Think back to any historical representation (documentary/popular film/YouTube) you may have seen depicting the lives of medieval people. Really, any. What do you remember about the medieval priests? They’re always scribbling on parchment by the light of a tallow candle and wrapped up in cloaks. Sounds romantic doesn’t it – devoting one’s life to the pursuit of knowledge, malgré (despite) the elements? Think again.
Since coming to Unbloggable EventsTM location, I’ve had access to electricity, running water and climate control. Throw in lots of unstructured time for strolls and reflection and you have a winning combination for creativity. As my fellow stagiaires (now volontaires) can attest, burning heat and a lack of fans didn’t deter my desire to write, be read and adored. I filled pages of my notebook with short stories, poems and drawings in any number of styles and languages. True, I’d had a lot of practice in college – I preferred to keep my hands busy in large survey courses with snippets of creative writing rather than struggle to fill in the 2-star Sudoku as was the fate for so many.
But, I digress. My new temporary home provides me with all of the conditions for good writing: comfort, a good balance between witty conversation and reflective solitude, a destabilizing effect (center to periphery as we say in postcolonial studies)which creates wonder and mystery, laundry machines. Still, these same qualities will lead to stagnation after awhile. Meditation and reflection are fine when one has DONE something, otherwise it just isn’t terribly interesting. At my site, I’ll have a) many new experiences each and every day (new people, new words/ideas, new things to bake in a home-made Dutch oven) and b) a generous amount of time in which to process them. Some of my friends can dash off a piece of creative writing whenever inspiration strikes – I usually need to help it along by reading and prewriting. Oh, and revising. I have one short story and a few poems that need my attention for the moment…
*Shout out to Virginia Woolf, modernist feminist essayist extraordinaire. I highly recommend A Room of Own’s Own, To the Lighthouse and Orlando.
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