I’ve just returned from the Festival of Faith and Writing.
It’s wonderful to spend three days winging from workshop to workshop soaking in the words of all sorts of writers. Add to that seeing dear friends and friendly acquaintances and it is so rich.
And yet a fatigue always sets in. To start, it’s the introvert’s Olympics. I am an introvert in the strictest sense: I get my energy being alone, so constantly being in a crowd, even a crowd of fellow word nerds is exhausting. Invariably another fatigue overcomes me that can be best attributed to overexposure to over earnestness.
When you gather a pack of writers you will hear quite a bit about the difficulties the writer faces. God, and anyone who has sat down in front of a blank screen to write something true and good, knows they exist and yet, I’m really turned off by overwrought speakers.
When we talk about writing, no matter how it might feel, regardless of how scary it can be, at the end of the day, unless we’re imbedded with the military, most of us are sitting in a chair and facing a screen in a safe and comfortable space.
And that is hard enough.
We don’t do ourselves any favors being histrionic.
The writers who resonate with me the most are those who are deeply serious about the world, but about themselves, not so much.
You don’t have to be an introvert to be worn down by the FFW conference. I score a heavy 80+ on Myers Briggs for extroversion and found myself overwhelmed by Friday night. Saturated with ideas and surrounded by other people saturated with ideas, not to mention the physical tole of scooting from session to session, I left feeling like I needed a week of solitude to sort through it all.
The rewards of writing far outweigh the difficulties.
And the exhaustion of the FFW will pale when I think about how wonderful it really was to be with all of you! Thank you for including us this last week.
Nathan, you’re right it’s the entire experience you describe and adding to all that the adrenaline rushes that come with pitching your book to editors and agents.
Susie, it was great to see you too. My absolute favorite part is spending three whole days immersed in books and hanging out with people who love them as much as I do.
Hi Alison–it is always refreshing to meet another writing introvert [I met you at the end of Margot’s session]. I loved your description of an ‘introvert’s Olympics’–how true. A week later I am still processing FFW. Enjoy your solitude!
Annie Wald
Hi Annie, I remember. You questioned Margot’s bona fides as a fellow introvert. 🙂 I’m very interested in your book. When is it coming out?
Thanks for your interest. “Walk with Me” is coming out September 1–I’m furiously working on the copyedited mss now [and trying to find the balance between making it the best it can be and letting it go…]