I often get asked about the perfect place to write or the ideal retreat to shut out the world and create art? And yes, some times as artists we have to shut out the noise and chaos to work. But the other 90% of the time, we are solar panels, windmills, dams. We use the environment around us as an endless source. And this renewable energy is not only in stories but the circumstances in which we create.
I wrote 2/3rds of a play on a subway. Rather than putting in my airpods and zoning out, I realized that my little 10 min rides to Union Square were writing intervals. Standing up, sitting down, noisy, ppl begging for food, 'SHOWTIME SHOWTIME.' After a week of making this one single change, I had about 50 extra pages. 50 pages of writing time that was just sitting there in my day while traveling.
The perfect spot to create is the one you're in right now. The 'perfect retreat' is the 10 minutes or even 1 minute tucked away between chores. The perfect artist life is the one you're experiencing right now with office bullies, school tyrants, boredom, ennui, crying babies. You're not a wall, you're a windmill. Turn your daily storms into light.
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