something that works to help you sleep :)

Colene Murphy said...

UGH! I did that exact same thing last night!! Now I'm up at work and my eyes are all red. I look like a frikkin' crack head...

I hope you get some good sleep tonight!!

Katrina L. Lantz said...

Yes! This is exactly what happens to me when I'm neck-deep in writing or revisions. Brain just won't settle down.

Sometimes writing is the only thing that works it out so I can sleep. I hope it worked for you. :)

Amparo Ortiz said...

This is EPIC!!! I don't usually stay awake at night, but if this happened to me, I'd react the same way as you.

Nothing chocolate can't cure, right? ;)

Jessica Bell said...

Oh God, yes! I think I spend about the first two thirds of the week like that, until I completely exhaust myself ...

Shannon said...

I suffer from this, too. My cures:

1. Exercise
2. Wine

=)

Hope you regulate your sleeping pattern soon!

Hannah said...

This happens to me almost nightly. Inspiration always plagues me right before I need to fall asleep. I'm really an night person but work demands that I be an early morning person. I can't survive on little sleep so I have to force myself to sleep. Also keeping a notebook and my cell phone handy for things I really don't want to forget is key.

p.s.
I love Allie.

Jen said...

I sympathize. It happens to me all the time! And like the commenter above, I am more of a night person but my job dictates that I go to be at least by midnight. Of course, my brain is just begining to party!

Loved the pictures :D
Jen

Stina said...

This rarely happens to me. I usually zonk right out as soon as my head hits the pillow.

The only time it did happen was at the LA SCBWI conference this summer, after Ellen Hopkins critted my first 15 pages. Then I couldn't sleep at all. I ended doing as in your post. Once I finally fell asleep, I woke up an hour later due to a nightmare. I looked a wreck for several days.

I'm never doing a conference crit again after that. ;)

Anonymous said...

Yes, being a writer has worsened my insomnia significantly, LOL!

Jessica Ann Hill said...

I definitely have this problem. I've always had a non-stop brain, and so I've always had difficultly getting it to shut up for me to go to sleep, but when I've got a good idea for a story or I'm on a roll with it, it's even harder.

It's really, really bad when your characters start waking you up after you have finally dozed off, too.

Sondrae Bennett said...

This made me laugh so hard because this is exactly what happens to me. I love the brain image "haha no!". Hope yours didn't last long and you were able to get a good nights sleep the following night.