Creative Sleep

“In both writing and sleeping, we learn to be physically still at the same time we are encouraging our minds to unlock from the humdrum rational thinking of our daytime lives.”  This is the observation of Stephen King captured in the article, "The Art of 'Creative Sleep': Stephen King on Writing and Wakeful Dreaming" by Maria Popova.

Popova notes that King likens the creative process to a kind of wakeful dream state.  Just like sleep shapes our every waking moment, King argues this dozing of the waking mind shapes our creative capacity by releasing our repressed imagination:  "In both writing and sleeping, we learn to be physically still at the same time we are encouraging our minds to unlock from the humdrum rational thinking of our daytime lives."

King offers some practical tips on warding those off in order to create the kind of still space necessary for wakeful dreaming:  "The space can be humble… and it really needs only one thing:  A door you are willing to shut.  The closed door is your way of telling the world that you mean business."

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