Sleep, really, That’s my topic? How boring can it get, right? When we sleep, we just lay there in one place, give or take, depending on the person. The most exciting thing we do is, maybe, dream.
Those are nice, right, those dreams that, when you wake up, you’re sorry you can’t return to them and see how they turned out, or return to them the next night and enjoy them again? Yet, are they really the commonplace or are they exceptions to the rule?
In general, sleep is pretty dull. That’s how it has been for me. I honestly consider sleep to be a bit of a waste of time. I could be doing almost anything but sleep. I figure many of my readers are going to be like me in that respect. They are trying to get many things done in life. They have a job that they are trying to give their best to because, after all, they need to make money while they are honing their craft, while they are trying to get published whether it be traditional or self-publishing. If a person is self-publishing, they have to add learning and executing marketing and publicity to their to-do list, in order for them to start making book sales and consequently money. There has to be an alternate stream of income. From what I have read and heard, there is a relatively small proportion of authors who actually make a full time income off of their writing. For all the rest, writing is a labor of love.
On top of all that, there are other aspects of life. You have to make time for work, family and friends. Your living space has to be cleaned and have maintenance, which costs either time or money. Cooking for yourself saves money and costs time while eating out costs money and driving time, and ordering-in costs money which is time. What about further education?
All that said, where does writing fall in the scheme of things? I, for one, have mentioned in a previous post that I have to find bits of time here and there and I, honestly, have difficulty finding that time. I use my breaks at work, or find a moment during the day, in between other items of necessity, where I can jot down a thought or two. Some days are busier than others; some days, some months. I have been finding that I have less time to write. The time has to come from somewhere. The question is “where?”
You might find that the necessary and, more often, desired tasks are slipping. Where do you find the time for them? How about that time when all you are doing is lying around in a state of semi or full unconsciousness: that state called sleep? It’s not like you’re doing anything.
Let me admit right now, I had some time when I was finding it difficult to make progress with the outline of my epic fantasy series. I reached a spot where I was trying to figure out how to describe a scene. My understanding of all the pieces of the story was a little more vague here. I hadn’t had as much time to mull it over. I also kept trying to return to the second chapter of my first book to start filling in the blanks and progress with the actual writing.
I started to lose some of my interest in the first part of my book because I had already considered all that in making my outline and my brain wanted to move on. It has been taking a very long time to get anything written because I often find, possibly, ten to thirty minutes to write. Of course, if something takes too long, and you have to keep returning to the same basic thought over and over making little progress, you wonder if you are ever going to get through. This discouragement is usually a hindrance, at best. More often it is a flat out detriment, destructive to the flow of imagination.
Now, let me loop back, because I am well aware of what is another big contributor to discouragement and this lack of interest. It is called burning the candle at both ends. The two flames will eat away at the candle in half the time. They will meet in the middle and disappear. As I try to do everything that life requires of me and try to keep up with meaningful relationships, trying to juggle multiple flaming batons, I realize time must come from somewhere, and the most readily available time is that used for sleep. After all, instead of just lying in bed hopefully not snoring, and having pleasant dreams, why couldn’t I be doing something more productive? Even if I don’t get tasks completed, what about feeding my imagination? What about reading a fantasy novel from an author I have never read before, looking at their style of writing, seeing what I like, seeing how they handle their characters and situations, seeing what I can incorporate into my own style? What about finding new songs that will inspire a new scene for one of my books (refer to previous post). What if I simply interact with my characters to get to know them better? I could simply let my imagination run, coming up with scenarios and scenes that I have no intention of putting into a book as they are, but that open up a whole new set of possibilities so that, when I am ready to write, I have so much new fuel that it becomes like a spark to dry kindling.
Those are good things to do. You should do them, but should you do them at the expense of sleep? When you lack sleep, your brain only has enough energy to do what is necessary, if even that. When you sacrifice sleep to get things done to have more time later on, your brain won’t function at its best. Your writing will be slower, and less imaginative. This writing time won’t be used to its best advantage. You will have lost the benefit you were attempting to gain.
If you sacrifice sleep to gather imaginative fuel, but your brain is exhausted, it is like having a tank full of gas but when you turn the key the ignition makes that sporadic growling sound that means, if there’s even a spark at all, it is not reaching the fuel and the engine won’t start. The time you thought you found, but turns out you have actually stolen, does you, at least, as much harm as it does good.
When you start regularly depriving yourself of that 7-8 hours of sleep which is recommended for adults, there are a few things that happen.
- You lack mental energy, which I have discussed. Therefore, mental tasks take more time so that you are actually losing more time.
- You loose physical energy.
- There’s loss of interest.
- You become discouraged.
I, for one, am not very well organized. So, for the time being, I am not the person to look to for advice on how to organize your time for utmost efficiency. However, I hope that I have made it quite clear, how, swindling yourself of sleep in order to get things done, including your writing, is actually counterproductive and will harm every aspect of your life, as well as the writing you so love.
I haven’t even covered the matter of health issues arising from sleep deprivation which result in higher bills to counteract, which results in a need for more time working to earn money, resulting in less time to get everything done, which results in more stress and, often, less sleep.
Even if sleep is dull and seems useless, remember it is not just useful, it is necessary. It makes sure you function at your best physically and mentally.
So, think of that when you want to shave off an hour or two of sleep in order to get a little extra work done. Then, opt for sleep. It will serve you well. It is certainly better than the alternative. As you go about your day, more efficiently, faster, better, with more of a creative flow, remember to enjoy the wonder.
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