Sta.sh
in the year 2010 I began keeping record of my dreams. it was difficult at first, I could barely recall anything other than a few details, feelings and sensations. but as with any other skill the more I practiced the easier it became to remember my experiences. by the end of 2011 I was able to account for almost every moment of my dreams. in July of last year, around the time I first traveled to Alaska, I decided to write a non-fiction book of my dreams from the year 2012.
to say it's been challenging would be a tremendous understatement. in addition to the general difficulty that comes with crossing over from fiction to creative non-fiction for the first time, there's the cumbersome undertaking of writing about events which never actually happened outside of my sleeping brain.
when writing about dreams you have to suppress your natural instincts as an author to alter the details for purposes of story structure. at the same time the source material is often so jumbled or nonsensical that you pretty much have to fill in the blanks in some places just to make it readable. in some areas I've used unusual formatting, sentence structure and diction, not for style, but for the purpose of conveying the feelings and sensations I experienced within the dream. during the editing process I've had to make sure that any changes I've made were purely for logistical purposes. it's going to take multiple submissions but I intend to post all of my journal entries (give or take a few) from last year within the next couple months or so.
the first part of my year-long dream journal is here: [link]
you'll notice that there aren't more than one or two entries per month (the month of June has no entries at all) until July. I've had many major life changes recently. between November of 2011 and May, 2012 I had left three separate jobs, fallen into financial debt, had a few bad experiences with drugs and alcohol, and for about two weeks there I was essentially homeless. it wasn't until July, when I went to Alaska and found regular work, that I began writing on a daily basis. my dreams from those months are somewhat more sporadic and nonsensical than later in the year. and I've found that some of the less than pleasant experiences from my childhood have manifested themselves as recurring characters and themes in my dreams. "the man whose face is a thumbprint" is a particular noteworthy example who I will write about in the next installment of Mechanical Jellyfish.
this is still very much a work in progress, but in the future I would like to send it to publishers, perhaps after commissioning a few illustrations from various artists. until then any feedback would be greatly appreciated. thanks
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