I took a nap last night. I didn't really want to, but I messed up my upper right shoulder yesterday (it's happened before) and I was in some pretty good pain (it's better this morning, but a trip to the chiropractor may still be in order). Hubby took care of me, made sure the kids were taken care of, and I drifted off to la-la land for a few hours.
When I woke up, the kids and hubby were all asleep. And I was bursting with ideas.
I'm not sure what it is with the whole sleeping process, but sometimes it really kickstarts my creativity. After I ate a few bowls of cereal (my favorite before-bed snack!), I sat down with my notebook and pen and just wrote. The story came pouring out of me. Snippets of dialogue, character motivations, the theme...in fact, just about everything came to my mind fully-formed.
Was it the nap? The four aspirin I took to dull the pain? Or just the fact that I allowed my brain time to percolate instead of forcing myself to be creative?
I'm not sure. But I now have my next novel outline in hand and there was none of the struggle of trying to figure things out like I suffered through on the last few plotting attempts. Everything was just, well, there.
Absolutely beautiful.
Photo by Gaeten Lee
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Hooray! That must feel fantastic. Now the fun part...writing the story. Enjoy every moment. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteYay on the creativity! Hope the shoulder is feeling better. And I have this vision of writers everywhere suddenly popping aspirin in the hopes of inspiration!
ReplyDeleteWait until I find my aspirin.
ReplyDeleteGreat news. Yes, it was probably giving your mind a chance to rest instead of pushing it.
Sorry about the shoulder. Hope it gets better soon.
Amazing what a little rest will do for your creativity.
ReplyDeletePercolation time is very important.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I write first thing in the morning is that I've got that fresh-from-sleep creativity.