To sleep or not to sleep, that is the thoughtful question.

I shared this picture from the Facebook page of a friend to my Facebook page. Other friends clicked the heck out of the "like" button, which I assume indicates that they, as do I, have active minds interfere with the timeliness of slumber.  Agreement and commiseration by "like" button was not adequately satisfying for some, prompting them to offer their thoughts in comments. They inspired me to leave a comment of my own. The therapeutic benefit was so great that I had to elevate the status of the collection of words from comment to blog post. Here it is:

Just let an idea for a murder scene in your novel pop into your mind in close proximity to the moment your head plops down on the pillow. I call it the plop and pop school of murder mystery writing.

In terms of impeding sleep, it yields compound interest. After you lay there and work it out in your head, you are compelled to get up and make some notes. The older I get, the more important it has become to pay heed to this. Otherwise that homicide will become a way cold case.  Once you are up committing the details to a memory medium other than your faulty brain cells, you can very easily fall prey to your inner muse, who, by the way, has already gone to the Keurig and fixed himself a good strong cup of San Francisco Bay Gourmet French Roast coffee. I ask you, who on the planet resist the smell of fresh brewed bold coffee?  So, with that fresh cup of bean beverage Mr. Muse persuaded you to brew in hand, you sit down to stroke  the grisly crime into your keyboard.  With both muse and caffeine stimulation, yet another opportunity to greet the front side of dawn has been created.

Now, I know that all of you are not writers, but the writing piece of this is interchangeable with any number of other pastimes and endeavors.  A frequent inhibitor of log-sawing productivity is reading.  Mystery and suspense novels are the biggest culprits,  You know you have fallen victim when you hear your inner voice say "just one more chapter" for the umpteenth time as the glow of the rising sun begins to creep around your drapes or blinds.  Bless you my friends.  I understand.

All that said, one of my biggest goals in life is to write mystery and suspense stories that will keep sleepy eyes open. Have a Fireball sidecar with that bold cup of joe.