Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Elusive Sleep, Churning Mind

I love my sleep, possibly more than most people. In fact I get enough sleep each night, I don't need any caffeine - imagine that! Once in awhile, I'll find myself eyes wide open and my brain mentally listing everything I need to do and want to do that day. Case in point; last night I was thoroughly enjoying what would have been a good eight hours. I'm certain I was even though I was too asleep to know how much I was enjoying it. Anyway, 4:00 AM comes around (an hour and a half before the alarm sounds), and there I was in my comfy bed with my mind on everything but sleep.

I've read before that rather than trying to force yourself to go back to sleep, you should just get up and do whatever it is you're thinking about to clear your mind. Great advice and my next book thanks whatever neurons in my brain woke up too soon so that I could put in a few extra hours of writing, editing and checking out other author blogs.

My Tip: I've been so busy I forgot to do this the past few nights, but I make lists out the night before (keep the notepad next to my bed), and work through everything I'd like to accomplish the next day, including little notes and details about my writing projects, blog ideas, etc. I spend at least 30 minutes doing this. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes, other nights an hour. It doesn't matter, as long as I'm writing everything down. The best part? Peaceful sleep and a great place to start in the morning.

What do you do when you can't sleep and all you can think about is writing?

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