Thursday, October 06, 2005

Bad Dreams, Big Headaches

Sorry for the late post, folks. Believe it or not, I was up early. REAL early. 2:30 am, to be exact.

I've always had a problem with nightmares. I blame my sister, who enjoyed making "Jason" sounds around my bed in the dark while we were growing up. She's ever so slightly sadistic. But, she also ran right into a pole and gave herself a goose-egg that left a permanent curve to her forehead she wasn't born with while we were playing tag. So, I'm calling it even.

So, there I am, in the dark, fairly sure there's something standing in my bathroom that shouldn't be there and afraid not to look, in case it moves. These are the idiot things I do when I wake up in the middle of the night. My one burst of courage was to reach past hubby to turn the light on to it's lowest setting. He didn't stir, which meant I'd have to purposely wake him up. Since he gets to sleep four hours a week, even I couldn't justify waking him up for a dream that didn't involve a gut reaction to imagined infidelity. So, I turned to my other lover...my laptop.

We have a great relationship, my other lover and I. It sleeps next to my bed, waiting for my loving attention. You can watch the little sleep light brighten and dim like it's sleeping, honest. I turned to it, then, of all things, I went to work. Yup, I did message boards rounds. Startled the Aussies, who were pretty sure I'd never be there at that hour. Then, and this is how you know I'm a sick puppy...I started writing.

Something about waking up from nightmares and writing always makes me feel like Mary Shelley.

Of course, she wrote a massive piece of classic work that remains a cornerstone of literature. I wrote about a couple freaking out after unexpected sex. Still, I bet Mary wished she had my laptop, so again, we're even.

If you're wondering where I'm going with this post, so am I. I have a headache three miles wide, I don't really intend to make a lot of sense but it's nice to know that no matter how afraid of the dark I am, how out of my head...I still can see that little sleeping light and know I can hide in someone else's world. And if they're having good sex while I'm there, well all the better. :)

Smooches,
Dee

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dee, so sorry about your nightmares ... I have them, too, scary ones that yank me out of sleep to sit bolt-upright in bed. Heart pounding. Scared to look. Scared not to. No way I'm going back to sleep because I just might pick up where the dream left off.

Sometimes I wonder if Stephen King didn't just write all of his nightmares down ...

Cynthia

Dee Tenorio said...

Hey Cynthia! I heard a lot of his early stories were nightmares. I'm just surprised how many of my dreams involve bloodletting on a massive scale and psychic linking. (You know, cause as a writer I obviously have to know why I'm able to see in someone else's POV...LOL!)

Here's to nightlights and no dark towels hanging in the bathroom. :)

Smooches,
Dee

Shesawriter said...

Dee,

I'm sorry about your nightmares too. But you're a writer, so use them, lady! :-) I know I did. See, I had a bad nightmare one time and I grabbed an envelope and a pen and just started writing the dream out. I had a nice turn of phrase that described the horror of it. So I put that turn of phrase in a nightmare sequence where my hero awakens. I'm usually a morning writer, so this was unusual for me.

Tany

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed with your strength not to wake your hubby! (Yeah, I'm a little selfish and a lot chicken.) Hope you get some rest tonight!

Anonymous said...

Hey, Madam Dee. Was clicking through eHq and spied you in my random meandering. OMG! Moo's so big!!

I agree in a way w/ Cynthia...Stephen King must stand over his kids bed after whispering scary stories to them and record their whimpering thoughts when they wake up screaming. What? I've only done that to my kids once...it took them a week to shut up and go back to sleep! (*shudder*) Never again.

Use the scariness to create a new Bombshell line, darlin. (*wink*)

Sarah