Last week I was talking about the comfort of dreams, and how dreaming can provide pleasurable experiences for the self which may be ‘only dreams’ in waking life.
This happens spontaneously, but we can replay and deliberately go back into such dreams either in daytime fantasies or as we fall asleep.
Writing can work in the same way, which I’m particularly thankful for at times when I’m not sleeping well. If I feel out of sorts with the world for any reason, and maybe my mind’s gone into overdrive, I’ll get up and write for two or three hours in the middle of the night.
I’ve had a couple of nights like that this week, when I’ve made myself a cup of tea and left the cares and irritations of my daily life to immerse myself in Maddy Monday’s, whose world is colourful, lively and distracting.
The joy of writing is that we can choose the worlds we wish to inhabit during the writing time, and even though we will meet all sorts of challenges and difficulties in those worlds – no problem, no story – we are always able to solve them.
Sweet dreams everyone, this week – or failing that, happy writing!
Jenny Alexander's blog: Writing in the House of Dreams 
I’m often awake and writing in the middle of the night. As you say, it can be an extremely productive and creative time.
When my children were school age I used to write at night in the holidays sometimes, because I found a couple of hours then more productive than a whole day working with distractions. Also of course, it meant I could enjoy the distractions in the day 🙂
This sounds like a brilliant revelation to me. When I can’t sleep, I normally just lie there waiting for sleep to come, which can be two hours later. Very frustrating. My problem would now be finding a subject to write about when my energy is quite low in the wee small hours. Not being in the process of writing a book I don’t have an on going theme to contribute to. Sounds like I need to develop a list of potential subjects when my brain is fully alert, to use when it is not!
I think that could work, Tessa. It’s weird, because I always think my brain is too tired to engage with writing at night, but it clicks in as soon as I’ve made some tea and turned on the computer – I guess it’s close to the dream state, where the relaxed brain simply opens up to other worlds
I admire you hugely, Jenny. Nothing can tear me from my bed in the middle of the night, even if I lie awake for hourse (as I did last night). I have a net book upstairs too. Maybe I should take a leaf from your book and try some night-time scribbling!
Haha – horses for courses, Abi! I discovered the joy of night-writing when my children were young – that sublime quietness being a perfect balance for the merry mayhem of the day. Be warned – you might get hooked!
Urgh! I hate the thought of being awake in the middle of the night, but the reality is, it does sometimes happen, especially for creative people, and I agree with you Jenny – it’s best to use that time productively and therapeutically… V 🙂
Yes – it feels much more positive than lying awake wishing I was asleep 🙂
Since starting on stronger allergy meds, I’m a total insomniac. There are some nights I toss for two hours, finally get out of bed, and write until 7 AM when my body agrees it should probably be sleeping. It seems like the more engaged I am in deadline-driven writing, the worse it gets. –And I love the power of dreams. That’s where most my stories come from. =) Glad to know I’m not the only one.
Yes, I find I sleep less and do more nocturnal writing at the last run-up to completing an MS – that’s a good point – it’s almost become part of my writing pattern now.