I am a lifelong insomniac, but once asleep I have extremely vivid dreams. Many of these dreams recur. Some are terrifying nightmares. In others, I am laughing, speaking in foreign languages, or participating in book discussions. But one dream in particular bears posting.
Why? Because I dreamed an entire picture book, and I recognized it as the most brilliant idea on the planet. Did I want to get up and write it down? Of course not. Every minute asleep is precious. But even in my dream haze, I knew this story was too important to lose. Stumbling about, I found pen and paper and wrote it down. (See note below about Coleridge. In my case: no opium, no Person from Porlock.)
Hours later, I woke and reached for the paper with wild excitement. And here, in all their glory, are my exact words.
Find hamster. Put in freezer. Freeze until thoroughly frozen. Remove. Slice thinly, as for hors d’oeuvres. Serve.
My favorite part? “Find hamster.” The lesson? Keep sleeping. On the other hand, I have also dreamed some plot solutions and book ideas. How about you?
(Remember Coleridge and Kubla Khan? To quote Wikipedia:
Coleridge claimed that the poem was inspired by an opium-induced dream (implicit in the poem's subtitle A Vision in a Dream), but that the composition was interrupted by a person from Porlock. On returning to his room, Coleridge found that he 'still retained some vague and dim recollection of the general purport of the vision, yet, with the exception of some eight or ten scattered lines and images, all the rest had passed away like the images on the surface of a stream into which a stone has been cast'.)
Why? Because I dreamed an entire picture book, and I recognized it as the most brilliant idea on the planet. Did I want to get up and write it down? Of course not. Every minute asleep is precious. But even in my dream haze, I knew this story was too important to lose. Stumbling about, I found pen and paper and wrote it down. (See note below about Coleridge. In my case: no opium, no Person from Porlock.)
Hours later, I woke and reached for the paper with wild excitement. And here, in all their glory, are my exact words.
Find hamster. Put in freezer. Freeze until thoroughly frozen. Remove. Slice thinly, as for hors d’oeuvres. Serve.
My favorite part? “Find hamster.” The lesson? Keep sleeping. On the other hand, I have also dreamed some plot solutions and book ideas. How about you?
(Remember Coleridge and Kubla Khan? To quote Wikipedia:
Coleridge claimed that the poem was inspired by an opium-induced dream (implicit in the poem's subtitle A Vision in a Dream), but that the composition was interrupted by a person from Porlock. On returning to his room, Coleridge found that he 'still retained some vague and dim recollection of the general purport of the vision, yet, with the exception of some eight or ten scattered lines and images, all the rest had passed away like the images on the surface of a stream into which a stone has been cast'.)