Update

[hmpf]

Actually working all day now, i.e. upwards of eight hours per day. Literally the only time I'm not working is when I'm trying to sleep, which takes inordinately long to accomplish. It takes between four and six hours for me to manage to fall asleep. Since I can't function without sufficient sleep for more than a couple of days that means that most days I spend insane amounts of time in bed - twelve hours in bed gets me six hours of sleep. Going to sleep can be hard work if your brain is constantly nattering away at you. I tend to try to calm the inevitable panic with mindfic, which sometimes does the trick - except when it works *too* well and becomes inimical to sleep in its own right.

My research is making progress now, which is good. The online version of Science Fiction Studies and Neil Barron's impressive bibliography of the science fiction field, "The Anatomy of Wonder", are proving useful in determining what books might be good to get on interlibrary loan. I've also started reading through the archives of When Fangirls Attack, although that's of limited usefulness so far.

I miss real food. Deep-freeze pizza and sandwiches just aren't very good for the soul... (And it's only been a few weeks... arrgh.)

On the plus side: researching indie fantasy comics of the nineties led me to Artesia, which rocks rather a lot more than I expected. Heroic fantasy - despite my love of Tolkien - is usually not quite my thing. But then, "Artesia" is not exactly cookie-cutter heroic fantasy... This just may be the first comic I'm aware of (outside the unique and disturbing universe(s) of Donna Barr, that is) which actually equals Finder in terms of depth and breadth and *believability* of the world it creates.

Speaking of Finder... Do I love Roy or do I love Roy? Heh.

Right. Going to bed now, to wrestle with sleep and 'write' some sickeningly domestic/bizarrely disturbing mindfic...

Comments

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on getting so much done!

I sympathise with the falling asleep problem. I might not usually have to spend 4 hours, but a couple isn't unusual for me. You know I also mindfic! I know it's probably not helpful, but I literally can't stop my brain from doing something so I figure it might as well be something I enjoy.

Just...focus on your end goal. Soon the days of deep freeze pizza will be over!

As to Artesia, I've never read the comics, but I have the roleplaying game (though I've never played it) which I bought because the book was so damn beautiful and the world looked so wonderfully complex. It's written and illustrated by the same guy who does the comics. I'll show it to you, one day, when you've finished your uni course and I'm not headed to the opposite side of the globe in a few months. :)

I have faith in you!

(((hmpf)))

[dswdiane.livejournal.com]

Okay, my apologies, but I'm speaking as a psychologist, if you don't mind too very much. Sleep research indicates strongly that one should never lie in bed not sleeping. If you cannot get to sleep in the bed after 20 minutes, get up and do something utterly boring for you (in my case I play solitaire) until you feel sleepy. Make sure that going to bed and putting your head on the pillow is associated with nothing except sleep or sex. One should not let getting in bed get associated with reading, television, or lying awake. One should make sure that lying down in bed in associated only with going to sleep.

I have had insomnia for over 40 years, and I attest that following the above rules helps mightily with sleep. I can also attest that many of my patients have reported the same as have many research articles from sleep labs.

Give it a try. And happy dreams to you.

Disturbing

[dbarr.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the book mention. Can I leave my website address? www.donnabarr.com "Artesia" sounds interesting. Speaking of mindfic: check out Dickens' "David Copperfield" and the way the boy wanders the streets making up stories about the people around him. How many writers have started like THAT? Using their art to get out of a horrible situation, at least in their imagination?

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

Just a quick hint: You got recced at crack_van. Congrats :)