This afternoon, as I was contemplating just how slothful it would make me if I took a second nap of the day, I had an epiphany.
You see, everybody should have at least one area of expertise, and I've decided that mine is napping. The thing is, I'm a World Class Napper. I excel at napping sprints, long distance naps, and even endurance napping. I'm queen of them all.
The really cool thing is that being a champion napper dovetails very nicely with being a writer. It is absolutely 100% true that napping helps my writing. I can often squeeze out an extra few pages after a taking a nap. And even if I don't quite manage to produce pages, I always end up with some inspired plot point or scene development.
And I have to say, there is no greater satisfaction in the world than to be able to tell someone to leave me alone, I'm napping. And it's work. Love that.
Napping is also great for nipping the frisson of an anxiety attack in the bud. Slow deep breathing, emptying one's mind, and boom! Calmness is achieved.
I'm a hugely versatile napper. I love me my twenty minute cat naps, as well as the more common, hour long versions. Sometimes, I even go for those deep, two and a half hour, bed-hair type naps, although those are usually only when I am fighting a migraine.
The other thing is, my bedroom is the Ultimate Napping Room. And it's not just me who thinks so. People (okay, family members mostly, who shall remain nameless) come from miles around to nap on my bed. There is just something about the slant of afternoon light and the quiet outside the window, the very stillness of the air, that makes it the perfect napping room.
And really, if one has been given a perfect napping room, then it would be highly ungrateful to not take full advantage of this gift, no?
So how about you guys? Are any of you nappers? Leave a comment and tell me about your napping practices, or lack thereof, and I will enter you in a drawing for a copy of Francis Hardinge's THE LOST CONSPIRACY, a book I am reading right now. When I'm not napping. (Or meeting my deadlines.)
It's an amazing book that I highly recommend and would love to share with someone. All you have to do is talk about naps and you're entered! :-)
9 comments:
Oh, I could use one right now. Though I have to admit, I've never been a napper by nature. I need my dark and designated night sleep. Sleeping durning the day makes me all muddled, which is odd, you'd think it would be nice and refreshing, but sadly not for me.
Oh, my! That's my problem--I've been denying my obvious gift for collapsing into a pillow for a while. Napping is the cessation of erratic thought, and the funnel for inspiration. It reorders and prioritizes the ideas that otherwise would be floating around, getting in the way of our clarity of vision. Yes, that's my story!
See I can't even get to the stage of collapsing becuase of the erratic thoughts that don't stop and must be worked out prior to sleep.
Wow, brilliantly said, Karen! And pillows! Oh don't get me started on my love of pillows!
Miss Eliza I offer you my sincere condolences on your lack of napping nature. Truly, it is one of my favorite things and I cannot imagine living without it. Although, I imagine you get much more done than I do. :-)
I'm a big fan of naps. I'm sure my subconscious keeps working on my story while I rest, as my writing feels energized when I start back again.
I'm so glad you inherited that gene, it's a winner!
When I'm working on a project, I find that sleeping - or rather the prelude to sleeping, when I'm still in control of my "dreams" - is the best time to try out storylines. Sleeping in (in the morning) and napping are the best because I'm not down for the count, and can waft in and out of consciousness again and again trying out different plot developments!!!
Sometimes I can nap and still get a good night's sleep that night and sometimes not. I can't quite get the knack. But I do love napping, anyway, when I get the chance. My four kids are so loud seems there is seldom opportunity.
ug. you're so lucky! i could never sleep during the day, i still can't! : ( I get inspiration from sleeping to, it just has to be night....
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