Can't sleep with thoughts in my head?

[Alex]

Am I the only writer out there who can't sleep unless he puts his ideas onto paper, or at least jots them down somewhere? I honestly have got to know.

 

[Kaellpae]

I actually just think till I fall asleep then write down what I remember in the morning. I figure the truly amazing ideas will remain. I go over stuff for my stories so much I rarely forget about anything I'm currently drafting.

 

[JazzTD]

You are not the only one, believe me, I've been tortured by this oh so many times. It is an ailment of all who create, I believe.

My brilliant solution to this is to write on the wall. I super glued a pen holder to the wall and always have a pen or pencil there ready for spontaneous use. I used to have paper there but then it ended up getting wrinkled beyond imagination or eaten by my overzealous kitty ... so that idea failed miserably.

So question: what cannot be nibbled on or wrinkled?
Answer: a wall.

So my wall currently has various words/drawings/diagrams/doodles/phrases on it from my nighttime musings. My family is, of course, not amused by this though, but a writer's got to do what a writer's got to do(did I just sort of quote Rugrats? Yes, yes I did).

 

[mythique890]

You're definitely not alone. I try to get to bed early enough to write for 20 mins to half an hour in a notebook before sleep. It doesn't empty my brain all the way, but it helps.

@Jazz - ha ha, that makes me laugh but shake my head at the same time, having cleaned quite a bit of "creativity" off of my own walls, floor, and computer screen in the past few months (my toddler thinks she's an art prodigy). Maybe you could convince your family to let you paint the wall around your bed with chalkboard paint or get a large dry erase board. Those don't wrinkle. Or get a nice hardcover notebook like a moleskine and shove it under your mattress where your cat won't see it.

 

[hppavmx704]

I always have a note book by my bed. If an idea pops into my mind I will write it down in my notebook or notebooks (I have so many laying around the house with oddball information in it that some will say I'm crazy). I am going to get into the habit of putting my ideas on sticky notes and sticking them to a wall where my dogs can't get into (my office).

 

[Aidan of the tavern]

I wake up at ungodly hours with an idea, even just a name that came into my head, switch the lamp on, knocking over a load of cds in the process, then with a few swearwords scrabble around for a pen that works, scribble whatever it is on the nearest scrap of paper, then crawl back under the covers and go back to sleep.

 

[writeshiek33]

i am like that every night very annoying because before i can develop one idea a new one comes

 

[SeverinR]

If I ignore my ideas, they tend to keep me up.

But I usually play out scenes in my head until I fall asleep. (The more relaxing scenes, not the violent exciting ones.)

 

[Xanados]

Yes, usually if I'm about to go to sleep (something I seldom do) and an idea pops into my head, I will rush to write it down on Word as quickly as possible. I can't sleep in general.

 

[Morgan]

I do best if I write it down. If I don't, I end up lying awake for hours going over it again and again, working out wrinkles until I'm convinced there's no way I'll forget it.

Then I wake up the next morning and the only thing I remember about it is that it was a great idea.

 

[Jhunter]

I do not have this problem because I don't get into bed until my eyes burn. So I fall right asleep.

But, any other part of the day and I will get all antsy in my pantsys if I don't write an idea down when it comes to me.