Me and Sleep

     I LOVE SLEEP! Alas, it does not love me.
     I am 23 years old and I love to go to bed at 930 at night. Yes, I know that I am an old lady for going to bed that early. But trust me, if I don't get a lot of sleep, I can be a bear. I get really cranky when I don't get enough sleep. I guess I didn't grow out of that as a child. 
     Most nights I lie in my bed and wait for sleep. Some nights I wait hours for sleep to take me. This sucks. Most of the time it's because my brain will not shut up. And most of the time it is thinking of useless stuff. Or playing songs. UGH! Like, I appreciate that I have an active brain. It really helps to have an active brain being an author. But when I am tired and want to sleep, I wish I had a switch, like a light, that I could just turn it off. There are a few miraculous nights where I actually get to sleep in a reasonable amount of time. But like I said, these are rare occasions. There was a time that I knew every single word to It Will Rain by Bruno Mars. I would sing this to myself over and over again until I fell asleep. And it actually helped. It's that counting sheep theory.
     To get to my point. Sunday night, I was lying in bed, not able to sleep because, well, I just don't think I was tired. So, because I couldn't sleep, I decided to actively think, instead of trying to shut my brain up. Now, I recently published my first book. It is a stand alone book. Which means there will not be a sequel to it involving the same main characters. One of the people who read my book was said because there would not be a sequel. Now, before she had read my book, I was toying with the idea of writing, not a sequel, but a companion book to this one. I knew it would involve the first books' main character's roommate. Wow that was complicated. So, I knew who the main character would be, but that was it. I had no idea if I could even give him a story. I knew I wanted to, I just had no idea what was going to happen.
     So, as I laid in my bed, unable to fall asleep, I plotted out almost the entire book. I came up with the love interest. I knew what she would do. I knew what the conflict would be. I knew how it would end. I had it all down. And I was so proud of my brain. I wasn't even upset that I couldn't go to sleep. I hate to sound conceited, but sometimes I am really amazed by some of the things my brain comes up with and how it can connect dots.
     So, I use the word so a lot. But besides that, I turned a night of frustration into a night of productivity. I do have to say, even when I don't get sleep because my brain won't shut up, most of the time, right before I'm going to sleep is when I get some of my best ideas.
     In conclusion, lack of sleep is not always a bad thing. But only once in a while.