When I am working on a story, I spend hours thinking through plot lines and motivations, putting myself in my characters’ shoes, and especially, driving to faraway places – alone.
Seriously, I book flights for international trips at airports 5-10 hours from home just so I can spend hours alone in my car. My mother thinks I’m loony. Maybe she’s right, but it works for me.
I enjoy traveling alone. I’ve traveled all over the US and to several foreign countries by myself. And every single time, I have told myself a story. Entire books have been conceived simply because I went somewhere I’ve never been before. One of them, which I believe could be the start of a series, will hopefully come out in 2022, all because I took a “quick weekend trip” to Richmond, Virginia in 2019.
Why does driving alone play such a big role in my process? Because in the last few years, the only times I am truly and completely alone are when I’m in my car. I love the people in my life, but you just can’t spend hours speaking both sides of a conversation aloud, inhabiting multiple characters and their emotions, with people around.
At least, I can’t.
And I found many years ago when driving solo from Louisiana to Connecticut that I had tons of time and no one to stop me from talking out the entire story as I drove north for almost three days. I only vaguely remember bits of that story – it was half a lifetime ago – but I remember how awesome it felt to let my imagination run unfettered. It was, and is, magical. Even when my then-treasured Chevy Chevette (Hey, it was the 80s!) threw a rod and killed the engine somewhere in Virginia, I was undeterred from solo travel.
When I am occupying a space with others, be it a house, an office, or vehicle, their very presence changes my thought process. The energy is different. Maybe (probably) I’m weird that way, but I’ve talked to other creative types and they echo this sentiment. We police our own creative process when other energy is in the room.
My car, however, when I am taking a solo trip, is sovereign territory. My kingdom is bound only by what I can imagine… And I can imagine quite a lot. For someone whose mind needs alone time to be free, this pandemic has been a huge challenge.
I had carefully planned trips to Arizona and Tennessee on the books for this month, and had purchased enough PPE to outfit a small clinic so I could travel safely, but Covid had other plans. I mourn the time I did not get to spend with my dearest friend in Tucson, and exploring parts of the world as yet unknown to me in a tiny burg in Tennessee, but I will get there as soon as we wrench the chokehold of this virus away from our collective throats.
The point is, I was flying to Tucson from Chicago so I could have a 5-6 hour solo car ride to the airport, and was seriously considering scuttling my plane ticket to Tennessee so I could have the luxury of 9+ hours in the car each way, TOTALLY ALONE.
So, how do I find that magical creative space when I can’t pick up and go anywhere I want? For now, my adaptive strategy is to stay up hours later than the rest of my household so I can relax and let my imagination run. This is not sustainable long-term, but for now, it’s what I’ve got. And I’ve got a book to finish.
In fact, I think I’ll have news on the publishing front for you very soon.
Stay Safe & Love Each Other,
~Meg