Creating in Isolation!
The other day I listened to an interview with Colson Whitehead, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author. We here in Illinois had a full hour of glorious information and reflections from Mr. Whitehead, largely due in part to interviewer and Author Tochi Onyebuchi. A good interviewer allows the conversation to flow while guiding, gently nudging but rarely interrupting or cutting off the guest’s train of thought. He did that and we got the best of Colson Whitehead that night.
We listeners were honored to be there on the Zoom meeting as Colson Whitehead said many prolific things that could easily cause a writer to write. What initially stuck out for me is when he alluded to the fact that writers write in isolation. It is a one-person enterprise and he reminded us that we may have to forego the social events or the hanging out with friends in order to get the work done.
I thought, “Yes!” A resounding, “Yes.” I have had to block folks’ phone numbers and have even bordered on rudeness in order for people to respect my privacy, my borders and my space. As Robert Frost reminded all readers, “Good fences make good neighbors.” That helped me to know that it is okay to say, “No.” In fact, how much do we owe to the outside forces anyway?
Colson Whitehead also said that we are all human and we know what we must do to stay afloat. So, we tailor our schedules to get the projects done. However, a lot of the other fluff is quite unnecessary and often extraneous, so I feel that we as not only writers, but as humans have the right to mute, block and turn down the volume on noise. And, that noise can come in many forms as it continuously attempts to grab our attention and take us off of our game plan. Or, it could be that those running interference simply do not have a game plan.
Either way, those outside forces can become like barnacles that decidedly attach themselves and hold on for dear life. Like on a boat, they weigh us down and they eventually have to be scaped off, if we or the boat is to move forward and the work is to be completed. As one of my mother’s friends said in jest , “They will get all up around your neck!“
So we writers should take solitary walks, do lots of self-talk and listening and kindly excuse ourselves from the company of those who are draining and subconscious nay-sayers or critics. Those who create as an artform must replenish themselves, have some alone time and continually stay focused on the task at hand. And that takes time of being in the zone and free to let the ideas flourish forth so that they can appear on the printed page!
Lynn M.
September 9, 2023
