Personally I’d take being at the Overlook Hotel at 2am in the morning versus experiencing the standard post-midnight mantra of “please go to sleep we have work in four hours”.
Did you see how much writing Jack Torrence got done whilst at the Overlook? (Kindly excuse the fact that it’s the same ominous line repeated over and over again as he spirals into madness.)
In England that end of watch screen filler is a creepy little girl sat with an even creepier doll-puppet thing at a chalkboard. Good only knows why the broadcast company chose that.
I find it fascinating that I have some of my best writing ideas when my mind comes out of the foggy haze of sleep. Getting them down on paper before I get coffee is not an easy situation though.
The first time I saw Poltergeist was on a late night horror showcase. One of those UHF channels that never went off the air. I think I was nine or ten. Scared me so bad I didn’t sleep until the sun came up. As for 2am now, if I don’t get up and write, all my doubts and fears clang in the air around me like Marley’s ghost until I’m sure I’m on the verge of dying and destined for hell. It’s not the darkness, it’s the silence.
I’ve had bouts with insomnia and drinking gargantuan amounts of coffee to stand up in the morning. One adderall, now it’s Ritalin just to spare myself having to ask everyone to repeat themselves two or three times when just requesting a yes or no answer. Honestly, I miss static on the tv and tape hiss in the middle of the night. Horror movies don’t scare me anymore. Routine is frightening, just getting up in the morning and sitting at the computer to write a little every day. Just some coffee and my vape and an empty page. What will come out of me next? I have no idea.
I read something long ago that intimated that waking in the middle of the night was a genetic trait that came from a responsibility to tend the fire at night. I’ve always liked the theory. I’m not chemically imbalanced, I’m serving a purpose.
For a full year when I quit drinking, I'd go from nightmare to insomnia of the untethered-in-space variety most nights. Now, I get the insomnia 1x every couple weeks without the terror. Just the dread of getting through the work day Brandon and others spoke of. Up now with brilliant 😁 writing ideas that eluded me the past 3 days days off. Have to get up for work in 1 hour, 12 minutes. That's when the inspiration hits. Figured out in the past hour that Fight Club not only contains the 2nd and 3rd steps (of AA) in nice phrases I paraphrase to help other veteran drunks get sober, but also the 1st: "Losing all hope was freedom." So in my 1st step workshop this weekend, I'll be giving them all chemical burns in the shape of my lips!
How could I forget? Carol Anne is my cousin, born right after me. Seems there was some competition over the name Karie Anne and my Mom won by having me first.....I'm still convinced that Stephen King has been foreshadowing my life.
I've found myself up and writing at 3am.
Anyone else get sucked into the static?
Personally I’d take being at the Overlook Hotel at 2am in the morning versus experiencing the standard post-midnight mantra of “please go to sleep we have work in four hours”.
Did you see how much writing Jack Torrence got done whilst at the Overlook? (Kindly excuse the fact that it’s the same ominous line repeated over and over again as he spirals into madness.)
In England that end of watch screen filler is a creepy little girl sat with an even creepier doll-puppet thing at a chalkboard. Good only knows why the broadcast company chose that.
That door Capt. Kangaroo opened should have stayed shut. Egads and little fishes!
"If I can fret, I can write."
I like that.
Tiny houses, dying goldfish, loss of connection... Unmoored. I love that word, by the way. Unmoored.
Don't forget the color bars.
I've had a ton of trouble falling asleep since I had covid on Xmas. Lack of sleep turns my brain to mush, very negative mush.
I find it fascinating that I have some of my best writing ideas when my mind comes out of the foggy haze of sleep. Getting them down on paper before I get coffee is not an easy situation though.
The first time I saw Poltergeist was on a late night horror showcase. One of those UHF channels that never went off the air. I think I was nine or ten. Scared me so bad I didn’t sleep until the sun came up. As for 2am now, if I don’t get up and write, all my doubts and fears clang in the air around me like Marley’s ghost until I’m sure I’m on the verge of dying and destined for hell. It’s not the darkness, it’s the silence.
https://smartsleep.com/en/blogs/sleep-magazine/wolf-hour-sleepless known as "the wolf hour"
I’ve had bouts with insomnia and drinking gargantuan amounts of coffee to stand up in the morning. One adderall, now it’s Ritalin just to spare myself having to ask everyone to repeat themselves two or three times when just requesting a yes or no answer. Honestly, I miss static on the tv and tape hiss in the middle of the night. Horror movies don’t scare me anymore. Routine is frightening, just getting up in the morning and sitting at the computer to write a little every day. Just some coffee and my vape and an empty page. What will come out of me next? I have no idea.
Mr P, it sounds like you found the immense pleasure of "dorveille".
I can only exist in my natural form from 1am to 5am.
I’m a big fan of productive insomnia.
I read something long ago that intimated that waking in the middle of the night was a genetic trait that came from a responsibility to tend the fire at night. I’ve always liked the theory. I’m not chemically imbalanced, I’m serving a purpose.
For a full year when I quit drinking, I'd go from nightmare to insomnia of the untethered-in-space variety most nights. Now, I get the insomnia 1x every couple weeks without the terror. Just the dread of getting through the work day Brandon and others spoke of. Up now with brilliant 😁 writing ideas that eluded me the past 3 days days off. Have to get up for work in 1 hour, 12 minutes. That's when the inspiration hits. Figured out in the past hour that Fight Club not only contains the 2nd and 3rd steps (of AA) in nice phrases I paraphrase to help other veteran drunks get sober, but also the 1st: "Losing all hope was freedom." So in my 1st step workshop this weekend, I'll be giving them all chemical burns in the shape of my lips!
How could I forget? Carol Anne is my cousin, born right after me. Seems there was some competition over the name Karie Anne and my Mom won by having me first.....I'm still convinced that Stephen King has been foreshadowing my life.