I am always this beautiful when I sleep.

I’m the type of person who dreams often, vividly, and with almost total recall. My dreams are usually so off the wall that friends and family enjoy a play-by-play the next morning. Just last night I dreamt I was back in high school doing one of my college finals (yup!), but my adviser hadn’t received my thesis yet and I had five minutes to send it off before I had to take the school bus home! But of course the printer wouldn’t work and my computer ate my flash drive! Eventually I said “LOL HILDRED YOU GRADUATED LIKE TWO YEARS AGO” and I woke up immediately. Har.

Most of you know by now that my series CROSS// was inspired by a dream I had a few years ago. I’ve had lots of dreams inspire my writing, such as the other night when I dreamt I was with some girl I didn’t know and was on the run in my own dang house. The part where we perused through a book of signatures inspired a scene I’m in the midst of writing at this moment.

Now, I’m not the type to roll over when I wake up and write what I dreamt about in some notebook. I’ve always maintained that if the idea was good enough I’d still remember it later on. No, it’s the dreams that nag at my brain all day that end up in my stories. I guess at the end of the day my dreams are my ultimate muse.

How about you? Are you a literal dreamer? Do your dreams factor into your writing?