Do You Dream About Them?

Do you ever dream about your stories? Do you ever wake up and realize your characters have been hovering there in the night?

Man, I've been doing that a lot lately, and it's freaking me out a little bit. I mean, yeah, I spend a lot of time with them, esp. since I'm polishing two separate works and feeling a little schizophrenic lately, but in my sleep?

Most of the time they're not even doing anything productive for me, either. They're not coming up with brilliant dialogue, or a way to solve that plot problem in chapter fourteen, or anything remotely helpful. They're just going along, living and interacting and generally minding their own business.

Hmm.

I suppose it's kind of cool to realize that, at least in your own mind, you've made them real enough to exist, multi-dimensional enough to show up in your dreams. Still, sometimes I need a little time away.

Do you ever dream about your own characters? Or do they invade your waking moments, too? Do you ever find yourself working through their dilemmas when, really, you should be doing something else altogether?