Never write while sleep deprived

**Yawns** forgive me if I ramble a bit today. I’m going on day three of having very little sleep. No, I have not been up all night writing. That would be nice.  I’ve had a few rough days and nights dealing with some personal issues. Enough said. Anywho…back to what I was talking about. Writing with very little sleep. Have you ever done it? Did you actually accomplish anything? Were you able to read it?

The reason I ask is that I have written while on little sleep. And trust me, it was not readable. But at the time, I had a great idea and it couldn’t wait. I had to write it now. Since I couldn’t sleep, I sat in my living room, laptop ready and began to type like a mad woman. The ideas rolled out of me in a flow I’ve never felt before. I couldn’t type fast enough, my fingers flew across the keyboard like lightning.  As I wrote I told myself this was the one that was going to take me to the top. Three hours later I had several chapters done and sleep was calling. I saved the document, then staggered off to bed. Despite being dog tired, I was hyped up about the epic novel I had just started. For the first time in days, I slept like a baby.

I should have stayed asleep.

Excited, I woke, ran to my laptop even before having breakfast and opened the document. I stared at the screen, blinking as if that would change what I saw before me. Nope, nothing changed. It was still crap.  There wasn’t a single sentence in the five chapters that made sense. I kid you not. Picture yourself, eyes closed, typing away. Now open your eyes. How well did you do? Probably better than I did while sleep deprived. My sentences looked similar to this.

Asdjoiefn gruhlasd ueoihas sa[ksdnkcfpos

Seriously! Yet in my mind, and in my sleep deprived vision I saw sentences of great writing. Paragraphs that were off the charts.

And do you think I could remember any of the idea when I woke? Nope, not a trickle came to me. How is that possible? People do strange things while sleep deprived. I wrote the greatest crap story ever written. I’ve learned my lesson. If I’m too tired to think, or I’ve gone days with little sleep, I don’t write.