Did you ever have a very realistic dream, realize you were dreaming, and could wake up if you wanted to, but decided to let it play out? Me, too, and this is it.

I dreamt I was writing what seemed to be shaping up as a really good story for one of those FanStory contests, and I hadn’t won one in a while. Remarkably, every word had been falling into place, so I decided to keep dreaming. 

Before very long, I realized I had become too relaxed and chatty, and had dreamed up some witty passages that, unfortunately, strayed from the storyline. Was it time to wake up, sacrifice those delightfully humorous detours, and re-capture the developing story as best I could?

No, not exactly. First I had to salvage the paragraphs of funny stuff, and save them for a rainy day. You might be thinking that was a mistake. "He probably couldn’t remember his story so long after waking up, and was stuck with only the corny material he thought was so hilarious." But you would be wrong. As planned, I awoke, with perfect recall of what I had dreamt, and typed a first draft on my computer. Then, tired from all the writing, I easily got back to sleep, hoping I'd be lucky enough to continue the dream from where it left off, as effortlessly as before.

Believe it or not, that’s what happened.

Although focused on my "dream composing," some dormant area of my brain - perhaps my conscience? - became concerned if this method of ”writing” was ethical, considering it was to be a contest entry. Meanwhile, the creative section breezed along its untroubled path. Seconds later, ”Conscience” confidently reported, ”No problema! Full speed ahead."   

My dream story, virtually finished, finally concluded with its three-hundredth word.