What does every writer need?
That was the question on the test in my university writing course.
Easy breezy. I confidently penned my answer. Passion. Every writer needs passion.
The following week, my graded test was returned. Passion was marked wrong.
After class, I approached my professor. “What’s the right answer?”
He replied, “Solitude.”
Writers are an independent bunch, boasting individual work habits. Popular novelist Jerry B. Jenkins divides the number of weeks with the number of pages to produce, then fritters away the first week and readjusts his numbers. He writes in the seclusion of a quiet place affectionately termed The Stable.
Seclusion?
Annie Lamont tucked herself away in a secluded cabin. Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote Gift from the Sea from a private retreat in a seaside cottage. Since 1967, author of the Hank the Cowdog series, John Erickson, rises daily at 5:30 a.m. and writes for four and a half hours. My friend woke early and went to the attached home office while her husband readied the children for school. Another friend wrote while the children were away at school and the home was quiet.
That what every writer needs is seclusion to write is a popular notion. And all good rules have exceptions. There are always stylish rule-breakers. As a newspaper reporter, I produced plenty of front-page stories in a boisterous and busy newsroom, a tradition that began before, and promises to outlive, me.
Busy hub?
Working from home, my computer is in the middle of the busiest hub of my household. Most of my writing happened while surrounded by my seven adventurous and artistic children, not counting the horses, dogs, cats, turtle doves, and pet goose. Encompassed by the music of real life, I’m never at a loss for material as I pour words into my current manuscript.
If I waited for the ideal, I’d never write. In fact, when the children have all been out and about, I’ve frequently taken my laptop (MacBeth) to a busy restaurant where I write surrounded by noisy diners.
For this author, solitude is not the answer to the question, What does every writer need? For what every writer needs, I’ll stick with passion.
