Here I go again. Traveling to the ends of the earth to write. Granted most air travel feels like you're heading for the ends of the earth anymore. Add in travel from a little commuter airport and it's hardly an exaggeration. Especially since it'll take me about fifty-six hours of travel to get to Alonissos, Greece. We're currently living in interesting times but it's never been an easy journey.
The reason I go to Alonissos is to attend a writing workshop. The reason I go early and stay later is because it's my absolute favorite hideaway. It's not fancy like more popular Greek islands. It's also possible to go on a budget. It's a marine park for the protected Monk Seals. The water is crystal clear and so blue. It makes the best moat on earth. Your writing will rarely be interrupted here.
For as long as I can feasibly stay, I go there and write. Sure, I write at the beach sometimes. Sometimes I hike up to Old Town and write at a café at the top of the island. My moat looks different up there.
During the lockdown I figured I'd get plenty of writing done at home. The truth is I didn't really. I spent a lot of the lockdown taking online classes and worrying. Most of us probably did the second thing. Last year I took myself to Alonissos to write even though the pandemic kept my writing workshop from happening in 2021. After missing it in 2020, the island called to me and I had to go. I missed my fellow writers but I wrote almost non-stop.
Obviously a moat isn't necessary to write but for this introvert peace and quiet is. I get that by running away and focusing only on writing. Nobody is going to interrupt from Alonissos. Sure, I could get that other places and on occasion I have. But I'm telling you an ocean makes an excellent moat and the Aegean Sea makes a gorgeous one. I highly recommend it.
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ReplyDeleteAlonissos and the writing retreat are both special, and maybe one year, I will go for the whole summer. But as an extrovert, I can write anywhere. Public transport, noisy bars, sometimes I take notes about what I see or hear. When I wrote my first book, I was writing at my doctor's office between patients, or on the underground. Funnily enough, the only sound I CANNOT WRITE TO is birdsong. I DETEST it. But traffic, people, music, no problem. I ignore it. And multitasking- write, work, talk, exercise. and somehow also have time for housework. But why do housework when you can just write?
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