It’s the middle of the night and my mind is wandering everywhere but towards sleep. Nothing especially amazing or difficult is happening in my life, yet I lay here thinking about the past, present, and future. About where that long lost thing might be that I haven’t seen for ages. About the rushing water guzzling down the gutter outside disposing of the rain that’s pattering across the roof. Thinking about tomorrow and what it might bring. Considering my plans for this next year and wondering if I will accomplish them. <\/p>\n
What is it about the middle of the night that can put the brain into such overdrive? And why won’t the brain listen to my rational thoughts? Thoughts such as: hey stupid, you know that you have to get up for work in five hours? Yeah, just switch off and go to sleep. But no, my brain is on some sort of hyperdrive this night, flying me across time and space, showing me the faces of everyone I’ve ever known, playing back the memories of my life, and catapulting me through all my possible futures.<\/p>\n
This ride continues for hours until it has burned itself out and I lay exhausted and calm, staring up at my ceiling and with my head now empty. It has taken awhile, but now I know that soon the sound of the falling rain will carry me off to sleep–in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s the middle of the night and my mind is wandering everywhere but towards sleep. Nothing especially amazing or difficult is happening in my life, yet I lay here thinking about the past, present, and future. About where that long lost thing might be that I haven’t seen for ages. About the rushing water guzzling down the gutter outside disposing of the rain that’s pattering across the roof. Thinking about tomorrow and what it might bring. Considering my plans for this next year and wondering if I will accomplish them. What is it about the middle of the night that can put the brain into such overdrive? And why won’t the brain listen to my rational thoughts? Thoughts such as: hey stupid, you know that you have to get up for work in five hours? Yeah, just switch off and go to sleep. But no, my brain is on some sort of hyperdrive this night, flying me across time and space, showing me the faces of everyone I’ve ever known, playing back the memories of my life, and catapulting me through all my possible futures. This ride continues for hours until it has burned itself out and I lay exhausted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-stories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p32u0F-fn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1309,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=1309","url_meta":{"origin":953,"position":0},"title":"The Making of Villains","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"February 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"How do you make a villain that feels credible? Meet Baxter Hickman. Part man, part monster, and totally being used.","rel":"","context":"In "My Thoughts On Stuff"","block_context":{"text":"My Thoughts On Stuff","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2159,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=2159","url_meta":{"origin":953,"position":1},"title":"The Dead Bones","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"October 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\"You kill your trees and live in their dead bones.\" That\u2019s what she\u2019d said to me as I left the forest. I'd looked back at her with wet eyes and could not deny it. I couldn\u2019t tell her that she was mistaken, that I\u2019d not been part of it, because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Tree-Fern.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Tree-Fern.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Tree-Fern.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Tree-Fern.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3047,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=3047","url_meta":{"origin":953,"position":2},"title":"The Villain I Made","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"March 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I've not been good at villain creation. I've known many of them in my life, but I haven't ever made one. I guess my storytelling child author just assumed people are good or bad. But in reality people are all different shades, moving in and out of these shadows, transforming,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=64","url_meta":{"origin":953,"position":3},"title":"Armageddon day +1","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"January 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay the smoke has cleared a little. The bodies are still rotting in the field, and the radioactive fallout is still floating down. I'd like to say that this day has brought new insight and inspiration, but the gloom of destruction still abides. I'm gathering up my scattered brain and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1156,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=1156","url_meta":{"origin":953,"position":4},"title":"This is Story, not real life. Get over it.\u00a0","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"December 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As fiction writers our job is a delicate balance between making a tale that is believable but not boring. Inevitably, no matter what you are reading you are going to run into little things that make you think, \"Well that wouldn't happen.\" Or, \"That's unlikely.\" Get over it and enjoy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/POW.jpg?fit=1200%2C869&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/POW.jpg?fit=1200%2C869&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/POW.jpg?fit=1200%2C869&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/POW.jpg?fit=1200%2C869&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.keithbphillips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/POW.jpg?fit=1200%2C869&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6,"url":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?p=6","url_meta":{"origin":953,"position":5},"title":"Here comes the novel! After Lives\u2014coming soon.","author":"KeithBPhillips","date":"January 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to KeithBPhillips.com. \u00a0My new novel will be released soon, and to get everyone excited about it I will be podcasting the first four chapters. \u00a0Stay tuned, final preparations are being made now. And here's the pitch: AFTER LIVES \u2014 Beyond death's door lies a second chance. Martin Coswell was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithbphillips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}