On Solitude & Inspiration

Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.--James Russell Lowell



Just something to think about.

I am not really an introvert, in fact the Myers-Briggs test places me far on the extroverted side of the spectrum, but I think that a lot of good can come from being alone. Maybe it is because I am an only child, who was not an altogether popular kid when I was younger, but I figured out how to entertain myself and be comfortable alone. I love my friends and I love to be social, but there is a sort of inner strength I find when spending the evening alone.

I really agree with this quote, though, because nearly all of my ideas and inspiration come from being alone. I thought of the plot and the characters for my first story over the course of a winter at my old job. I would spend every morning alone on the property with my breath visible as I worked. It was peaceful and very beautiful. There is a warn dirt path that leads from the barn through the woods over a few acres, to the field where the horses graze. I would walk it every morning and it just felt magical. When I write about the forest in my story, I am right back there again, feeling the leaves crunch beneath my feet and hearing the quiet, even steps of the horses.

That's not my only story, now. I have other ideas floating around my head, which I imagine to be a bit like the pensieve in the Harry Potter series, with different characters and plot points sort of swirling about in complete disarray. It is only when I am alone that I can pull them out, one at a time, and on pen and paper make sense of them all.