Time spent with other people generally means talking about what you're doing. If you spend enough time in solitude, you find you stop even trying to explain to yourself what you're actually doing. You can just be. Solitude and privacy are the greatest privileges.
I've never actually watched a whole Andrei Tarkovsky movie, but I read his book Sculpting in Time and thought it was one of the most brilliant commentaries on movies and art in general I'd ever read.
Here he's giving some advice to young people. The first thing he says is "Learn to love solitude." You can only find yourself by spending time with yourself. Kurt Vonnegut said peer pressure was the strongest force in the Universe and he wasn't wrong.
Yes, I sometimes miss hanging out with more writers in real life, but I also know that I would skip more get-togethers than I would attend. Solitude is everything.
Solitude is how you learn to write and revise and ultimately create something of value.
so true!
Time spent with other people generally means talking about what you're doing. If you spend enough time in solitude, you find you stop even trying to explain to yourself what you're actually doing. You can just be. Solitude and privacy are the greatest privileges.
I've never actually watched a whole Andrei Tarkovsky movie, but I read his book Sculpting in Time and thought it was one of the most brilliant commentaries on movies and art in general I'd ever read.
Here he's giving some advice to young people. The first thing he says is "Learn to love solitude." You can only find yourself by spending time with yourself. Kurt Vonnegut said peer pressure was the strongest force in the Universe and he wasn't wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vvdtaaprzw
I haven't read Sculpting in Time--thank you for the recommendation. And of course I wholeheartedly agree with his advice.
Yes, I sometimes miss hanging out with more writers in real life, but I also know that I would skip more get-togethers than I would attend. Solitude is everything.
Skipping the thing to stay home and write is a common thread among us writer types:)
Spot on. Writing is a solitary endeavor. It can be lonely but it’s what it is.
Talking about writing is like smelling a hot meal. It is a unique pleasure, but it doesn't make the meal taste any better.