I Dreamed a Story - What My Dream Means to Me and How I’ll Carry it Forward

I’ve always kept a notepad and a pen on my bedside table, prepared for a sudden burst of inspiration. For years the notepad really only served as a ‘To Do’ list, or even worse, a grocery list, until this morning. 

At 3:03 am exactly my eyes opened and the dream was right there, crystal clear. An opening, an arch and even an ending for a story, not sure exactly what happens in the middle yet, but I’m excited to find out. 

I know dreams have inspired novels but I was surprised to learn how many novels I’d loved came from dreams: 

· Twelve Stories and a Dream

· Frankenstein

· Stuart Little

· The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

· Sophie’s Choice

· Catch-22

· Zone One

· Stay Awake

· Twilight

· The Returned

I can see Stuart Little coming from a dream, but Sophie’s Choice? That one surprised me. 

I like writer Lauren Acampora’s belief that dreams are, “an engine, a lending library.”

I feel like I was given a little lift or a gift with this dream. Maybe like a loan from a library of a story that I haven’t heard yet, we’ll see. 

Moral of this story is you never know when inspiration will hit so I’m going to keep that notebook and pen right where they are and hopefully there will be less ‘To Do’ lists and more stories. 

Photo: Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash