I was laying in bed one night unable to sleep. A friend from college was staying at my house with her 3 young boys and her husband. I was suffering from some intense anxiety, worrying about everything from whether or not the small guest bedroom was too hot or too cold, to whether one of the little boys would sit up and hit his head on the table (again). I worried that they didn't have enough pillows or enough blankets. I worried that they would regret staying at my house instead of getting a hotel.

It was one of those truly awful nights where you see 1am, then 2am, then 3am, and 4am. I knew the little boys who went to bed around 8:30 would be up bright and early around 6:30am. I was dreading the next day as I kept seeing the possible hours of sleep dwindling down to just over 2 hours.

After awhile, I realized that my worrying had turned into thinking, and my thinking eventually turned into an idea. What was I thinking about? Well, I started thinking about how awesome it would be to be able to talk to my anxiety and tell it to just shut up for awhile so I could sleep. That thinking turned into an idea of a comic with a character who writes to her anxiety.

As crazy as it sounds, sometimes my insomnia can be an asset. I get some of my most interesting inspirations and ideas when I should be sleeping.