My name is Russ Colchamiro and I?m an insomniac.
People have asked me why I get up at 5 a.m. every day to write, instead of writing at night when I get home from work. There are several reasons, but one is that I [i]can?t [/i]write at night. Not that I?m physically unable?I can actually sit at my desk and clack the keys?but if I do, I?m screwed for the night and the next day.
My battle with insomnia started when I was about three years old. It could have started even earlier, I really My name is Russ Colchamiro and I?m an insomniac.
People have asked me why I get up at 5 a.m. every day to write, instead of writing at night when I get home from work. There are several reasons, but one is that I [i]can?t [/i]write at night. Not that I?m physically unable?I can actually sit at my desk and clack the keys?but if I do, I?m screwed for the night and the next day.
My battle with insomnia started when I was about three years old. It could have started even earlier, I really can?t be sure, but I vividly remember not being able to sleep, even at that age. I have this one particular memory of me, in my little onesy pajamas, making forts on the floor with my little desk chair, well past midnight, and thinking that it was weird that I couldn?t sleep, but that it was a little bit fun to have the extra time to let my mind wander. But as time went on, the last thing I wanted was for my mind to wander at night. That?s when I need to sleep, and I can?t do that if my mind is churning a million miles an hour.
What I?ve learned through experience is that when I write at night, my mind really starts to rev because my mental juices are really flowing. About character development, about dialog. About plot twists and details. And what comes next, and what?s missing, and if people will like my book and when I?ll be finished and when I can start marketing it and if it will get good reviews and if I?ll make money, get on the talk shows, start my next book and the one after that, but also make time to get stuff done around the house and then I?m onto what happed at work and when I have to get up and if I have enough cat food and if not when to get it when to get it where to get it and …
You get my point.
Once my mind starts racing, I can?t stop it. It?s like riding a sled on an icy mountain going downhill?it just picks up speed and doesn?t stop until it finally crashes at the bottom.
So I?ve learned?the hard way?that I need to stop writing a minimum … a minimum … of three hours before I go to bed. Since I go to bed around 10 p.m., that means I have to be done writing by 7 p.m., which doesn?t leave me much time at night. Thus, I get up at 5 a.m. It?s only time during the work week when I can sit and write and not have it wreck my nights.
About three years ago I finally conquered my insomnia, and I plan to keep it that way. But like a recovering alcoholic, it?s easy to slip up, and I have to stay away from temptation. I?m almost always tempted when I get home at night to just write a little bit, just take a few notes, tweak some dialog … blog. Anything.
Why? Because I?m a writer. Because writing calls out to me. It?s who I am. Am I addicted to writing? I don?t know. Maybe. But since I?ll be writing for as long as there?s still breath in my body I needed to figure out some boundaries so that I can function. For me, that means no writing at night.
If you have insomnia, there?s a bunch of things that you can do as part of good sleep hygiene to help train your body to sleep when you?re in bed. The key, I think, is to limit your bed activities. Sleep and sex. And that?s it.
– No TV in bed
– No reading in bed
– No eating in bed
– No talking on the phone in bed
– No iPod in bed
– No laptop in bed
– No exercise 2 hours before bed
– No eating 2 hours before bed
– If you don?t fall asleep in 15 minutes, get up and do something else. When you?re tired, back in bed.
The reason is that you want to train you body?and your mind?that when you?re in actually in your bed, it?s time to go … to … sleep.
Trust me, I didn?t go from insomniac to solid sleeper in one night, but I did adjust over time and now my sleep is reasonably normal. This isn?t to say that I never have a bad night?s sleep. Sometimes I have several bad nights in a row, sometimes even a week. But when I?m not sleeping, it?s usually because I broke some of the rules.
Another big help occurs on those nights when I?m real anxious about the next day. When that happens, I usually get out of bed?regardless of what time it is?and make a list of the all the things I want to do tomorrow. I write them down, getting it all out of my mind. That way I?m not thinking about them in bed, keeping me up all hours. When I?ve gotten that out of the way, I can just lie back, relax and sleep.
For most people, sleep is no big deal. But for me?a writer?it?s a very big deal indeed.
