Snippets of an Author’s Life: Post 8

I try to sleep, and a scene comes into my head, which is not that unusual for a writer, except this scene comes ready-made in words, and that is unusual for me if it’s not dialogue.

What a nuisance. (Later to become a blessing, of course.)

It’s past midnight and I have to be up early. Like a ball of string, the sentences continue to unravel. Words—perfect words—a scene presenting itself in the correct medium, without the need to transcribe from images and feelings.

Of course I have to get up and start writing. I’d long since learned that such phenomena vapourize by morning. Sometimes there’s only one chance to get things right.

I’ll speed type a few key points and go back to bed.

No, it’s not going to stop there. The whole scene (a difficult one for which I have hundreds of revisions and multiple versions attempted over the past two years) decides to achieve tangibility this very night.

“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.”–Saul Bellow

Three hours later, I’m still trying to shut my mind off as I hit the pillow. Afterimages of the scene replay in my head. But the words, if they’re not someone’s dialogue, are gone. No matter; their fleeting nature has been captured and backed up twice.

Another scene written. Another moment of peace.

Coffee and toothpicks are ready for the day ahead.

#YouKnowYouAreAWriterWhen you’ve learned the hard way that you’ll lose your ideas if you don’t write them down. @KMWeiland