Saturday, February 19, 2011

What happens when writers can’t sleep

By Merrie Destefano

CONTEST WINNERS!
Congratulations to Kelly M. and Renee C. You both win a signed cover flat from Feast! I will be e-mailing you with details. And thanks to everyone who commented!


ORIGINAL POST:
Like most writers, I tend to over think things. Way too much. For the past several years, one of the things that has fascinated/terrified me is the whole process of falling asleep. I’ve analyzed and studied it to the point that sometimes I can’t go to sleep. (Insert silent scream here.) I will lay awake, trying to capture that moment when my waking self dissolves into my dreaming self, but it’s like trying to catch smoke in a bottle. And, as I already mentioned, one of the brutal side effects of all this is the fact that now I have trouble sleeping.


So what happens when a writer over thinks things? Especially if that writer can’t sleep?

She starts working on story ideas. About creatures who never sleep. Creatures who slip in your window in the middle of the night to steal your dreams.


I mean, haven’t you ever wondered why you can only remember some of your dreams, while others you can’t remember at all?

All of my sleepless angst gave birth to my next book—Feast: Harvest of Dreams—a tale of forbidden love and supernatural intrigue that mixes vampire and fairy lore to create a new paranormal creature. The book contains two interwoven love stories, one with the main character, a fantasy writer named Maddie, that will appeal to adults and one with a 16-year-old half-human/half-paranormal girl, named Elspeth, that will appeal to readers of YA.


You can read the back cover copy for the book HERE.

And, if you’d like to be one of the few people who are going to get a sneak peek at my first chapter, you need to sign up for my newsletter HERE.

My question for all of you blog readers is this: Have you ever had trouble sleeping? What did you do to finally fall asleep? This sleepless writer would LOVE to know your tricks and secrets!

CONTEST:
And I’m going to give away two, signed FEAST cover flats, one to each of two commenters. This contest will run through Saturday, March 5. You can earn points by doing any of the following:

1 point for commenting
5 points for posting a link to this blog post on Facebook
5 points for posting a link to this blog post on Twitter
10 points for mentioning this blog post on your own blog
10 points for signing up for my newsletter

Also, be sure to include your e-mail address in your post and add up your points. And thanks for stopping by Supernatural Underground!

14 comments:

Kelly said...

I so can't wait for Feast to come out...!! I love the cover!!!!

+1 for comment
+5 for Twitting http://twitter.com/#!/kelAmU
+5 for sharing on FB
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1237552971
+10 I have you on my blog!!
http://crazy4bookss.blogspot.com/
+10 signed up for the newsletter
crazybookfairy(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Oh almost for got total points:
31

Thank you agian for a chance to win!!
Kelly M
crazybookfairy(AT)gmail(DOT)come

Merrie Destefano said...

Kelly,
Yay! Thanks for posting and thanks for being excited about FEAST!!
=)
Merrie

Rebecca LuElla Miller said...

+1 point for commenting
+5 points for posting a link to this blog post on Facebook
+5 points for posting a link to this blog post on Twitter
+10 points for mentioning this blog post on your own blog
+10 points for signing up for my newsletter

Do we get any bonus points because out Tweet is linked to Linked In? ;-)

As it stands, I have a grand total of 31.

Fun contest, Merrie.

Becky

Karen said...

My sleep problems are directly related to my husband who snores louder than a freight train. (sigh) The cure for that is a lot of shoving and kicking and yelling "shift position, shift position". lol - I don't think a bullhorn pressed to his ear would wake him up.

Sorry I'm not more help.

Looking forward to Feast. (I do a lot of late night reading.)

11 points
(10 for signing up for newsletter)

Tez Miller said...

Of course I've had trouble sleeping. In high school, I was even on Stilnox for a few months. I forget it's American name, but Heath Ledger was on it.

Now I just stay up as long as I can reading - means less time with the lights out waiting to fall asleep. So my light goes out anywhere between midnight and 2AM.

1 point for commenting
10 points for subscribing

Total: 11 points
TezMillerOz at gmail dot com

Lindsay Cummings author said...

So exciting!!! When I cant sleep, which is always, I pretend im my on narrator. Lame, I know!

I retweeted @lindsaycwrites

Americangirlie1991@yahoo.com

6 points!

Sullivan McPig said...

I so want to get my trotters on this book!

as for not sleeping:
I'm a very light sleeper so often have trouble falling asleep. What I do is make up stories in my head until I fall asleep again.

already am signed up for the newsletter, so is that just 1 or 11 points?


sullivanmcpig(at)gmail(dot)com

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

Squee...so excited for Feast! I'd love one of those awesome cover flats in the meantime!

+10 I tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/steelergirl83/status/39162677678833664

+1 my comment

I'm not sure if it counts that I'm an old subscriber but please add +10 if it does!

21 total

Thank you!

XOXO~ Renee C.
steelergirl83(at)gmail(dot)com

nymfaux said...

Great post!!!!

Ever since I was a kid, I've made up stories as I was falling asleep, to HELP me fall asleep.

--But at least half the time, I end up in that place where you're ALMOST asleep--and that's when I get my best ideas--the ones that I don't always know where they come from, and the one's that I just as often forget if I don't write them down...which leads to the question of how far away are paper and pencil from my bed...and how much can I write in the dark and still have it be legible in the morning--just last night I used up all the "notepad" space on my cell phone, because as I was falling asleep, I started thinking of my WIP, and finally had some breakthroughs... and then I fell asleep.

Feast sound super juicy!!!! I can't wait!!!



+1 point for commenting
+5 points for posting a link to this blog post on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/moviebunny/posts/201156023229161
+5 points for posting a link to this blog post on Twitter
http://twitter.com/#!/nymfaux/status/39169805181259776
+10 points for signing up for your newsletter
=+21

Cylver said...

And here I thought you were going to ask what we've been dreaming about lately. Too bad, too, 'cuz I've had some really weird ones!
As for falling asleep, I always read before bed, so if I'm having trouble sleeping, I usually continue with the story I've been reading - in my head, of course!

Jessica @ a GREAT read said...

Oh my! I tend to have trouble sleeping quite a bit and really can't figure out an answer. I have my characters and potential characters nagging at me and showing me what they think might be good for their story and I can't quite get them to stop! :)

I guess what I actually try to do is think of nothing after awhile. Or try to focus my mind on something mundane and ordinary. Sometimes it helps, others not so much.

My characters are very chatty. :)

jessbess2505[at]yahoo[dot]com

HayleyAG said...

I constantly have trouble sleeping. The one thing that always helps put me to sleep is having my tv on in the background. It makes me feel less lonely haha. The channel that I seem to be listening to the most right now is teletoon. Fun contest!

hayleyagillis@yahoo.ca

HayleyAG said...

Oops I forgot to add up my points in my last post sorry my bad ok so here it goes:
+1 for commenting
+5 for posting link on facebook
+5 for posting link on twitter
+10 for mentioning blog post on my own blog
+10 for signing up for newsletter

Total tally of 31 points! Lol and it didn't take me to long to figure out the math, Yay me! lol. I really like this post cause I can really relate, if the TV doesn't help I end up thinking up new scenes for my YA novel. Although lately I keep thinking up the same three scenes.

Van Pham said...

Can't wait to read Feast!

When I have trouble sleeping, I drink warm milk, or just wait it out haha.


thanks for the giveaway

van
Littopandaxpress(at)yahoo(dot)com