Sunday Snap: Sunrise

Sunrise over Bennett Island

Happy December, everyone!

Wait—what?? How can this be? I had thought my November would have dragged by much more slowly, after I signed up for NaNoWriMo and sequestered myself to my writing cave for thirty days. Most of those days started early too—pitch-black early before the clocks rolled back on the 7th—and yet the month flew by anyway.

It was pleasant rising with the sun on those mornings. Most of this blog’s “sun photography” has been of the sunset variety like the one on my header, but there is something special about the quality of the sun at dawn. The stillness, the quietude, the fresh hope that gives birth to each new day is perfect inspiration for writing a new chapter in a novel or starting a new chapter in your life.

“I write for the same reason I watch the sun rise every morning. Not to express some great truth, but because it makes me feel wildly, gloriously alive.” ~ Marty Rubin

A Photo a Week Challenge: Sunrise

Are You More Creative in the Morning?

newtown Sunrise
Sunrise in Newtown, Bonavista Bay

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Ten minutes later

 Research has proven the brain is most actively creative immediately following sleep.

Your subconscious mind wanders and makes connections while you sleep. That is what creativity is – making connections between different parts of the brain.

This makes sense to me. I think my writing is better and more productive in the morning.

Yet I hear some writers and creatives say they are more attuned to creating in the afternoon, evening or night. Is it simply a matter of being a morning person or a night owl?

Still others say they have no choice but to write whenever they can find the time.

When do you do your best creative work?

Early Rise

001Waking up too soon
dreams dissolve, sleep elusive,
I rub my tired eyes

006But then my heart smiles
a new day, a new chance – Life’s
consolation prize.

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Do you ever wake up too early?
Or do you like to start every morning at daybreak?

Photo Challenge: Early
wheresmybackpack.com

Cat Dreams

Good day, my friends and fellow felines. Vivian K. Perry here, returning as guest host on Jennifer’s Journal.

Jennifer caught me unawares one morning last week, indulging in a wonderfully delicious cat nap. These pics she took make me wonder: do humans dream the same as I do?

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Jennifer says I get twitchy at times when I sleep, where my paws seem to act out the dream-movie playing in my head. In the dream-movie, I might be chasing a shrew or a mouse, or I could be trying to catch up to Paul on a walk.

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I wonder, is it the cat version of REM sleep? Except it’s RPM sleep – short for “Rapid Paw Movement”?

 I think the camera captured me here resting up for another night of fun and frolic. While the weather is still mild, Maisie and I enjoy napping for most of the day, so we can return to our wild, nocturnal adventures as the moon rises and darkness descends…

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 …then we pad back home at the break of dawn to stir the house with urgent meows and vibrating purrs.
Time to get up and fill our bowls, humans!

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“How nice it is to think that feline dreams, like our own, are painted with creative brush strokes from time to time. Perhaps my cats and I even share the same dream…where every cat has a safe, warm place to sleep.” ~ Barbara L. Diamond

“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can play together all night.” ~ Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes)

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Before I sign off of course, Jennifer insists I include a sleeping Maisie in my post:

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Baby Maisie

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Grown-up Maisie

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Wishing you all – and my dear sister – the sweetest of dreams! ♥

 

Further Reading:

Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Dreamy

I Dream – a poem by Jennifer 

Do Cats Dream When They Sleep?