Mental Meanderings

Sleep again, vivid dreams and the morning twenty

Last night I forced myself to bed at a reasonable hour instead of playing my new game. Kayle (lol, I mean Kaylie, my novel is starting to cross into real life, I based the little boy Kayle on my daughter Kaylie. went to bed an hour later than usual because I was watching SuperNanny while she had her bath and then got dressed. We waited till she show finished before putting her to bed and this morning she was still in her bed when I woke up. Maybe an 8:30PM bedtime for her is more reasonable.

Josh went to bed the same time as usual last night and was up every hour from around ten crying. I kept at it with the separation technique trying to ignore him and keep sleeping initially but when that didn't work I turned on the lamp and read the magazines I'm researching before submitting to. This seemed to work as he would then go back to sleep. I kept at it all night which means I got a lot less sleep than I normally would when I give into him. But if I keep at it then the frequency of his wakes should dwindle. Does anyone have any tricks for getting a one-year-old to sleep through the night?

This morning I didn't give into his crying until 6:30AM when I'm waking up anyway. He was awake at 5AM and at 6AM and when I stirred out of bed he woke up but didn't reach the stage of crying before I got him out of his cot. I'm hoping that by getting him up before he's crying he'll stop associating crying with a way of telling me he wants to get out. I want him to think that if Mummy doesn't come when he starts making noises then she's not going to come even if he cries so he might as well go back to sleep.

This morning the writing flowed well. It feels good and I actually came up with a great way for them to spend Sunday which develops on the existing backstory. They'll be spending Sunday at the farm that Jake's brothers own together. It's a weekly family event for Jake and eventually when Jake and Emma are married or at least official (epilogueish) Emma's family will join them each Sunday. I'm once again looking forward to tomorrows writing. It was hard to make myself stop today but it's better to stop while I'm feeling good about writing than keep writing till that feeling disappates. At least now I can spend the day and night looking forward to writing tomorrow.

Last night I had a really vivid dream. I don't usually dream so this sort of dream is either one of two things. It's either a premonition of something that just happened or is about to happen or it's a serious story idea. I'm going to develop it as a story idea because regardless of if it actually happened it would make a great book. I saw things unfolding as if watching it at the movies and I think it's movie material too. It was only segments of the initial concept but it was rivetting. I'm so glad I followed my instincts when I woke from it to write it all down. I still remember it now because I spend a good half hour writing it down and trying to remember all the little details. This was at 3AM mind you. I'm looking forward to going over my notes but I probably won't do more than type my notes up until I've finished the first draft of The Dating Game. I don't want to feel conflicted about the two stories or mix any details up in my head. They are two very different stories. I'm really excited about this new one but I'm content to let it roast a little in my mind to get to all the juices. It should only be another month or so before the first draft of The Dating Game is finished. My mind is already searching for the perfect title, I'll have to make sure I listen to the notes it's writing but I don't want to act on the official writing of it yet.

I hope everyone else is having such an inspirational day.