Susan Cain: The power of introverts: TED TALKS: documentary,lecture,talk

I am at a crossroads. I'm working on episode four of my series, which encompasses the meat of the entire serial. It's challenging. It's forcing me to really examine the story, the characters. The themes. The elements. And I am acutely aware of needing a lot of bandwidth to pull it off. When I say bandwidth I mean the mental kind. A lot of the work I'm doing on this writing project is not primarily done in front of the computer, writing scenes, but everywhere. I need to allow the story to come to me. The character to tell me who they are. This kind of stuff probably sounds crazy to people who are not writing fiction, but I'm pretty confident my kin get what I'm saying.

This morning, my wife sent me a link to the Ted Talk, by Susan Cain, titled: The Power of Introverts. 
The fact that she saw this video and that she was compelled to email the link to me is so important. You see, I know that underlying everything I said in the first paragraph is a kind of selfishness. All that time I mentioned during which the 'story is coming to me', during which 'the characters are speaking to me', is in many ways Me time. And, as Susan points out in the video, it's a way of spending time that is at odds with what's considered normal.

My wife, her mother, and my parents, all appear to be concerned about my spending my time during the day alone. I've gotten the occasional 'why don't you get out sometime?' This of course is not a function of a lack of support for my writing. But it is the application of this cultural norm that there must be some harm in spending time alone, even if it's by choice. 

Sending me this video is a sign of understanding. Being a solitary endeavor, one of the most difficult things about writing is having the dedication to continue doing it. Writing groups are helpful. I was tempted to end that sentence with the word 'ironically', but one of Susan Cain's most salient points in the video is that often we introverts are driven by the need to share what we've been working on. It is incredibly rewarding when a total stranger takes the time out to leave positive comments about my books in reviews. Just seeing the number of downloads is rewarding. I'm writing because I have something to say, I just need to time to work out how I will say it. 

So keep writing, all those engaged in some fiction project. And if you have a love one who's writing, maybe this video will give you a little insight into why they are doing it.