Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Dreaming in black and white

Words.

12-point Courier-font words.

Rearranging themselves on the page, forming atrocious sentences and paragraphs that might or might exist in the real world.

That's what I've been dreaming about lately. Not my characters themselves--that would be fun--but the things they say and do and think, as transcribed by the English language. When I wake up, I try to convince myself that none of the absurdities of my dreams can actually be found in the manuscript. But they keep coming back, anyway.

Anyone who plays video games knows what I'm talking about. The images we fill our hours with trickle over into sleepy time. When I was a kid, I'd fall asleep with Space Invaders tromping back and forth behind my eyelids.

As far as work-related dreams go, this sure as heck beats my old waitressing nightmares. I'd rather worry about a mixed metaphor than a mixed salad any night.

Labels:

6 Comments:

Back when I played chess on a team in high school, I used to dream about moves and set-ups.

The worst life-into-dream for me wasn't work or games- it was when I was reading Stephen King's The Stand. Everything would meld into one then. Having problems with work or the boyfriend? Didn't matter, there was a 99.6% chance they'd be dead in a few days.

Posted by: Blogger Sharon GR at 4/11/2006 10:21 PM

My brother played Space Invaders so much as a kid I wound up hating the game. My favorite old time game was Block Breakers.

Posted by: Blogger Kathy at 4/12/2006 12:15 AM

I used to conflate my old newsroom and coworkers with the set and cast of Homicide: Life on the Street. Those were some cool dreams.

Posted by: Blogger Rob S. at 4/12/2006 11:43 AM

Sharon, that's awesome. I read The Stand a few months ago (it took all of November to read), but thank God I never dreamed about it. The last book I dreamed about was Charles de Lint's Someplace to be Flying. The characters were so real and interesting that they set up camp in my brain, like Homicide for Rob.

Kathy, is Block Breakers like Breakout? I used to love that one! There were so many good ones, but I think the one that brought the most joy was Activision's Boxing game. My brother and I would pummel the crap out of each other in the safety of the TV screen. My thumbs hurt just thinking about it.

Posted by: Blogger Jeri at 4/12/2006 2:48 PM

Um not sure Jeri. Block Breakers is where you use a ball to break the blocks above. You have to move a disk left and right to keep the ball in the air.

The last TV show I dreamed about was CSI NY. I can't help it. I think Gary Sinise's character is just so intense and basically drop-dead handsome. I just love the dark, brooding type.:-)

Posted by: Blogger Kathy at 4/13/2006 3:26 PM

To be clear, Homicide is always on my brain. only sometimes is it captitalized.

Posted by: Blogger Rob S. at 4/14/2006 9:40 AM

Post a Comment

Latest Release

The Reawakened

“Myth blends with passion in the colorful conclusion to Smith-Ready's Aspect of Crow trilogy” — Publisher's Weekly

The Reawakened — Available November 1

Order at Mysterious Galaxy, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon

Previous Release

Wicked Game

“A colorful premise and engaging characters” — Library Journal

Wicked Game is now available!

Order at Mysterious Galaxy, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon

About the author

Jeri Smith-Ready

Jeri Smith-Ready is a Maryland author of romantic and urban fantasy.

Learn more about Jeri...

Photo © 2006 Szemere Photography

Sign up for Jeri's newsletter

    follow me on Twitter
    • Jim's story, "When the Music's Over"
    • "Green Fields of France" by Dropkick Murphys