The Creative Power of Dreams

Plight of the writer.

At 2AM this morning, I awoke.

Throwing back the covers, I checked the time.

Oh wow. Still early. I thought. Laying back down, I stared across the room at the mirror on my jewelry armoire. No, can’t go back to sleep yet. I have to write this down.

So I got up, and I wrote down my dream.

Close to eight hours later, up and starting my day, I texted with my sister. I described how inspired I felt.

“Some of my best story ideas come from dreams. lol” She replied.

Yeah. Incredible, isn’t it?

At night, we dream. Science has yet to fully explain why. In our minds, the barriers between fantasy and reality rip away and we wander through landscapes of intense color and worlds of what-if scenarios. Some dreams are bizarre. Some dreams are mundane.

And then… some dreams strike a chord that feels like the root of a creative burst.

I’ve previously shared with some friends and family that my manuscript darling, HANG ON (#amquerying), came to me during my April 2018 psychotic break with reality. The images that bombarded my conscious during that week were extremely dream-like.

This dream felt reminiscent of that psychotic break, as some of my dreams these days often do. I sat down to write on my current works in progress, but my mind kept wandering.

I hit “New Document” on Microsoft Word and faced the blank page.

PSYCHOSURGE” I type.

And thus a new journey begins.

I Know Where the Unicorn Flies

Author’s Note: Do not adjust your monitor. You have read the date correctly. This unicorn obsession of mine goes WAY BACK, love. This is five-year-old-mini-and-wee-Ally dictating unicorn poetry to her mother. It’s short. It’s sweet. It’s actually pretty good poetry considering the author was five. In addition to being evidence of the longevity of my unicorn obsession, it’s also my oldest piece of writing. In honor of 100 posts on Instagram, I give you a child’s unicorn poetry.

I know where the unicorn flies

I know where she dances, glides

I know where her foot steps lightly

I know where the unicorn flies