Is Writing a lonely job?

                        

They say writing is a lonely job. Subjecting yourself to solitary confinement every time you write, is something you cannot escape being a writer. Of course, you are creating something - be it an experience, a journey into a world waiting to be discovered or an overwhelming emotion inducing incident - and you have to do all of this alone. It does get lonely at times and there isn’t much you can do about it. Writing is a lonely job. Really? I don’t think so. It is not a lonely job.

True. You are alone when you sit down to bleed in front of your typewriter or your laptop but being alone is not the same as being lonely. If I ever felt lonely writing, I’d never write in the first place. And why’d I feel lonely anyway? I always have a great time with the characters I create – characters that write themselves – in universes I crave for. They are my babies and nobody hates babies especially if they’re yours. The time I spend with them is precious time for me. No matter how long I spend with those fabulous people, I just cannot have enough. Why then, would I be lonely?

The loneliness is never there when the words keep flowing through you. Words transform into worlds allowing me to share stories that take readers to a different place. I seem to find company even in the least expected of places. I’m sitting at a cemetery and the undertaker there is my friend. The dog I saved the other day has been following me and I think I’ll adopt it. Someone dies in the neighbourhood and the police suspect foul play. There you go, I’m Sherlock now.

These are the things I write about and when I’m writing them, I’m living multiple lives through my characters. Be it Jenny from ‘The Precedence’ or Trent from ‘A Fine Line’ or Ryan from ‘The Legend of the House’ or Aarti from ‘The Grapes Are Sour’, I’m always one of the characters and there are a whole lot of other characters and stuff that keep me engrossed. Forget about loneliness. I get too busy living out those situations and doing tasks, that I hardly have the time for myself. While I’m sceptical about the concept of rebirth, I do know I’m living many lives and I’m content with that.

On the contrary, I feel quite lonely in real life. Especially when I’m around people. Real life (at least, mine) is mundane. Hopefully, someday I will be excited about Monday mornings but until then, writing is my escape from reality. A lot of people have told me that I’m constantly running away from reality and I should start taking my life more seriously. But all I’m doing is getting away from the mediocrity of everyday life in search of adventures and when I write, I do exactly that. Over a time period, I’ve realized that it actually rids me of the ‘dreadful’ loneliness. So I’ll say it again. No, writing isn’t really a lonely job.