I Dream, Therefore I Write — And Video!
Thanks to inspiration from El Edwards and Judy Dunn, I've wanted to try my "hand" (i.e. face and voice?) at video blogging about the connection between my dreams and my writing. So here's the result. Happy viewing!
Eeeeeeeeeek! Scariness! My first ever video blog post!
If you’ve been attentive (and, of course, you have been), you know that I’ve recently been blogging about the time I gave up writing. That time of my life is closely connected with my dreams — actual, nighttime dreams, not daydreams or wishes — so I knew I needed to share my thoughts about all of that at some point.
Thanks to inspiration from El Edwards and Judy Dunn, I’ve also wanted to try my “hand” (i.e. face and voice?) at video blogging. So here’s the result. Happy viewing!
Your first video was great! You looked completely natural! As for content, I have no idea what all these dream things mean. I have been able to salvage a few story ideas from my own jagged-around-the-edges dream, but you would not recognize them as they once were. I had a dream about a spaceship that was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside (way before I heard of Dr. Who, btw) and I was going to save a princess, and it turned into a fantasy novel about saving a prince. Weird. On one hand I’d like to experience dreams as you do, as fully fledged stories, but on the other hand, I really enjoy the wakeful dreams of sorting the story out.
Natural?!? Oh scary, that probably means I’ll have to keep doing this. Yikes! (Thanks, though.) 😉
Jessie, I’m not sure I’d recommend this type of dreaming (as though it were voluntary — ha!). In general, I’m a big advocate for the healthfulness of sleep, and these dreams don’t exactly make for a lot of deep rest!
I do enjoy sorting the stories out when conscious, though. 😉 So, have you actually used salvaged dreamstuff for any of your stories?
well, I’m still trying to work the spaceship into a story, so the answer to your question is sort of? I mean, I already have the spaceship, and it’s populated and has a destination, I’m just trying to figure out why (and how) it would appear to be so small. It’s been so long since most of my ideas have been lying in their drawers waiting to be worked on though that sometimes I can’t remember which ones came from dreams and which didn’t.
Well, since the dream turned into a fantasy novel about saving a prince, maybe the spaceship is under some kind of magic spell?
I guess it’s my IMAX theater that makes me remember which of my stories came from dreams. The scenes are so vivid in my memory, I don’t think I could forget, even if I wanted to! 😉
I used to have dreams that were stories, but I wasn’t writing then. I don’t think it was a sort of backlog like yours, I just think I dreamed differently at that time. My dreams make absolutely no sense now. They don’t even terrify me so much as just make me step back and wonder at my subconscious.
Obviously that means dreams don’t play a huge role in my writing, at least not directly. My subconscious is obviously very weird and full of strange ideas, but my conscious mind has to impose some sense on the gibberish. And this is where gunfighters cursed by Aztec mummies and science hero crime fighters marrying jungle princesses come from.
Josh, I’m sure that many people would consider my dreams to be nightmares. But I can relate to what you’re saying, because my dreams don’t really scare me, either. Like you do with yours, I take a step back from mine and just go, “Hmmmm.”
My mom once said it concerns her a little, how my mind works. Considering the mummies and the jungle-princess-marrying crime fighters, it sounds like the same might be said of yours. 😉
Hi Courtney
Your first video, looks absolutely fabulous.
Many congratulations.
I’ve just started a mini series on using video, if you get a minute, please come over and tell us all about your trials and tribulations.
First video…8 min 41 secs – you obviously enjoyed it. LOL
.
Thanks very much, Keith! And yes, I did enjoy it, my protestations to the contrary notwithstanding. ; ) Actually, I enjoyed it so much that my first take was nearly 12 minutes long!
I’ll definitely drop by your place and share my thoughts. Thank you for stopping by here and taking the time to comment!
Way to go, Courtney. You are attacking this blogging thing with passion and boldness. I have amazing dreams but my problem is remembering the details long enough to get it all down.
The only thing about video for me is that I like to see words in print, so I can go back, reread, ponder and figure out how I want to respond and what I want to say in my comment. But that’s because I’m a hopeless, 100% visual learner. : ) Sometimes I advise my blog coaching client to leave that print transcript below the video for the auditorily challenged reader (like me).
Other than that, it was engaging and I very much liked seeing your face and hearing your voice in real time. And you asked your call-to-action question at the end. (Very nice.)
Ahhh, the transcript. Yes, I’d wondered about that — and asked myself if I could live up to the daunting challenge of transcribing nearly 9 minutes of myself talking. At this point, it seems the answer to that question is “no.” ; )
But! Several readers/viewers have been kind enough to tell me in a gentle way that I probably need to make 8 min 41 sec my longest video. Since I intend for future videos to be shorter, I’ll be including transcripts of those videos, or at least a list of highlights.
For one thing, I can’t even remember what my call-to-action question was!
Judy, thanks so much for taking the time to visit, watch, and comment! I really appreciate the compliments and, even more, your feedback/suggestions. : )
Hey Courtney!
Just now found my way over to your blog. I’m going to add it to my google reader so that I can read or watch your wonderful posts! I thought the video blog was great! And what an interesting subject. I can totally relate to emotions overflowing from dreams. I dreamed once that my dear husband cheated on me and I woke up so mad at him. It took me a good part of the morning to get over the feeling, even though I completely knew it had been a dream.
Keep up the great posts!
Leslie
Leslie, it’s lovely to hear from you! Thanks so much for giving me a shout-out. 🙂 Yes, I completely understand how you’d end up mad at your husband over something “he did” in your dream. Those dream emotions can be very gripping!
And I mean that literally. When Ed and I were first married, I once tried to strangle him with the bedsheet because I thought the sheet was a ham. What can I say? In that dream, I was hungry! 😀
I’m honored that you want to add me to your Google reader. I’m not sure how those work, but there’s also an email subscription box on my homepage if you need to make use of that.
It’s so good to hear from you!
A video! I love it, for there is a passion for your work that, while seen in between your lines, is even more evident in your voice. Kudos on the good lighting, lack of mumbling, big words (SYNCHRONICITY!) and your lovely smile!
My dreams tend to be either a meaningless patchwork of semi-familiar scenes and faces or specific situations that correlate to something that is greatly affecting me at that moment. I dream about what stresses or impresses me. (More the former than the latter, alas.) I never have a clear story, but I don’t mind…I think my muse speaks to me through other means. 😉
Tee hee. Thanks for the compliments, dearie. Remind me sometime, and I’ll show you some of my test footage. Especially the part where I say, “I just watched my last test video, and the first thing we learn from it is that Courtney needs to e-nun-ci-ate when she’s recording.” 😉
Oh my, can I ever relate to the dreams-from-stress stuff. Do you ever dream that you’re doing the same repetitive task all night long? I do that when I’ve been working hard at an important project the day before.
As I mentioned to Jessie above, dreaming clear stories isn’t always a good thing because of the lack of rest. So maybe you’re blessed in that! But since your inspiration doesn’t come from dreams, where do you get it? Tell tell! : )
Hey Courtney
Looks great! It makes me feel like we’re actually chatting in person, which I like. (Ich vermisse dich waehrend nicht so viel!) 🙂
I do have a completely content-neutral comment about the length–when I clicked over I said to myself, “Ok if it’s less that 4 minutes I’ll watch it,” and then it wasn’t and I had to do the “screw my stupid rules” thing in my own mind. It’s true, once I start watching any video I become immersed and lose the time, but initially I’m not as eager to press play on a longer video, in general.
But for you, anytime dahling. 🙂 (plus I just like your thoughts!)
Very interesting thoughts about creative expression and dreams. Makes sense to me! (and I can relate to those annoying dreams that cause you to feel more exhausted than when you went to bed the night before…including naptimes. That happened just this morning when I went back to bed for an hour, woke up feeling WORSE, what a waste!)
Ha ha, well, I’m glad you did the “screw your stupid rules” thing. 😉 But, to spare you that difficulty in the future, I do plan to shorten other videos! The first time I recorded this one, it was almost 12 minutes long. So if I can shave off another three or four minutes next time, I’m golden!
Going back to bed shortly after waking up is *guaranteed* to make my day go blah. (#StarWars) (#iamnotfunny) I think it’s something about the sleep cycle? I can’t remember, but I know I’ve read about why that happens. Anyway, it does make for some yucky dreams, too!
Und ich vermisse dich auch, meine Liebe. Wann besuchst du uns mal wieder? ; )
I know it’s been said already but I too loved your first video. Like you, I’m often full of good intentions to transcribe my videos (and one day I may outsource it because like Judy said, it’s great to cover as many bases as possible) but I’m yet to do so. Once the excitement of getting the thoughts out there is done, who really wants to watch it all over and hear themselves talk? 😉
I love how different people find inspiration greets them in so many different guises. I’ve never, ever had a dream that became part of my writing but I can totally relate to your fear that they might just stop. If possible, I’d take comfort from knowing you’re not alone.
But more than that, I’ve found that the more we strive after that inkling, the more it can allude us. As I moaned on twitter a few weeks back, I lost two cracking blog posts after I didn’t write some notes and the more I tried to remember, the more the delicate darlings slipped away. It’s something Stephen King made reference to when he talked about mining stories in his fab On Writing so smile my lovely, you’re in great company. 😉
P.S. Your tweet meme button isn’t working. Let me know if you need some help getting it up and running again.
Thanks for offering your help, dear El! The meme button seems to be working on my end now — I used it just a bit ago. I’d emailed my two tech people who usually aid me with such things. So I don’t know if they fixed it, or if the silly thing fixed itself. (I find that such things fix themselves as often as they decide on their own to quit working.) 😉
And I’m sorry I’ve taken so long to reply to your comments, love! My spam filter recently decided to go autonomous, and I keep missing messages that are supposed to go to my inbox! Going to have to teach that filter a thing or three.
Thanks for the compliments on my first video! Yes, a lot of excitement went into it — and I do dislike recordings of my own voice, so I really don’t want to listen to it closely enough to transcribe it! But I know I’ll need to do something for the sake of my more visually oriented readers. I’m thinking at least bulleted points of the highlights?
And you are so right, El: If I’ve lost track of an idea, it slips ever farther away the more I try to reach for it. Sometimes, if I let my mind wander, I can sneak up on that idea. But most often, if it’s going to come back, it does so when I’m not looking for it. That’s a big “if,” though. 😉
Here’s to scrap paper and scribblebooks!
Courtney – Great first time video – very engaging and natural. I think video really works for you, so keep doing them! It shows the real you – or as much of the real you that you are willing to let us see! 😉
I particularly loved the fact that you structured it like a story – I simply had to listen to the end of it! I reckon you put plenty of planning into that deceptively easy delivery!
Synchronicity – I am a big believer in this – the universe providing just what you need at exactly the right time. If it doesn’t, you need to look at what your blockage is – address that and things will flow your way again. Maybe your blockage was fear of blockage?! Did you change anything?
Dreams can be very inspirational – and can be captured if we practice remaining in the momenmt in our day to day lives. Being in the moment can seem to slow down perception of time so that you are more aware of what is around you – a sort of Matrix time! Which gives me an idea to revitalise the novel I lost my draft MS for years ago….maybe it’s time to go back to that finally!
My latest personal development is finding creative ideas during (or after) meditation.
For example, yesterday morning whilst meditating, I saw an image of myself meditating at dawn, on my own acres of green land, sitting in the lotus position on a giant pair of hands, cupped like a lotus flower.
I now know that I need to commission the sculture of those hands!
Thanks for sharing, in what was a very open, honest and authentic way.
Thanks, Dean — and thank you for sharing so openly, too. I love hearing how others see synchronicity in their lives. My friend El calls it “God-incidence,” and I like that concept, too. Julia Cameron talks about “Good, Orderly Direction.” To me, it’s all part of the same creative benevolence. : )
I’m glad the video appealed to you so much! I do plan to do more of them (there’s another one here), I just haven’t gotten a round 2it yet. ; ) But I’ll tweet it when I do, so you won’t miss it!
Just was exploring your blog and came across your first video. It was great! I too have creative dreams that I use for my writing. My first book, The Whisper, was inspired by a dream, and subsequent dreams have given me a variety of short stories. I love my dreams and have used them over and over again to be creative in my real life. My artist son has dreams of images, colors and textures.I have talked to several writers and artists who all claim that their dreams inspire their imagination and creativity.
Hi Cindi! Good to see you here. : )
Yes, it’s not really surprising that we creative types find so much inspiration in dreams. I often feel as though I can’t process all the input from my life during the day, and it all comes spilling out at night. The challenge then is to filter the useful imagery from the simply bizarre — not always an easy task! I wish my dreams would inspire short stories the way yours do for you. I get tons of noveling ideas, but my short story well usually runs dry!
And thank you for the compliment. I had this grand plan of doing ten vblogs last year, but alas, it didn’t happen. Ah well, I’ll get more videos up here at some point!