This is a little something that originated from a diary entry. It's a semi-fictional piece in that it is not based on a particular incident, but it's something that happens to all of us sooner or later and something that I've experienced many times.
I lie there. Awake with my eyes closed. Perhaps if I pretend to be asleep I will go to sleep. If I just keep my eyes closed I'll drift off. But who am I kidding? My body isn't obliging tonight. My mind is still aware, still active, still thinking about the things I did today and the things I will do tomorrow.
I roll over. No... roll is the wrong expression; I flip myself over angrily. Angry at no-one and nothing in particular. Except for the sleep that refuses to come.
My arm is in the way now. I fold it under my head but it goes numb. I stick it out of the side of the bed but it goes cold. And my shoulder is getting crushed. There in the dark, with sleep eluding me, I contemplate how badly designed the human body is. It's all bits that stick out in odd directions. And what's the deal with snoring? I silently curse the creator as I flip over again.
Now the sheet has come loose from the corner of the mattress. It's wrinkled up under my shoulder in uncomfortable little folds, razor blades beneath me. Dammit!
I throw back the duvet and the blanket with a flair best reserved for the theatre, and rise from my troublesome nest. I can't tuck the sheet back under the mattress where it belongs without disturbing my softly snoozing partner so I do my best to smooth it out. I pull it under my pillow, which I move down, away from the headboard, hoping that it will tame the belligerent sheet. It probably won't work but it will have to do.
I climb back into the bed and check the clock. 2am. I'm cold now; my feet are tucked into each other and my knees are pulled up. But the sheets have remained blessedly warm from my own body heat. It's very welcome against my chilly limbs. My bed is now suddenly cosy. I pull the covers up over my chin and before I realise it the alarm clock is buzzing 6.30am.
I hit snooze. My cocoon is too comfortable to leave it just yet.
Friday 4 January 2013
Thursday 3 January 2013
Free Your Writing
Welcome to the New Year, a time for resolutions (that often fall away by the end of January) and good habits (that often fall away before then). I know that it's a hopeless cliche, but I'm relaunching this blog today. By relaunching, I mean that I'm posting after a big period of not posting. Another New Year's resolution? Blog more? Post once a day, once a week, once a month? No, nothing like that. It just feels right.
Today, inspired by The Write Practice, I indulged in my first free-write of the year. What a joy!
In case you don't already know, free writing is a process that puts a stream of consciousness on the page. You can start with a prompt or just whatever words are in your head, but the point is to write non-stop and unedited for a period of time. Don't type, because typing encourages editing: It's not permanent enough, it can be deleted and re-written on a whim. Handwriting, however, is completely permanent: Once it's there on the page, it's there forever. You can cover it up, you can destroy the page, but you can't separate the ink from the paper. You just place the pen (or pencil) on the page and start writing and keep going; 5, 10 or 15 minutes is fine, or you can aim to fill a number of pages. You can either empty the contents of your head onto the page (literary vomitting) or you can write what's going on around you. Allow your mind to wander and jump from subject to subject. If your mind goes quiet and you find you have nothing to write, just keep going. Write the same word over and over if you have to, or switch to writing about what you can hear or see or smell. Just keep going.
What you end up with is nonsense - it isn't meant to be published - but free writing is a breeding ground for ideas that you didn't even know you had. It frees you from your inner editor and awakens your writer inside. And I had forgotten how much I enjoy it; it's liberating and blessedly easy.
I'll return to tonight's free writing in a day or two and see if there's anything I can develop.
So screw restrictive resolutions that commit us to 'blog once a week', or 'write the first novel by the end of the year', they are good goals and very worthy achievements, but this New Year, with my writing at least, I'm going back to basics. My goal is simply to write something every day, even if it's free writing or some other crap that is never unleashed upon the world.
Today, inspired by The Write Practice, I indulged in my first free-write of the year. What a joy!
In case you don't already know, free writing is a process that puts a stream of consciousness on the page. You can start with a prompt or just whatever words are in your head, but the point is to write non-stop and unedited for a period of time. Don't type, because typing encourages editing: It's not permanent enough, it can be deleted and re-written on a whim. Handwriting, however, is completely permanent: Once it's there on the page, it's there forever. You can cover it up, you can destroy the page, but you can't separate the ink from the paper. You just place the pen (or pencil) on the page and start writing and keep going; 5, 10 or 15 minutes is fine, or you can aim to fill a number of pages. You can either empty the contents of your head onto the page (literary vomitting) or you can write what's going on around you. Allow your mind to wander and jump from subject to subject. If your mind goes quiet and you find you have nothing to write, just keep going. Write the same word over and over if you have to, or switch to writing about what you can hear or see or smell. Just keep going.
What you end up with is nonsense - it isn't meant to be published - but free writing is a breeding ground for ideas that you didn't even know you had. It frees you from your inner editor and awakens your writer inside. And I had forgotten how much I enjoy it; it's liberating and blessedly easy.
I'll return to tonight's free writing in a day or two and see if there's anything I can develop.
So screw restrictive resolutions that commit us to 'blog once a week', or 'write the first novel by the end of the year', they are good goals and very worthy achievements, but this New Year, with my writing at least, I'm going back to basics. My goal is simply to write something every day, even if it's free writing or some other crap that is never unleashed upon the world.
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