On the whole, I'd rather not have spent midnight to 7 AM writing about how Kehinde Andrews' new book The Psychosis of Whiteness epitomises the attitude underlying the particular animus against black and brown conservatives and how this creates an environment which makes access to the marketplace of ideas harder for people of racial minority and also denies them individuality and agency in a way typical of bog-standard racism, but it just wrote itself in my head as i was trying to sleep so it had to be written down!
Does this happen to all writers or are some of you lucky bastards who get essay theses presenting themselves to them at 9 AM?
Does this also happen to people in other areas of work? Are people everywhere leaping out of bed at 1AM because anything from a way to streamline a filing system to a particularly useful bit of coding to a recipe to a marketing idea to the potential cause of a mechanical fault has just occurred to them?
I don't remember it happening when I was a writer (long time ago), but it's not that unusual now to lie there ruminating about a design idea & getting out of bed to make it.
I'm not a professional writer (at least not in the sense that you are), but I've had similar problems with ideas rattling around in my brain when trying to sleep.
It must have to do when you relax before bed and the noise of the day (and the internet) falls away and you get more thoughtful and reflective. I've certainly had these moments. I say embrace them.
At 55, the only thing that gets me leaping out of bed at 1am is my bladder. However, I can untangle a lot of thoughts and string together what seems to be great passages of text in my head when I'm walking the dog. By the time we're home and she's had her breakfast, alas it's all gone.
Best ideas at night - work till morning - you are not alone.
The muse keeps ridiculous hours. It cannot be helped. My advice is stay hydrated and don't be ashamed of daysleeping.
Hyperfocus* may be a symptom of ADHD ...
*perseveration - when your brain wants to keep going when you have more important things to do, such as sleep
I don't remember it happening when I was a writer (long time ago), but it's not that unusual now to lie there ruminating about a design idea & getting out of bed to make it.
no better time than the present
I'm not a professional writer (at least not in the sense that you are), but I've had similar problems with ideas rattling around in my brain when trying to sleep.
It must have to do when you relax before bed and the noise of the day (and the internet) falls away and you get more thoughtful and reflective. I've certainly had these moments. I say embrace them.
I know turning off screens earlier helps my sleep but I am not ready to accept this reality.
My guess is that is an annoying, sometimes aggravating sign of a very creative mind.
I should include "painful," because it is no fun at all to have insomnia, no matter the reason.
At 55, the only thing that gets me leaping out of bed at 1am is my bladder. However, I can untangle a lot of thoughts and string together what seems to be great passages of text in my head when I'm walking the dog. By the time we're home and she's had her breakfast, alas it's all gone.