WRITING IN YOUR SLEEP
A long time ago (okay, less than ten years – time is relative and seems to mean less as you get older) I wrote a mystery with a subplot that concerned Lucid Dreaming, a technique for remembering and controlling your dreams. Stephen LaBerge wrote a book on the technique and as long as I was writing about it, I thought I'd try it.
Do you ever do that? Research a story and try the stuff you discover, I mean? I wrote a story where a character drank an RC Cola – I had to do some extensive research to find a Royal Crown Cola in my part of the country these days! (RC Cola is now owned by Cadbury-Schweppes in the US)
But back to dreaming: I dreamed a weird story the other night and tried to write a real story from it. Sometimes your subconscious can release all kinds of stuff into your dreams, a sudden infusion of imagery, words and nonsense. It was an interesting exercise, making plot out of nothing, and deciding which images would not fit. I mean, the flying part was fun, but the giant teacup and Ned Flanders in a red jumpsuit just wouldn't fit, so those elements had to be modified or discarded.
I haven't tried to write in my sleep yet – I'm sure I could lucid dream and direct myself to write, but I have been dog tired at bedtime lately and not in the mood to try it. Maybe the holiday weekend will present a good opportunity.
BEAUTIFUL THINGS FOR THANKSGIVING 
Well, the whole holiday is actually a time of being thankful for the Beautiful Things in life.
One of my bosses at work, Terry Murray, described how he cooks his sausage stuffing. The light in his eye as he told me all about his recipe made me smile. And I'm going to try his method, too. In fact, I'll probably be doing traditional breadcrumb sage stuffing, oyster stuffing and Mr. Murray's Sausage Stuffing.
Friends are coming over for Thanksgiving Dinner – which this year I am cooking & serving on Saturday as we have so much to do on the house to get it ready for real guests. But what could be more BEAUTIFUL than friends?
I saw my niece over the weekend. Her pretty hair was pulled back in a ponytail and though she is a grownup mommy, she looked like a child to me.
Have a great holiday!
(Mr. Bean: One of the Beautiful Things!)
1 comment:
I usually do it backwards. I try a new thing that interests me and then decide it should be in my story, only I don't know enough about it yet to write convincingly, so that's when the reserach comes in.
Sometimes it's good for the story but bad for the hobby (I learn things I wish I hadn't known, like that snorkeling can lead to vicious jellyfish incidents) and sometimes it's good for the hobby but bad for the story (I learn some HTML, which comes in handy for blogging, but turns out to be every bit as boring in a story as you'd expect computer programming to be).
I'm too stingy with my sleep to part with any of it for Lucid Dreaming, although that's something I've wondered about in the past. Maybe I'll give it a try.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving in your new house!
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