Our Guest ~ Valerie Ipson

Valerie Ipson is an aspiring author and member of both Authors Incognito and the American Night Writers' Association.

You can visit her blog by clicking here.

~ ♥ ~

I have a recurring dream that has baffled me for many years and its become increasingly more disturbing. In it I have a baby. Always at least one, but sometimes two. So in the beginning, it was good--babies showing up in dreams is often delightful--but now in the dream where I have an infant, I realize with horror that I have not been feeding the it.

I have been neglecting my baby, and it is barely alive. I immediately rush to feed it and hold it and thankfully, it lives.

But why?

Why am I having this dream?

I was excited to come upon this in a book titled One Year to a Writing Life by Susan M. Tiberghien. After relating Maya Angelou's recurring dream, she writes, "I also have a recurring dream . . . " and then she proceeds to describe MY exact dream about the baby--including not caring for it and the rushing to feed it and finding it's still alive. This is what Ms. Tiberghien says, "The child is my creative self. I realize that, yes, I have been forgetting my own creativity, my inner child, but that now I am paying attention. The child is still there, still alive."


I was thrilled with this explanation. I've been neglecting my writing baby for too long. It needs my attention, it needs to be fed, but yes, it's still alive.

I've had several baby dreams since I discovered Ms. Tiberghien's interpretation, including one where I even named the baby--definitely a good sign when you consider the baby being my creative self--and another where I actually gave birth to the baby. That one got me excited. It meant I had come so far--no longer was I finding a baby neglected and barely alive, but I actually gave birth to it. I was giving life to my creativity.

I really wish I had written down all the dreams because it's been quite the baby/creative-self journey.

The two most recent installments had totally different tones, though. The first was wonderful. I dreamed I brought the baby in and set it in a bassinet. It barely fit, but the baby seemed okay. The latest dream, though . . . not good. I had to change the baby and it was making huge messes all over. I couldn't do anything to stop it.

I guess these last two indicate where I'm at in my creative writing journey. I've nurtured the baby/creative-self by writing my novel. Now I'm in revisions.

And it's a mess.

Anyone else have crazy recurring dreams that have you scared?

~ ♥ ~

Thank you, Valerie, for being our guest!

Next week, we are excited to have Christine Bryant as our featured blogger.

If you would like to be our guest, email Ali for information.