Back in 2016 I went to a writing retreat in Hermosa SD. The retreat was located on a ranch and run by Linda Hasselstrom, a rancher and writer. The house, called Windbreak House, was the place Linda had grown up and lived in virtually all her life. The property was comfortably and thoughtfully but sparsely furnished, except for books. There were a lot of books. And there were chairs, ordinary chairs painted a cheery yellow, which I thought of for this week’s Mundane Monday challenge.
This retreat was my first and only trip to South Dakota (so far), and I blogged about it in detail here, in 7 parts:
- Intro: Read, Revise, Relax
- Part I: Goals and Expectations
- Part II: Nostalgia
- Part III: Storm
- Part IV: Advice
- Part V: Going Geocaching
- Part VI: Stories
- Part VII: The Road Ahead
It was a gift from my parents, and I went to it alone. I worked for 2.5 days on my novel, and my only human contact for those days was the consultations with Linda. This was fine. It took me some time to process what Linda said. Plus, I’m an introvert and I enjoy my own company.
But I have been lately thinking about how and whether my writing, and creativity generally, would benefit from more sociability. These chairs, also on the ranch property, look inviting, but I never actually sat on them to write. Linda and I had our consultations indoors.
Yes, I’m in a writers’ group, but we only discuss work when it’s in some semblance of finished-ness. How would my writing be different, if there had been someone else in the other chair while I was creating it?
For the Mundane Monday Challenge #143. Mundane Monday Challenge encourages you to take more pictures by being aware of your surroundings. The philosophy of MMC is simple. You can create a beautiful picture even by focusing on a very common looking, dull or so called Mundane subject!
On a similar train of thought, I have been questioning my long held affection for the ideal of independence (in general) because I am increasingly realizing that many times having some interdependence is actually a better place to be. Being interdependent (letting other voices into my personal space more and influence me) is rather a foreign thing to me – but I think I may have been mistaken to put so much emphasis on independence for so much of my life to date.
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Lovely. I have the same yellow set of chairs and I forgot about them.
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Chairs look interesting and inviting. Isn’t writing something quite personal? Would you be wanting someone else to stimulate your creativity through brainstorming?
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Yes, that’s the idea. Although I’m not always a fan of brainstorming either. Creativity is complicated!
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Yes, creativity is definitely complicated.
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I’ve asked myself that same questions so many times. So many works half done because I get myself backed into a corner and need some brain-storming friends to help me get out. I do believe it would make a difference. Great question, Karen.
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