As a writer, I want to tell the very best story I can. A new story, a journey into the unknown not

yet taken a thousand other times. For me, the crux of each novel begins with a dream. No,

really. Not a dream of what I will do or where I will travel, that’s not what I mean. Each of my

novels begins with a big, plump pillow and a warm, insanely soft blanket. Cats are probably

artists and writers too, it occurs to me.

Ode to Nap time, that’s what I mean. Nap time, the event in a day children resist more than any

other. The same event most adults long for in the middle of a crazed and hectic schedule. There

are numerous studies (scientifically recorded and all) about the restorative properties of an

afternoon siesta. Between 20 minutes and an hour, not longer and that’s all I need for inspiration to strike.

I put in my bright orange silicone earplugs, drink a cup of hot cocoa or tea, close my eyelids and

put the problem in front of my mind: What happens next? I ask a thousands layers of myself,

sleeping, dreaming, subconscious. Replaying the current scene in my head, I get up to the crux

point and fall asleep. And into that dream I wander, sorting through a hundred choices each

character might make, sifting each like sand through my fingers, until I find the right one.

It is right I can tell because it fits perfectly with what has gone before and opens new horizons

with its invention. That’s when I know where the story goes or sometimes how it will get to the

next point in the plot.

Unexpected, revelatory, restorative nap time: an author’s best friend.

And chocolate.

Bio:
Caroline A. Gill went to school at UCLA and NIU. She married the love of her life. Facing the world with children made her aware of how vulnerable they are. Weaving tales of courage, she tries to find hope. Living near the great California Redwoods, she finds a sense of the finite and infinite touching. The creative world is like that, especially when authors feel inspired.  She’s the author of Flying Away, a YA dystopian, supernatural paranormal fantasy. www.authorcarolineagill.com