A Creative Migraine

I'm in the tail end of a three day migraine. The throwing up, throbbing headache, seeing stars kind of migraine. One of the strange side effects is intense and very imaginative dreams, some of which are nightmares, but one of which was me telling my dead daughter the plot of a chapter in my book. Which I hadn't actually written in my comprehensive plan of last week. It was such a good scene I sat down and added it to the plan, which involved turning the screen brightness down to 25% and leaving the curtains shut. Now I've had a chance to review it, I've discovered it's a really good chapter because it creates a more satisfying ending to the story. There was going to be a big battle and then everyone would go home for tea. The problem with that is, it leaves lots of unanswered questions, and while I think that's often quite good, it's nice to tie up some of the main ones. The main character, at least, needed to have a future and win a battle of her own. Otherwise she's a bit passive in the whole process.

Despite having had to go back to bed this morning (the birds in the garden where screaming at the top of their lungs, who thought chaffinches and robins could be so loud?) I've still woken up with a few more ideas. Lying in bed because standing up makes you feel sick but not being able to sleep, gives you more time to think. I suspect that's at the root of my problems in writing - I spend more time writing that planning or thinking about what I'm writing, I tend to think at the keyboard. Back in Devon, I used to think while I went on long walks, but there's fewer places to walk here, and they are all full of people which reduces thinking time.

Having had to ask for an extension for my poetry assignment for the OU, I'm gradually reading them out loud and working on them. I can only read for a few minutes because they are such bright white pages, but that gives me a bit more breathing and thinking time. Maybe I should have a migraine more often, or at least act like I have one. Or disconnect the computer for the odd day and go back to pen and paper and thinking time.

Speaking of birds, I have been kept awake by the night-time chorus, which I have never heard before. It appears that in urban areas where traffic noise is high and constant, birds are marking their territory by singing at night when it's quieter. I assumed this fairly new phenomenon would be more likely to be due to light pollution - although that has been building up for many decades and is currently reducing - but noise seems to be the main factor. Anyway, it's amazing and it's not just robins, at 3am I could make out blackbirds, chaffinches and pigeons as well as the robins. Bird noise in the days is mostly pigeons and jackdaws, magpies and a very loud jay that sits in the tree outside my bedroom window. It is strange not to be woken by gulls, but I'm living a long way from the sea now.

Anyway, my head's had enough of the screen... looking forward to normal life again, this started on Monday!