Sunday, March 16, 2008

Sleeping Pill

My day off last week did not go unpunished. I will be struggling this week to regain lost ground. With work, I am trying to find that cozy middle ground between getting so into the job that I burn out and being totally apathetic about it. I can't swear off off days. If anything, I faultered for not taking a mental health day sooner.

Friday we drove to Jackson where I finished reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower and began reading Girlfriend in a Coma. That night and then again on Saturday I spent a lot of time staring blankly into a computer screen intending to write, making little headway. This warranted frustration as did feeling like I can never determine which idea to pursue.

One plus. In between those two books I picked up Wide Open Spaces by Jim Palmer which I was already halfway through. It's a great book and I think much of the author, but I realized in going back to this that there is a certain kind of non-fiction that I do not wish to write. I've been reading fiction lately and comparatively I was bored. It seemed like clarity until I tried to explain it, then I was not as sure.

I awoke this morning at about 5:30 a.m. after a few hours sleep and ended up sitting in the bath for 3 hours reading Girlfriend in a Coma. I'm a 112 pages in now, it's great. I am aware now that fiction is sometimes the truest thing we have.

I was going to go back to sleep, at first, but then I had stayed up too long and we had planned to meet the dead-beat in law for lunch. On the way back to Nashville this afternoon, I myself was nearly comatose. I expected to conk out for the evening as soon as I could get our bags in. I did not. I have not. We watched Dexter, which is the best new show on free t.v. after which is when I arrived here in this seat to write this short story.

I don't think seven hours will be enough tonight. I can already hear the alarm.

2 comments:

Jared said...

I got a little tired reading that.

Chase said...

speaking of...we recently acquired a copy of Fantasia for such occassions when insomnia should strike.