Creative Sleep

Good morning! Yes, it is almost time for the boys to start school. Yes, it is true I am still sitting at the table just finishing my cranberry orange bread and milk for breakfast. Yes, there are a million things I could be doing. However, I was perusing Facebook because the recipe for sourdough carrot cake won’t load from the King Arthur Flour website so I had to do something, right?

While in the middle of said perusing, I came upon a post by a friend. Or perhaps repost is a better word. In either case, she’d posted, or reposted, an article about sleeping late and how people who do are smarter and more creative. Hmmmm. Becky might agree with that, I don’t know. It was in composing a response to this that I determined it is because of things like this that a blog is really the way for me to go—most people post relatively short responses to posts. I attempt to write a book. Or at least a lengthy essay.

I’m not sure I agree. I like getting up early. Honestly, 5:00 is a bit much but usually only when I have to in order to make sure Amena and Cedric are getting up. Really, all I’m doing is waking them up. They don’t typically GET up until I go the second time which is supposed to be 5:30 but sometimes isn’t. If I were getting up just because I wanted to, the story changes altogether.

Going with a completely voluntary getting up in the morning, I still like to be up sometime between five and six. It is quiet; there usually aren’t other people up and about and if they are, they don’t often have demands. I can get things done (think creative here). I can work on log/notebooks. I can knit (which I don’t usually do unless I have something to watch/listen to). I can work on my own school work. I can wash dishes (which provides time for thinking creative thoughts). I can do nothing. I can read. I can bake and/or cook. I can look things up online which is usually for a creative or educational purpose (but not always).

When do I go to bed? Well, in order to get up at 5:00 because I need to wake children up, I need to get to bed around 10:00. In order to get up between 5:00 and 6:00, I can go to bed later. In Idaho, I found it very easy to get up with the sun in the summer before 5:00 and go to bed with the sun after 8:00. Keep in mind that just because sunrise is at 4:42, the sky is getting light before that and just because sunset is at 8:51, the sky is light beyond that. I remember being up at 10:00pm and it not being dark and I remember being up at 3:00am and it not being dark.

What does this all mean? Just that I don’t think when I go to bed or get up has anything to do with my creative juices. On the other hand, if I’m feeling particularly creative at 9:30 at night, I’m not likely to want to go to bed at 10:00 and probably won’t. I may or may not have trouble getting up at 5:00 the next morning. But I really don’t think it makes any difference when it comes to my creativity. I won’t comment on my intelligence and you can infer from that whatever you’d like.

And that, my friends, is why I should have a blog rather than just post replies to what other people post, or repost, on Facebook.

In other news, I think I’m done with my Hywel and Cailín story. I don’t have a title for it yet and Laura is going to do some proofreading for me. I’ve sent her the first ten chapters so far. I’ve been reading/proofreading for her as well. I’ve done everything she’s sent me so far and now I need more.

Joanna and I are going to go see Mockingjay part 2 tonight at 9:30. That should be fun. There is a showing at 7:00 as well but I want to wait until the boys are in bed.

Right now in the oven I have a sourdough chocolate cake. I’m going to put just regular frosting on it rather than using the recipe that is with the cake. That stuff is just too much. Too much sweet. Too much coffee flavor. Too  much volume. Also, I have a pot of Diane’s beans on the stove and a loaf of sourdough bread to go with them for lunch. I want the cake to be for lunch as well. I really wanted to make a sourdough carrot cake for lunch but the recipe won’t load from the King Arthur website and I’d kind of like to give it a try before another one. On the other hand, if it turns out that it’s pretty close to the others I’ve found, I might just be annoyed and irritated. On the other hand, I’ve got a chocolate cake in the oven so what difference does it make at the moment?

And that’s if for now. Have a lovely day.