please read this everyone!

[uk writer]

Recently i have been given the chance to write / direct / produce shorts for a new film company which for me is really the chance of a life time! So for a couple of weeks now i have been sitting at my desk jotting down anything that comes to mind and developing some of these ideas.. with one problem, i can never get to sleep! :ack
Even if am really tired and i know i have to get up early the next day. I get in to bed turn the light of and close my eyes.. and then for the next 2/3 hours my mind keeps working going over scenarios and new ideas for films its virtually impossible to switch of!

And so this brings me to my question.. does anyone have any wind down tips to share?

[yldii]

Watch anything with Julia Stiles in it.
That always boors me to sleep.

[absolutewrite]

Hey UK! That's awesome news-- congrats. I have the same problem with too much mind-chatter when I'm trying to sleep. Best advice I can give you: Keep a notebook by your bed so you can jot down these brilliant near-sleep ideas, get some exercise during the day so your body is ready for sleep later, and don't keep lying there if you can't sleep-- it's better to get up and walk around a little, then go back to bed. I don't know if it really does any good, but I drink chamomile tea before bed when I'm wound up-- others say warm milk.

[HConn]

Self-gratification works for me.

[yldii]

I actually love it when I can't sleep because of scene ideas in my head. But Writing doesn't pay the mortgage for me (yet).
So I will probably sleep good tonight, considering that I insulated two houses today(with fiberglass, itchy itchy).


.........Yldii.........

[PipeWriter]

I recommend being really tired first.

[scripter1]

If the ideas won't leave you alone

Get up and write them. You're awake any way. Might as well use the time productively.

[writerscut]

Odd coincidence...I have been suffering the same sort of thing as of late. Countless nights of my continuous loquacious babble...all in my head...

[dpaterso]

Never overlook the somnolent power of visiting the bathroom and dropping a #2. No, really. Someone gave me this advice in all seriousness, and in all seriousness it works.

-Derek
-----------------------My Web Page - naked women, bestial sex, and whopping big lies. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)

[EggMcGuffin]

maybe you are bipolar or adhd or sumthin'? you could take meds for it or see a dr for your insomnia problem and get on a sleep aid. sometimes i take ambien or sonata. works great!

and lay off the coffee! :coffee

[absolutewrite]

You know what's weird? My doc prescribed every sleeping pill in history for me... Ambien, Sonata, etc. And I tried the over-the-counter sleep stuff, too. I can stay up and work like I didn't take anything at all.

Then I discovered Actifed Cold & Allergy (an antihistamine). Knocks me out in 15 minutes flat. Not supposed to take it regularly, though.

[Hamboogul]

jenna,

have you considered reading script pages from done deal? it always works for me.

[absolutewrite]

For quite some time, I was the #2 reviewer at Zoetrope.com in terms of the number of scripts I read and reviewed. For some reason, I can't bring myself to look at another screenplay ever again for the remainder of my life and well into my afterlife. I don't even like to look at my own if I can help it.

[A Pathetic Writer]

AZ scripts should be prescribed for those seeking doctor-assisted suicide.

(I was going to say "self-directed suicide" but then I thought "WTF? That's pretty DUH." :lol )

[absolutewrite]

To be fair (grumblegrumble), I did find a handful of great scripts and very talented writers at AZ. That's what knocked me down to reality in the first place-- I assumed that I was the only talented writer in the world who hadn't yet been produced, then realized there were actually a bunch of people who were better than I was who were still plugging away after many years. I hated admitting that! It meant I actually had to... like... get better or somethin'. Who needs that kind of pressure?

This is why I decided to write greeting cards instead. :thumbs

[Hamboogul]

i had a greeting card idea that Hallmark rejected.

it went something like this...

"Great, the world just found out that you like to (*use imagination here)."

and then you open the card and it read

"At least you are still the Governor of NJ."


This was back in 1997. They said that such a card has no market.

But now i'm going to market t-shirts that say "Impossible Face Bane"

* edited to remove inappropriate language

[macalicious731]

Jenna, I have to admit I've down an allergy pill or two in order to get to sleep at night. Not often - just when I'm completely desperate.

I've kind of given up on timely sleep. I used to go to bed (when time allowed) at midnight, but I'd never sleep until about two. With some schedule swapping, hopefully I'm in bed by 11 and asleep by one...

Now that I'm in college, I'm completely in awe of my roomie. She takes 15 minute naps at least 4 times a day, hops in bed at ten and is out like a light until the next morning.

What the heck?

[EggMcGuffin]

absolutewrite have you mixed those pills with alcohol? they work better when you do that. :rollin

[mogie]

I have found Tylenol PM helps me sleep. I have had a lifetime of sleep problems but that is some good stuff. There is also an herb of some type (yes, the legal kind, in capsule form) called Valerian that can be helpful. You can find it in health food stores and vitamin shops. Those cold formulas you drink knock me out, then I wake up an hour later WIRED and ready to rock and roll.

I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on tv, so read the labels and make a good choice for yourself.

[EggMcGuffin]

i like ambien and sonata bc they don't make me wake up tired and hungover like valium.

[writerscut]

Valium? I certainly wouldn't be endorsing that for sleep loss...

[MrAngelwithnowings]

I dont need any pills for sleep.

I knock myself out whenever I hear my wife try to ask me for sex

:rofl

[writerscut]

Woah...

[EggMcGuffin]

ouch. ooh! :ha