inspiration has terrible timing

February 19, 2024

I was very tired last night, and had a HUGE amount to do today, so went to bed at a very sensible hour, ~10:30pm.

I then utterly failed to sleep for 90+ minutes.

Shortly after midnight, having tossed and turned and gotten up to pee and to make sure my son had done his Pokemon for the day so he wouldn’t lose the 20 day streak he was aiming for for a task, I finally thought I was comfortable and worn out enough to sleep.

And the first line of a new book, a project I’ve been developing the synopsis for but couldn’t figure out how to start writing, dropped into my head.

Me: …maybe I’ll remember it…
Experience: no you won’t
Me: MAYBE I WILL THIS TIME
Experience: no you won’t
Me: BUT MAYBE…okay, fine, maybe if i just get this sentence down it’ll trigger anything else i think of when i listen to it tomorrow…

I got my phone, voice recorded the first line (not a great way to tell stories, for me; i have no practice at it), put it down, rolled back over.

The next few lines fell into my head.

Me: …maybe I’ll remember it…
Experience: no you won’t
Me: THIS IS WHY I RECORDED THE FIRST SENTENCE THO
Experience: i mean it’s your funeral
Me: BUT…okay, fine.

I recorded a few more sentences, badly; they were far better constructed in my head than they were when they came out of my mouth. I put the phone down and rolled back over.

Another two paragraphs arrived, unbidden.

FINE, I said, I’LL JUST GET UP AND TYPE IT, IT’LL COME OUT BETTER THAT WAY ANYWAY

Yes, said Experience, serenely.

So that’s what found me staggering downstairs at twelve thirty in the morning to type up the first 600 words of a new book.

Husband, alarmed, visibly thinking am I in trouble?: everything ok?
Me, groggily, seizing my computer and lurching to another room to work: book. words. in my head. won’t shut up. have to write them down to keep.
Husband, relieved: oh ok, good luck

WHY can inspiration not strike at a quarter to two in the afternoon on a day I have nothing particular planned, instead of in the middle of the night before an INCREDIBLY busy day?!??

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6 thoughts on “inspiration has terrible timing”

  1. Hi Catie, Sorry/Not Sorry that inspiration is midnight demanding but hey…you got some good words down and as one of your loyal readers I’m pretty happy about that in general. Just wanted to let you know that I’ve been listening to your Dublin Driver books and LOVING THEM! Not a surprise to me, but I thought you might like to know, it’s a lovely series. I’m looking forward to more in the series.

    1. Ah, but how do we know they were GOOD words? :D

      I’m so glad you’re enjoying the Dublin Driver books! I’m working on the next one right now! :)

      1. I’m CONFIDENT they were good words even if all they do is lead to more words. 😉 Hey I just realized that book five in the Dublin Driver series isn’t out in audio, will it be at some point? So happy to hear book six is in process.

        1. I assume it will be, yes. The audio books for those have been lagging behind the print editions, but they show up after a while! :)

          2. April 9th! I just got a notification, so assuming I remember how to read American dates, I believe the audio book will be available from Tantor Books on April 9!

            -two minutes later- yes, having gone to look at their website, this is true! :) You can preorder it here (or possibly other places too :))

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