Writing and Sleep-Deprivation

Someone told me this morning at church that she stayed up late last night, reading my latest book, Not Her Type. She said she'd tell herself she'd stop soon, but then she'd read a little more. I laughed and said, "You should be on my side of it!" She asked if I just had ideas swirling around in my head. My answer? "Well, I imagine it's a lot like being crazy!"

I used to be the kind of person who absolutely HAD to have a minimum of eight hours of sleep every night. And I mean an absolute minimum. I took a nap nearly every Sunday afternoon. I slept late on Saturdays. If I wasn't working, I slept late during the summer when the kids were out of school. When I went to bed at night, I was asleep mere moments after my head hit the pillow.

Since I began self-publishing my writing, those days are gone. I stay up late writing. On Sunday afternoons, while my husband (and sometimes my children) nap, I write. I wake up early (for summer, that is) and write. When I do go to bed, I lie there thinking about what I've just written, and what's going to happen next. Did that conversation make sense? Did I inexplicably change a character's name (hey, it happens)? Can I find the right balance of Christian romance and still appeal to a broad audience?

Before my proof-readers had finished reading Not Her Type, I'd already written several pages of the book that was rattling around my head. And there's already another one that's starting to push at me.

So the next time you talk to a writer, be gentle; odds are good he or she is seriously sleep-deprived.