More than occasionally, I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea.
An idea so important (or at least seemingly important) that I can’t go back to sleep for fear of losing the idea.
Nine times out of ten, writing a few words in my night notebook is enough to let me get back to sleep.
But that the other ten percent of the time, I need to open up a laptop and write a longer set of notes.
And sometimes that isn’t enough. Writing about separating publishing from publication is an example of this. I couldn’t possibly imagine getting back to sleep until at least a draft was written. Like the distinction between dread and distaste, realizing that there is a difference empowers simple solutions; solutions that were otherwise impossible to find.
Such power is worth giving up sleep for.
