Sleep Deprived Epiphanies

My attempt to get in more writing time wasn’t exactly a “fail” this morning, but it didn’t go the way that I planned, either.  I wasn’t able to sleep well at all last night.  You see, I can’t write at night.  OK.  That’s not entirely true.  I can write at night, but my brain is mush and EVERYTHING takes many, many time longer, so it’s not an effective use of my time.  I write much more coherently in the morning.  So here is the plan, I’ve been trying bring my dinner with me to work, so I can eat at an earlier hour, and then go to bed shortly after I get home from work.  I can’t squeeze any extra hours out of the day, but in theory, if I went to bed earlier, I could get up earlier and use those precious morning hours for something besides sleeping.  Sounds good, right?  I think it will be, once I retrain my body to go to sleep at a decent hour.  It’s not cooperating.  It’s used to me living off of practically nothing, eating my dinner at ten o’clock at night, and waiting until past midnight to go to sleep.  Terrible habits!  We have to get up early to get the kiddo off to school, so my old habits are NOT working for anyone on multiple levels.  Hubby and I didn’t always eat so late at night, but with our fluctuating work schedules…it just sort of happened.  It was the only time the two of us could sit down together as a couple.  I don’t know.  Maybe we can use breakfast as our “together meal.”  There simply aren’t enough hours in the day!

I don’t want to refer to my changes as “New Year’s resolutions.”  These are lifestyle changes that needed to be made a LONG time ago.  I can’t live off of five or six hours sleep, or LESS, on a daily basis.  It’s finally caught up with me.  It’s not a healthy way to live.  I want to take better care of myself.  I’ve been making slow, steady changes in my life, but this is a BIG one.  HUGE!  If I can make these new habits stick, I can see a lot of positive changes happening to me.  I just have to hang in there until it feels “normal” to eat at dinnertime and “normal” to go to bed earlier at night.  I’m not switching my alarm time.  In theory, once my body adjusts, I’m hoping that I’ll wake up before the alarm blares.  I have NO idea how much sleep my body actually needs or how long it will take to get to that point.  When I started to do the math, I realized I’ve been living sleep deprived for a while!  YEARS!!!  It’s amazing what you see when you journal.  I don’t know how long it will be before I’m waking up early enough to get in some extra morning writing time.  I suppose this is where that patience thing would really come in handy.  If anyone has any extra patience they can throw my way, that would be great.  LOL  Not a big fan of learning patience the “traditional way,” through life’s trials, etc.  😉

On a happier note, I did get in a half hour of editing time, yesterday.  YAY!  It felt weird, but in a good way, like slipping into jeans and a t-shirt after spending a week in your dress clothes.  I’d like to say that I was too busy to spend time on my book during the holiday season, but that’s not entirely true.  I think I’ve been avoiding it because this is the book I wrote to help me deal with my mother’s death.  It was important for me to write it, and it’s gone through a ton of revisions, but it still deals with the death of a parent.  That’s rough.  Sure, I’ve got the supernatural element thrown in there, but death is death, no matter who or what you are.  Maybe that’s why writing about faeries seems like such a good idea right now.  That’s going to be a fun story, once I rework it, but my vampire story has more meat on it.  Yes.  The irony is NOT lost on me.  That’s one thing I adore about writing paranormal stories, it gives me the ability write about tough issues like death and religion, but it’s OK…because there are vampires thrown in,  too!  Hey!!!

Have a great day!

Juli