Sleepwriting

I had the strangest experience Saturday night. I was up late, writing like crazy. Earlier that day, I'd cranked out 1,300 words. Which for me, is not bad. I consider 1,000 words in a single day a very good day. But by 8 p.m., the children were asleep, and the Bride wanted to watch some chick flick that I had absolutely no desire to see (Shopgirl), so I hit the ol' iMac for another round. I hit it hard. After a while, my hands seemed to disappear. The words were beaming directly from my mind to the screen. By midnight, I had cleared the 4,000-word mark, almost a record for me. I kept writing. Go, Swierczy, go.

Then it happened.

You ever nod off in the middle of a movie? A movie like, f'rinstance, Peter Jackson's King Kong (which is probably the most boring action/adventure/monster movie ever made)? Your mind says, Sorry, need to take a pause for the cause, see you in a few seconds and you're out... but for only for a few seconds. And then you jolt awake, feeling a bit like an idiot, because you nodded off, and there's a little bit of drool collected in the corner of your mouth.

Well, I did that. Nodded off.

While I was writing.

And here's the creepy part:

Far as I can tell, I kept on writing.

Yes, that's right. While my conscious mind decided to take a break, another part of my mind missed the memo. And told my fingers to keep going.

All told, I was probably out for a few seconds. Maybe 10, tops. But when I looked at the screen, there were two sentences there I couldn't remember writing. They weren't American literature's most breathtaking sentences... but they weren't half-bad, either.

If only I could harness the power of my unconscious mind like this on regular basis... well, shit. I'd be kicking out novels like James Patterson.

For the writers out there: this ever happen to you? Or should I worry about my own personal George Stark showing up at my door one of these days?