CHUCK PALAHNIUK INSOMNIA QUOTES SERIES
CHUCK PALAHNIUK INSOMNIA QUOTES WINDOWS

It's not difficult to imagine that soon they'll be writing my books. Last year, those elves prepared my taxes. Those mornings are akin to the story of The Elves And The Shoemaker: it's a wonder to find tedious work done, but it's unsettling to have no memory of having performed it. Too often I rise in the morning to find that a sleepwalking, manic version of myself has washed and folded the laundry, reorganised the shelves in the garage, cleaned the fireplace and wrapped gifts for Christmas – perhaps some hybrid of Tyler Durden and Martha Stewart. To be honest, Ambien helps me sleep more nights than I care to admit – although I'm uncertain about the quality of that sleep.

CHUCK PALAHNIUK INSOMNIA QUOTES WINDOWS

Other insomniacs I know open windows mid-winter or drink iced water before going to bed. I'll imagine that I'm buried in snow, hence the ice caves in Fight Club. Instead of falling asleep, I find myself at the kitchen table, making notes for a new writing project.Īnother method that works is to feel cold, or imagine feeling a chill. Talking or even thinking in words engages some aspect of my brain and excites me. Houses remembered from my childhood work better than counting sheep.Īs with the fights, language ruins it. If I picture myself moving through space, for example walking along a path through a forest or exploring a large, empty house, I fall asleep. More recently, I've found a less dramatic method. As they say in the book and movie, 'Go out and pick a fight, and lose it.' My long, imaginary fights would be wordless and brutal, and then I'd lose and fall asleep. That's why so much of the novel Fight Club was about losing fights. All these changes, it's speculated, function to prevent him from entering a new fight before he's physically recovered. Win the fight in your imagination, and you'll never fall asleep, but studies show that after a boxer or wrestler loses a match, his testosterone levels drop drastically. It should surprise no one, but parts of my life-long self-comforting story involve fighting. It's easy to love the truth, and Chelsea's theory rings true because she's identified a habit I've also practised since my sleepless childhood.

CHUCK PALAHNIUK INSOMNIA QUOTES SERIES

Chelsea's own novels, her Heartsick series and the terrific new Kick series she'll be launching this summer, she says are all based on one decades-long saga that still lulls her to sleep every night. Turning that habit into a career is inevitable, like any drunk who dreams of owning a bar. They become a cumulative, sort-of self-told lullaby, if you will. Over time, those stories grow larger and more detailed until they come to resemble the epics of Tolkien, but they remain the writer's chief method of relaxing into unconsciousness. Another writer, dear friend and bestseller Chelsea Cain, says that writers begin life by telling themselves 'self-comforting' stories in order to fall asleep as children.

Chuck palahniuk insomnia quotes