Deja Vu....sorta
I had this dream last night. Normally, I don't pay much attention to dreams, and usually I can't remember them anyway, but this one stuck with me when I woke up.In the dream I had entered a writing contest. A big one. I knew what day the finalists were going to be announced, and I sat around waiting (though I'm really not big on contests in the first place, which is why this dream is so odd.) Anyway, the finalists all get telephone call notification, and after a full day goes by, I realize that ain't me. No biggie. Like I said, I don't really give a flip about contests anyway. Later that evening though, lo and behold, I get a phone call. I'm pumped. Until I realize it isn't from the contest coordinator. No, it's from a NY editor who's reading all the entries. And she hasn't called to tell me I'm with the big dogs. Oh, no, she's called to laugh at my entry. You see, in my haste to get my entry in on time, I didn't proofread my pages. And the ones I sent in had big purple pen marks all over them - slash marks, circled words, missing pages, scenes out of order, unreadable prose...on and on. You can probably imagine...a writer's worst nightmare come true....a submission that looks like doggie doo. And this editor's laughing, telling me no way in hell will I ever win a contest let alone sell a darn book.
For someone like me - yeah, obsessive compulsive comes to mind - this is about as bad as it gets. I'm one of those people who checks and double checks and triple checks my submissions - even if it's just a chapter going to my CPs. I'm insanely cautious of what I put on the loops or how I respond to blogs or comment anywhere on the web. I'm real careful in email to make sure my snarkiness doesn't come across wrong (although I'm sure it does nine times out of ten). Basically, I work to make sure any contact I have with other writers (and the public) is professional. So why did this darn dream bug me so much? Don't know. But it's still bugging me.
I'm not clairvoyant (Lord, I hope I'm not clairvoyant), but we've all had those deja vu moments...where you feel like you've been somewhere before, done something before. Where you recognize someone you don't know but are sure, deep inside, you should. That's sorta this feeling. Very strange.
I'm always interested in people's dreams and how the subconscious exerts itself during sleep. So share with me here: Have you ever dreamt something and had it come true? Or had the opposite happen?
Labels: Elisabeth's Posts
posted by Elisabeth Naughton at 12:52 PM
6Comments:
Over the years, I've had a lot of deja vu instances. Either being somewhere and feeling like I've been there before or know what a person is going to do even though I've never met them before.
I don't have that many dreams. And there have only been a few that lingered on after I woke up. They are usually scary ones that I wish I wouldn't remember! I did have one once that lingered for a about a week. It wasn't violent. Just me having a liaison with a country western singer! LOL It was a good one to remember!
Don't worry about this one Eli, I'm sure it is just your neurotic self trying to thwart you! LOL
ROFL, Paty. I bet that liaison dream was pretty good. Now I want to know who the star was!
Thanks...and I bet you're right. Every once in a while I have these neurotic moments. Usually they happen during my waking hours, but apparantly anything's possible. ;)
I don't dream much either -- or I should say, I don't remember dreaming. In the odd case I do remember anything, it fades quickly.
Your dream is probably the stress of the wait while your ms makes the rounds at the houses.
The wait alone could cause insanity. :-)
LOL. That's probably pretty accurate, J.
Eli,
That sounds like a nightmare, not a dream. lol
Sounds like an anxiety dream to me. I've had a couple of instances where something I've dreamed happened the next day. Both times I didn't realize until after the actual event happened, that I'd dreamed them. I thought they'd really happened.
For example-- we had an exchange studen when I was in highschool and he'd been invited on a school camping trip. The morning they were due to come back, I commented to my mom it was too bad they'd ran into the nest of bees and got stung so bad. My mom asked who'd told me that, since they hadn't even returned home yet. Later, in the day, when they returned they were covered in bee stings.
I've also had a reoccuring dream take hold of me for up to weeks at a time. then it goes away-- sometimes for years, only to return night after night for weeks again.
I've still never figured out what the dream is trying to tell me.
I agree with Theresa, Eli. It definitely sounds like a nightmare.
I don't usually remember my dreams. I had one a couple months ago though that was so clear and so vivid that I got up in the middle of the night to take notes before it faded. It's an idea I would love to use in a story someday.
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