All my life I’ve been an insomniac.
Not the ‘lie in bed trying the fall asleep’ type. The ‘wake up at 3am and can’t sleep for hours’ kind. It doesn’t happen every night, and if the next day is not a work day, that’s not a problem.
As writers, we know that these night hours are a great time to be creative. Many of my novels have been written in these dark hours.
Several days ago, while visiting the country for an extended weekend, I edited a novella from quarter to one, to about five-ish. The next day we had a wedding to go to, but this didn’t stop me obsessing over sentence structure and dialogue during the night.
The story is a New Year’s Eve themed release coming out on December 10. It’s a romance about a guy who invites friends over for a dinner party. But by 9pm he realises he’ll be dining alone. When I originally wrote it I was pushing to meet a submission deadline as my publisher was asking for tales to release during the holiday season.
So I submitted a first draft. Something I would never ever do. But I’ll be working with a new editor for this one and my sense of duty took over as I don’t want to look like an amateur.
It’s also strange of me to bring work on a weekend trip but I’m starting to embrace the idea of just being creative at any time that suits, now that I’ve bought my own laptop. And as I write this I realise that if I hadn’t, I would have obsessed over finding time to work on the fresh draft.
Fortunately, it was an afternoon wedding so I had a nice sleep in, even if it was hard for me to string two words together when I woke up. But at least I know I’ve handed in the best version of an early draft. I’m looking forward to the fresh approach this editor will take. I’ve heard good things about her.
Now to wait patiently for her notes.
Moon Image – By Mhy, courtesy of Pixelbay. Night Author Image – By Comfreak, courtesy of Pixelbay.
kevin klehr 