It's 2:26 - do you know where your mind is?


I don't, thank goodness, suffer insomnia often. Sometimes, however, I am worried. Or excited. Or went to bed too early--an autumn tendency, when nights are cool and darkness comes way too quickly. It's now 5:41 AM, not particularly early for me, but I've been awake since 2:26. Yowser.

Wait a minute. Did I really say 5:41 (now :42) and 2:26? I didn't say "on the looking toward side of six" and "nearly 2:30"? Well, no, obviously I didn't. But why not? And is this something I do when I write? Do I micromanage the movements of the protagonists and worry about how they got from Point A to Point B when it doesn't matter because, y'know, they're still in the same room and nothing has changed?

Why, yes, I think I do. While I admit to being unable to just write a straight-through draft without editing as I go, I've reached the point of overdoing it. I'm using time that could be productive to make sure I'm saying "2:26" instead of "Monday morning dark early." I'm not OCD, so I don't even have a reason for over-thinking things that neither need nor deserve it. How about you? Do you overwork yourself needlessly when it comes to writing?

It's 6:24, time to--no, wait...just...no. It's pretty near 6:30 and my cup is empty. Time to start my day. You have a good one!

Comments

  1. I feel your sleeplessness. Sometimes my mind is so busy, it just won't stay asleep.

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  2. lol, Liz, I think I have the opposite issue: my characters get up and move and I forget to note it. Until, you know, the character who was sitting on the floor playing Yahtzee a second ago is suddenly across the room drinking tea. I'm with you on the edit-as-you-go, I always ready the prior chapter before beginning the day's writing.

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  3. Not that I'm an insomniac, but I've been up since--way too early. And I can also identify with micromanaging those characters. It's something I have to really watch. Happy sleeping :) Barb Bettis

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  4. There is nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep. Especially as I am watching the minutes click by on the clock and knowing that I will probably fall asleep right before the alarm goes off. Liz, I like how you related that to your writing. I am constantly editing my written work as I continue to create. Hope your Monday is great.

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  5. @Em. Me, too, and it's often not pretty the next day.

    @Kristi, I do that,too, but I'm too far the opposite, obsessing about tea and the Yahtzee on the first time through. It's not as though we're not going to read it again...and again... Between the two of us, we have a happy medium!

    @Barb, I went back to bed at 7:30 and got an hour or so of snooze time, so I'm sort of alert. :-)

    @Carolyn, I just get up, but when I worked, I couldn't, so I remember how you feel!

    @D, we're ALWAYS the opposite. :-) Love that Gothic, BTW!

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  6. Ah, you were late, Shawn--I'd been in the office a half hour by then! :-)

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  7. Hi Liz,
    I'm a day late but wanted to leave a comment. I also have a hard time sleeping some nights. I often find myself lying awake going over scenes in my head, wishing I could turn my brain off. I have to get up at 5:15am for work so losing hours to an overactive brain tends to make feel like I'm dragging the next day.

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