Our mythology tells us that writers are loners. In fact, one of the most potent writer's blocks I know is the fear of loneliness that people associate with the writing life.

So much has been written about the loneliness of the writer's lot that it feels like heresy to report the truth as I know it: in my experience, not writing is a lonely business. The minute I let myself write, everything else falls into balance. If I get a dose of writing in my day, then I can actually socialize with a clear conscience. I can actually be present for the life I am having rather than living in the never-never land of the non-writing writer, that twilight place where you always "should" be somewhere else-- writing-- so that you can never enjoy where you actually are.