Hermit or Broad Minded? - Donna Alward

I'll admit, I could probably be a hermit very easily.

When life gets hectic, there's nothing I crave more than quiet, and space, and peace. We're moving soon, and while I may not have a travel budget for a while, I've said many times that the ability to sit on my deck in the morning, listening to the birds, drinking coffee and booting up the laptop will be a teensy bit of heaven. Lucky for me, that's in the cards for the future as we're moving to a whole new part of the country and have bought a lovely house where I'll have room to breathe.

So perhaps it sound strange to think that I'm also very broad minded. I have a lot of interests. And I can do both - just because I don't want my life "cluttered" doesn't mean I'm not curious, or intrigued by things.

I think this is a common plight of many writers. Many of us are introverts - we get our energy from solitude, rather than crowds. It's why we're good people watchers. It doesn't mean we're shy, or don't like people at all, it just means we don't need the hustle and bustle to be happy. Even when I was a stay at home mom, I never got cabin fever. I loved being in my little corner of my universe.

At the same time, there are so many things I find interesting. I'd love to own a restaurant. I'd like to learn to ride a motorbike. I want to travel...to see and learn new things. The problem is, with interests that varied, it would be impossible to actually DO it all, wouldn't it?


Well...this is why writing is the perfect profession. I can explore all those new things without necessarily having to leave my home. Even doing research first hand, it means an afternoon or day or two away, not a whole career change. I get to meet new and exciting people, and I truly do enjoy talking to them about what they do. Closeting myself in a room and working on a book doesn't translate into me putting all my eggs in one basket, just the opposite! What it does is gives me the freedom to explore rather than doing the same job day after day after day. It spawns ideas, sometimes so many I can't possibly keep up.

I go to my office and write each day, but one day I might be a single mum trying to do her best for her daughter, like in The Soldier's Homecoming, or a widow running her own business, like Maggie in Falling For Mr Dark and Dangerous. I can be a reluctant Princess determined to have one last bit of normalcy in her life, like in my January 09 release, The Rancher's Runaway Princess. The first book I ever had published - The Girl Most Likely with Samhain - let me explore how fun it would be to own a restaurant. I can be a rancher, a soldier, or a Marshal...I can be anything, as long as I put myself in the shoes of my characters. The very idea of going to work and doing the same thing day in and day out simply terrifies me! What other profession lets you live quite so vicariously?

I suppose the exception would be acting, but luckily I can work in my yoga pants and hair elastics and not have to worry about my looks as it's all in my mind, lol!

Anyway, my point is that the craving for peace and quiet does not mean a still mind...in fact I'd argue it's an overactive mind needing the quiet to balance it!

What about you? Are you a hermit? (Please don't tell me I'm barking mad!) What's your perfect prescription for that balance?

Donna
http://www.donnaalward.com/