Call for submissions — Isolation as part of the creative process

I find it interesting that there’s this historical narrative about writers and creatives being particularly recluse and choosing isolation as part of their creative process. Some of this is by the nature of the art form. When you’re writing, you do it alone. It’s necessary.

But there’s also an aspect of isolation that we choose. We choose to shut ourselves out from the world in an effort to contain our thoughts and focus on the task. We hide our work, our process, our ideation like it’s a secret we don’t want anyone to know. Any thought of sharing or collaborating feels like an intrusion.

I know I used to be that kind of writer. There was no way I wanted anyone to be part of my process until absolutely necessary. But that changed with my second book, and I’m wondering what role isolation plays in your creative process? And has the pandemic shifted your concept of isolation and creativity in any way?

You can take some liberties with this submission request. Talk about whether or not you need isolation and what that looks like. Is isolation even possible in your life? How important is it for you to have your own space? You can also tell stories of something you’ve created in intentional isolation and how it turned out. Or you can talk about isolation being a myth that you’ve never resigned to.

Same rules as always:

• If you’re already a writer for CRY, go ahead and submit.
• If you’re not a writer for CRY but would like to submit to this request, let us know and we’ll add you ASAP.
• Be as creative as you want in your submissions. As long as you stick to the topic, we’ll consider it.
• Just because you submit doesn’t mean we’ll post. If you haven’t heard back from us in three days, consider that a pass.
• Deadline to submit is this Friday, October 23.

Please reach out if you have any questions at all. If you are new to Medium, here’s how you submit a draft to a publication.