The French talk about l’esprit de l’escalier – it’s that feeling when you’re driving home from a party and you suddenly think of the perfect thing to say but it’s too late.
The reason I love writing is that when I’m putting pen to paper, I’m creating my own world. Time is no longer constant. It goes back and forward. It freezes and races. I can go back to that moment at the party when I should have come back with the killer zinger and deliver my perfect line. When I’m writing, it’s my party and my reality and I can make it wonderful.
The other reason why I love writing is because when I’m in the zone, I’m nowhere else. I’m not thinking about that girl that didn’t call back or the deal that didn’t come off or whether some stranger has liked my Facebook post. I’m just thinking of the story. Total absorption. Full concentration in a world of distraction.
It’s not just writing. It’s meditation.