A Night of Strange and Vivid Pictures

I had a sleepless night last night. Not a ‘deep dark tea time of the soul’ kind of night, more a ‘strange vivid pictures in the head’ kind of night. About midnight the first paragraph of a story I’ve been considering for some time came to mind. I worked on the story for an hour or so, but when I tried to turn off the light my mind just would not let go of the thing. I kept getting back up and scribbling a few more notes. So by morning I had the opening of a new story, and an eight hour sleep deficit. When I did sleep I had weird, visionary dreams that were so close to real life I kept thinking I was awake. Then when I was awake, my thoughts were so dislocated I wondered if I was still asleep. Then I went out for breakfast and made notes about dream addiction and drug induced psychosis in aboriginal shaman (which is an idea I encountered in The Hero With A Thousand Faces).

As 2010 approaches I realise I’ve had the pleasure of making many, many new friends this year, so to friends both old and new, Happy New Year!

A few catch up links and some news..

Jeff Vandermeer has been hosting a fascinating debate on Paying it forward, Paying it Back, Using Your Leverage. I think Jeff’s Booklife articles are becoming essential reading for anyone in the writing game.

If you can spare a few coins, consider supporting the Spider Robinson fundraiser (You will get a really cool e-book in return)

My short story Cthul-You will be repeated on BBC Radio 7, 6th January and 18:45 and 00:45. For UK residents it should also be on iPlayer for a week following that date. You can read the ‘Uncensored’ version here.