Posting this after a few hours sleep and two cups of overpowered coffee, both with four heaped teaspoons of the good stuff. Suffice to say my brain is now best described as ‘frenzied’.
Lying wide awake at 1am, despite soothing music playing in the background, there is little to do to pass the time except to avoid thinking about how many hours and minutes of ‘sleep’ time there is until the alarm goes off.
Unable to move this particular sleepness night, thanks to having our bed invaded by Amelia who promptly fell asleep on my arm and neck. Naturally thoughts turned to books, and then the direction of said musings ranged thick and fast, the notable being:
- Which book to read next, ruling out recent genres and country/continent of authors likewise.
- Pondering on more ways to better support independent authors I like, other than the blog and purchasing their books.
- Mentally comparing the physical nature of different books like texture of cover and page, as well as the wildcard font.
- Thoughts on how to improve my writing and where to find the time to read and write more. 1am seems like the obvious answer to that.
- What books should be prioritised when looking to reread, and reflections on which I probably horribly misjudged the first time.
- Recalling scenes in books that I love, and still wondering how I lost my original copy of War and Peace.
- Stumbling over the memory of reading a particular travel book and starting to worry about what happened to a traveller – possibly Scandanavian – who got kicked off a bus in India when a bout of diarrhoea started, and hoping he got over the ordeal and found his way back to wherever he was staying or going to.
If I must be awake at such an hour, I am contented to be consumed by such thoughts as I lay awkwardly with the horn of a unicorn, named Sparkling Cucumber (Amelia’s favourite cuddly toy) – the middle sister of Sparkling Asparagus and Sparkling Mushroom – poking into my cheek.
Book to the Future 
There are worse things to ponder at that time in the morning. The trouble is I usually get great ideas at that time which then seem silly the morning after….
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I hate that when you write it all down with high hopes and then next morning it doesn’t hang together. I don’t get that too often anymore, sadly.
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Oh, Ste J! What a profound slumber you must ordinarily have, if your mind normally processes all these things while you sleep! I’m sorry to say that I don’t have an answer to any of them, but just stay your chill self, and I’m sure things will all come right.
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I will stagger on towards answers or efforts, or at least crazy dreams that I remember the odd time.
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LOL next time, phone me and we can discuss which of my two started stories I should progress with.
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That sounds like a plan! Any excuse to talk books and stories!
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Have you read the Billy Collins poem:
3 AM
Only my hand is asleep
But it’s a start
It makes me smile every time, unless, of course, it’s 3am, and I’m trying to get to sleep. I admire your ability to wander-ponder when you can’t sleep. When my son was small, my brain was on autopilot in the middle of the night, unable to do anything but attend to whatever task was at hand. Today, when that happens to me, I usually spiral into thoughts of how worthless I’ll be the next day. I far prefer your thoughts to mine.
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I hadn’t come across the poem before but I can certainly relate! Imagining when naps could be a thing on the next day is a worthy pursuit when sleepless. I am of the mind to just get up and read or write. The actual getting up is the hard part. I love the challnge though. I am quite obsessed with books again and try to let them consume me whenever I get those quiet moments, it teaches me to appreciate the sleepless moments.
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