Writing when you wake up in the middle of the night

[InklingBooks]

If you often wake up in the wee hours of the night, unable to get back to sleep, you might want to read this Aeon article about segmented sleep and creativity.

aeon.co/magazine/psychology/why- … reativity/

The author has this to say:

My own night-waking confirms this difference between night- and day‑waking; my night brain definitely feels more dreamlike. When dreaming, our minds create imagery from memories, hopes and fears. And in the dead of night, drowsy brains can conjure up new ideas from the debris of dreams and apply them to our creative pursuits. In the essay ‘Sleep We Have Lost’ (2001), Ekirch wrote that many had probably been immersed in dreams moments before waking up from the first of the two sleeps, ‘thereby affording fresh visions to absorb before returning to unconsciousness. Unless distracted by noise, sickness, or some other discomfort, their mood was probably relaxed and their concentration complete’.

–Mike Perry, Inkling Books

[Kingstonmike]

@InklingBooks

If you often wake up in the wee hours of the night, unable to get back to sleep, you might want to read this Aeon article about segmented sleep and creativity.

aeon.co/magazine/psychology/why- … reativity/

The author has this to say:

My own night-waking confirms this difference between night- and day‑waking; my night brain definitely feels more dreamlike. When dreaming, our minds create imagery from memories, hopes and fears. And in the dead of night, drowsy brains can conjure up new ideas from the debris of dreams and apply them to our creative pursuits. In the essay ‘Sleep We Have Lost’ (2001), Ekirch wrote that many had probably been immersed in dreams moments before waking up from the first of the two sleeps, ‘thereby affording fresh visions to absorb before returning to unconsciousness. Unless distracted by noise, sickness, or some other discomfort, their mood was probably relaxed and their concentration complete’.

–Mike Perry, Inkling Books

I remember reading this and thinking “Yes, I can so relate to this.”

I often wake at anywhere from Midnight to three AM and waste time NOT trying to get back to sleep, but rather watching mindless TV.
I often think that going to the writing table and writing would be too noisy and disruptive to my household, but I think it’d at least be better than wasting an hour or two watching videos or infomercials.

[Johnnywalker]

You specified here good article.There are so many people who having passion of writing cannot sleep when he got some new idea on their topic even in the sleeping time.Always i could say its just because of power of their writing.

[Maritimer]

I’ve been writing my novel sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. every night since last November. It all started with a program on CBC radio about a man who lived a second sort of life during the wakeful hour between the first and second sleep. All my life I’ve woken at 3:00 a.m. and tossed and turned for an hour before falling asleep again. So, I followed his example. I loaded up with a dozen Sonix Gel Pens from Staples, a ream of lined three-hole paper, a dozen candles, and set about, writing whatever popped onto the paper. Within a week, a story was starting to write itself.

It’s a unique experience. Only the story exists in the dark candle-lit room. I can close my eyes and see my characters acting. I write between two and five pages per night. I’m up to page 346 and look always forward to going to bed.

Eric

[Hugh]

I’m pleased the Aeon article acknowledges that “segmented sleeping” - as I believe it’s called - has a very long history, mentioned for example by Shakespeare (I think) and Samuel Pepys amongst others, and only brought to an end of course by Thomas Edison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep.