Yesterday I shared tips to help focus the writer's eye. I think one of the keys to that is building in time for solitude. Solitude renews and restores our creativity.
So my question to you is this. How do you build in the time you need to be alone?
 |
| "Then stirs the feeling infinite, so felt in solitude, where we are least alone." -Lord Byron |
NOTE: I actually took this pic while I was on a retreat with my dear friend and writing partner, Vonda Skelton (www.VondaSkelon.com).
Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
I also invite you to use this image any way you like online. Post it to your blog, share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, anywhere you'd like. All I ask is that you keep it intact, with my website watermark visible.
Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie
Edie, you are so right. Solitude is a must for our physical rest and for renewing and restiring of our creativity. A "change of venue" and uninterrupted reading are an important part of my solitude. Friday afternoons, as my hubby knows, is my "time off and away." Away from my computer, my home phone and any housework needing doing (and even him, sweetie pie that he is). What do I do? In warm weather I find a neat, safe, shady place at one of our parks and lakes where I spend three to four hours. In this winter season I find a cubby at the public library or... a tucked away sofa/chair area on the top floor/atrium of our women's hospital where the doctor's offices are.There are quite a few of these public areas hardly anyone ever uses. (While there I also lift up a prayer for all who may be patients). There is also a walking track there I can use. What do I take with me? I take the current exciting novel I'm reading and whatever writer's handbook I am trying to absorb. (Yesterday, Edie, you'll be happy to know I took your great Social Media "Connections" book and I have some pages turned down I need to implement today!) I also take collected, printed out writer blogs, newsletters I haven't had time to read during the week, a bottle of water and some snacks. I've done this sort of thing for years and it's wonderful how refreshed I feel. A TV Bible minister and author I interviewed many years ago, Marilyn Hickey, who is still going strong in her 80's, told me that when she started feeling pressure from her ministry work, her writing of books and producing TV programs, she would take a few hours off, find a shady park bench and read an Agatha Christie novel. She said it always helped her relax and find fresh strength for her work. She's the one who got me started on my Friday Afternoons Off...and away. Of course, I am retired and this works well for me. Writers with full-time jobs and young children will need to pray for the Lord to show them how they can find times of solitude. I know the Lord will answer that kind of prayer. Jesus was a great one for going into the mountains to seek solitude and times of prayer to prepare himself for the heavy ministry times coming. Elva Cobb Martin, Pres. ACFW-SC Chapter www.elvamartin.com
ReplyDeleteI've always loved, not feared, being alone. I totally agree that for a creative, it's a good thing to go be alone. One time I can be alone with my thoughts is when I am running/jogging alone. Thoughts coalesce, problems shrink, and ideas roll in. In the winter, when I am not running outside, I have my alone time when the children are off somewhere (they are teens and young 20s) and I find I have a whole afternoon here at the house.
ReplyDeleteI have three teenagers so I have to demand solitude from the family. I have a sign that I hang on my bedroom door. One side says: "Now's not a good time" and the other side says: "It's all good"
ReplyDeleteThat's how I let them know my quiet time is over.
Solitude is so important to a writer. I have to have absolute quiet, or at least blended background noise, to write, but I can pretty much daydream/think anywhere. :) And lovely photo you took!
ReplyDelete