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| Writing (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Here I am again and this is not totally easy to get back in this groove but I'm going to try. During my blogging hiatus (in regard to this blog at least) I've been dreaming as much as always--maybe more--and thinking up all kinds of ideas for blog posts about the topic of dreaming. The bad thing is that I didn't take my own advice about writing it all down. All these ideas now lost in my netherworld of memories hidden away in the back of my mind or maybe worse.
As a reminder, and this is not just my idea or suggestion, I've always said that one of the best ways to remember dreams is to write them down as soon as you can upon awakening. The longer you wait, the less likely you will remember them unless you've been obsessing on them in your thoughts to the point that you can't forget them. I'm not sure why anyone would want to spend time doing that when you can just write them down in order to preserve the memory. Even an obsessed idea will eventually be nothing more than a forgotten memory once you stop thinking about it and if that doesn't happen then you might have some other kind of head situation that you might want to address.
The same thing goes with great (or just interesting but not so great) ideas. I can't count how many noteworthy ideas have entered my mind only to quietly slip out the back door of my brain because I didn't make any physical written down notes about these ideas. Fleeting thoughts easily escape us if we don't latch on to them. You want to remember something? Write it down!
So it goes. I dreamed. I dreamed stuff up. And for the most part, it's all gone like air escaping a balloon when you unpinch the end of it. Once that old air is gone from the balloon you have to make an effort to replace it with new air and you can't put that same old air back in. That might be a dumb analogy but it's the one that popped into my balloon head so I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it whether it was a dumb analogy or not.
In any case that is my excuse or my story or whatever the heck it was. Or really what this all amounts to is a quickly written stream-of-consciousness exercise in writing down what I did and the consequences of having done it. This post took a few minutes to whip up and will take another couple minutes to go back over to edit best that I can.
And voila! There's content for this week and another post bites the blog. Or maybe it just bites. Hopefully, in the coming weeks I'll be back in the groove and writing something with a little more depth. But then again...
Did this make much sense? Do you like to read free writing as in writing that has been done off-the-cuff? Do you find it difficult to get back in the blogging mood if you've taken a blogging break? Are you able to easily recall your mental dalliances or do you need to write them down in order to remember them?
I usually write stuff down when I have an idea. But the other day I saw something either on FB or pinterest using a lightbulb shaped jar, and I have two of them. I thought, what a great idea, I'll totally remember that. Think I can now? Nope. I've google imaged it, I've searched on pinterest, i went back on my newsfeed, nothing.
ReplyDeleteHope you figure that out. Sounds like a neat idea. Now I'm curious.
DeleteLee
Hi, Lee. I used to keep a dream journal. I keep thinking I'll get back to it. I sometimes wake up with a complete scene in my head, not a dream, but a full scene in a story I'm writing. If I'm smart I get up and write it down first thing. If not, it fades and I spend the rest of the day or week trying to remember. It sounded so perfect when I first woke up. Frustrating... I took a blogging break last spring. It was awful trying to get back. It finally helped to set up scheduled posts. After I had a week's worth in advance, I felt a little better. That way I could take time off if I needed to. Now I aim for two weeks in advance. Good practice for the A-Z, huh. Hope you get back in the groove soon. I'm certain you will!
ReplyDeleteRoutines are easy to fall out of and we get comfortable in new life patterns. Scheduled posts are the ideal way to go as far as I'm concerned.
DeleteLee
I am currently into the "don't go back to sleep and have to dream this dream again".
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that. Have you tried turning the dream into a story idea so you'll want to go back in to see the outcome or possibly even control it to your advantage. That usually works for me.
DeleteLee
I am constantly writing things down. Dreams that I've had, ideas that occur to me, things I hear people say, descriptions of places I've seen, or people I've encountered, crazy situations. I have note books full of these scribblings, as well as 'proper' journals...the blog is another thing...sometimes I do struggle to keep regular posts that are mildly entertaining, and when I feel like it's a struggle I just don't do it...I always thought it should be for fun, so if I'm not gonna have fun doing it...(I mean it doesn't have to always be flat out fun, but I should at least have some sense of enjoyment about it)..then I just won't do it...I love to read stuff that is written off-the-cuff, and this made perfect sense to me...I will usually remember things until I write them down. Some days I'll be struggling to remember some small crazy random, thing that happened, and once I write it down I am kind of free to forget about it...it's a strange thing to read old journals cause it's kind of like a trip back in time. It's amazing how much we actually forget over the years..it's a way to preserve memories...like the time my four year old son said that when Jesus was born his parents wanted to name him Denis....that's awesome and I had actually forgotten about it! All those little things that you think you'll remember forever?...most of them you forget..and, I have the same problem that JoJo has! I hate it when that happens! You see something you want to make, and you think you'll remember it...and not only that, you think you'll remember it in DETAIL...and you forget everything about it! Everything except that it was gonna be how you were gonna use up all those old mayonaisse jars and twist ties..
ReplyDeleteThat was some worthy stream of consciousness writing in that comment! I'm laughing and my head is twirling. Maybe I need to go to bed now. Denis, eh?
ReplyDeleteLee