Yesterday, I slept from 5:00 pm, to 7:30 am this morning. Did I mean to? No. Do I feel amazing right now? Heck yes. I haven’t slept that long since before I got pregnant with my first child, 8 years ago.
My head is clear, my thoughts are sharp and focused, and I’m enjoying the euphoria that comes along with it. The blue is bluer, the coffee caresses my taste buds with a significant delight. Last night, my dreams were focused and I have several ideas I’m implanting inside Rise of the Realms, Book Two: Disobedient.
Why am I telling you this? Because it has me thinking. An average author generally doesn’t get enough sleep. At least this author doesn’t. Five to six hours of sleep is normally what I get.
Stories constantly form in my head, even when I’m cozy inside a heated blanket, nestled against a plush feather pillow. Even when I count the invisible, fluffy white sheep. When I’m dreaming – I dream of the worlds I’ve built within the pages. And much to my utter dismay, I work a lot outside of writing. Between my day job, my author life, my parent and wife life, and a few extra things I do on the side revolving around books, I’m mentally exhausted. But, I push on, because there is only so many hours in a single, insignificant sliver of a day.
I’ve had days where I’ve felt like I’ve had enough sleep, and I push along, convincing myself I’m doing alright, and then one day, I break. It’s a vicious cycle, but I keep torturing myself with it. I get the blues, I don’t want to leave the couch, I become insensitive, and writing is a struggle. I know why famous authors, back in the day, had gone insane, or became alcoholics, or addicts: lack of decent sleep.
So, my message to you: SLEEP.
Don’t stay up late because it’s quiet enough to write, or focus on the tasks you didn’t get to earlier. It can wait. Your health can’t.
Speaking of dreams. How many of you dream of a fictional world? What is one dream that was so clear, so vivid, that you couldn’t ignore it? To this day, is it still stuck in your head?
Rise of the Realms constantly comes to me in a dream. Two days ago, one amazing person brought that dream to life, in the form of a book trailer. My dragon came to life. Check it out:
D. Fischer 