Writer's Fever

“Do you think he’s up there?” Mendel mutters, giving my hand a nervous squeeze.

 

Turning to meet his uncertain gaze, I give him a soft smile and say, “I have no doubt.”

 

    The End

A long sigh escapes my lips as I am met with the ears ringing silence of the absence of the clicking of my keyboard. I lean back in my chair and am admiring the final two words of my work. The End. A soft smile crosses my lips and I finally feel at peace, having finished my first novel.

Suddenly I am awash in exhaustion, having been stuck in front of my laptop for longer than I can honestly admit. The adrenaline rush I’d felt earlier subsides and I sit in the glow of my screen as fatigue sets in.

With a loud yawn, I rise to my feet and make my way to bed, navigating the dark halls of my home until I find the room filled with the thunderous snores of my partner. I throw myself onto the bed alongside them, not even bothering to change into my pyjamas.

“You finish it?” He grumbles at me through a groggy voice and slings his arm across my midsection. He pulls me in for a sleepy congratulatory hug and simultaneously lowers my blood pressure.

“Yes.” I sigh and my heavy eyelids finally close for the first time in who knows how long.

I am relieved as I fall into a blissful dreamless sleep, finally getting the rest I need. But this is short-lived as I am presented with images and flashes of various scenes.

My heart races and adrenaline pumps through my body with excitement, once more. I see an entire scene play out before my eyes and suddenly I am sitting upright in bed, wide awake. I swing my legs out and scurry down the hall, eager to start my next adventure.

“I thought you said you were done.” My partner calls in a half-asleep voice, from the comfort of our bed.

“It is,” I answer, focusing hard on the images in my mind before they vanish forever.

“Then come back to bed,” He calls after me.

“I just need to write something down,” I reply and slide into my still-warm office chair.

I start up my laptop and open a new document and begin feverishly typing the contents of my mind. Every shred of the dream I can remember the details of the plot, character descriptions and anything else I can think of.

Minutes later, another sigh of exhaustion escapes my lips as I lean back in my chair and stare at the three-page document before me. Scanning all information I dumped from my now empty shell of a brain. I feel completely drained and my eyelids are heavy with exhaustion. Now I can finally talk myself into going back to bed.

I shuffle my way back into the bedroom and cocoon myself in the warm covers, ready to welcome sleep once more. But as I lay there, my mind is working on my next story.

I can’t stop thinking about all of the characters, the locations of the story, the plot twists and the adventure I’m about to bring to life. A flutter of excitement runs through me and my fatigue fades away with every passing second.

I felt like my mind was buzzing with all the possibilities, and then my worst fear creeps into the back of my mind. The worry that I will forget all these details by morning. My blood runs cold at the thought and I tried to assure myself that I wouldn’t forget, but there was no conviction in it. So I lay in bed watching as a soft light spreads along the dark ceiling of my bedroom as it peeks through the curtains.

It’s almost morning and I’ve blown my chance at having a good night’s sleep before my next day of writing. I’m just wasting my time and creative energy lying in bed fighting with myself. The best thing I can do is get an early start on my next project.

With an excited smile, I roll out of bed and head to the office. Ready to put in another day’s work at my writing desk.

Author’s Note:

I am one of those people who gets all my best ideas either in my dreams or right when I am about to settle in for bed. Now, I’ve made a rule for myself that I can’t work on anything after a certain time. However, I still will wake up and write brief notes on my phone. But that’s not necessarily the madness I am alluding to here.

My problem is that once I finish something, no matter what the length of it, I get this adrenaline rush and a high that follows. I will then drive myself crazy until I can find the next project or until I can start working on it. It’s this manic sort of phase that I enter which my husband has coined the phrase Writer’s Fever.

The ironic thing about this story was I definitely got Writer’s Fever the second I started working on this piece. I couldn’t willingly put the laptop away until I finished the first draft. Which meant that my husband had to hide Mac-royal (my laptop) for a while because I had real life things that needed my attention.

Also, for those interested, the story at the beginning came from the last lines of my book, Jogger’s Trail. I published it on Amazon in September. Here is a link for those interested: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJ43R5DS

Thanks for reading,

Donna Fox (HKB)