Sleep, Perchance to Dream



Photo from Apartment Therapy/Ernest Hemingway Museum

My best writing ideas often hit me when I am just on the edge of sleep. Some claim that's when your subconscious is most "open," allowing ideas to flow.
For that reason, I keep a pen and paper right beside my bed. And then I spend hours the next day trying to decipher my handwriting since I often write my thoughts down in the dark.
It seems I'm not the only one whose muse strikes at night. Apartment Therapy recently featured a great piece on the bedrooms of noted authors, with most including a writing desk very near their beds.
The 15 rooms also reflect the writer's personality - like Victor Hugo's dramatic red room, Henry David Thoreau's spartan space, or Proust's overstuffed lair.
There are a couple with desks practically in the beds, which leads me to believe that those writers either didn't sleep well or were very "still" sleepers.
The only room on the list that I've seen myself was Ernest Hemingway's room in Key West. It's a lovely, airy space that unfortunately smells like a whole lot of cat. Not very inspiring. But he did have an office in an outbuilding that was a bit less feline scented.
I think I'll keep my bedroom as it is, and do the bulk of my writing in my office space. That way, I should be able to read what I've written.