Why Guatemala?
In search of solitude . . . and community
Three months from now, October 29, I will depart this country for five months in Guatemala. I plan to spend those five months writing, trying to relight my own creative fire, a flame that has been flickering (at best) since I returned from Conway, Arkansas with my brand-new MFA.
Writers take retreats in search of solitude, or more precisely, in search of respite from distractions, usually specific distractions, such as family and social obligations. People who need us, who expect things of us, who demand at very least that we respond emotionally to their presence.
And yes, we owe them that. That’s what it means to be in a relationship — that we will show the ones we love that we are not indifferent to the ups and downs of their lives. That we are “there for them.”
The trouble is, responding to another’s need for us takes energy. And some relationships require a lot of energy. That can’t be helped. Some obligations are just part of being human.
And yet, that very reasonable, very human obligation can be overwhelming for a writer, who carries — voluntarily — the weight of other lives in his or her imagination. Every character I create, I have to care about, or else they’ll never come to life. If I don’t invest my emotional energy into their…
