I’ve been thinking about this a lot during Camp NaNoWriMo. To write, I find I require space and company at different times.
I need a place where I can write, be alone with my thoughts, or at least be allowed to work. It would be nice for that location to be quiet, but that’s not always possible. I’m getting better at blocking out distractions, like background noise (even though it still irritates me), but sometimes a family member wants something or needs attention. They’re determined to be heard, so I must be equally determined to sneak away. To go to a different room or a different place all together where I can get some writing done.
At the same time, I love company, particularly company I can talk about my work with. I’ve been lucky enough to have friends I could converse with for hours about story ideas with. We’d bounce ideas off each other, shaking loose even more as we talked. I used to go out to coffee with one friend. We’d discuss character concepts, possible plots, everything, and anything about our work. Conversation flowed free and easy between us, as we’d spark various random thoughts off each other, finding they often turned into ideas, adding to a shared cauldron of creativity I often felt I could sense bubbling between us.
I think I named my blogs the Cauldrons of Inspiration because of that friend. I look back at our time together with more than a little wistful regret and longing. That time became a Golden Age of Conversation for me. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever experience anything like that again.
There’s no reason to stop trying to recapture something of that magic, to stop reaching out to those who want to talk. This is why I love our End of the Rainbow cabin during Camp NaNoWriMo. I can retreat into my personal space to write, but I can also share, through the message board. We can talk, post, ask each other questions about various matters concerning our work in a private cabin. There’s a bit of the best of both worlds there. We have our privacy, yet an opportunity to communicate with each other.
This may be why I can’t get enough of having a private cabin. :)