Diary of a Digital Nomad
A Day in the Life of a Writer Working (Solo) on a Greek Island
“Certain springs are tapped only when we are alone.”
– Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea
What is your experience with solitude?
I love being alone. I love traveling alone. And most of all, I love writing while traveling on my own.
For me, it’s a triumphant trio: writing, traveling & solitude.
Don’t get me wrong…I also love traveling with other people. But that is a very different experience than traveling solo. Traveling with a friend or family member/s tends to be way more FUN! But as Anne Morrow Lindberg wisely observed in her beautiful book, Gift from the Sea, there are “certain springs” that we are able to tap into, only when we are on are own.
I like to think of this as my…soul-spring.
Because what I find is that once I have finally got myself to wherever it is that I will be hunkered down and writing for the next ten days (this time around it was on the island of Folegandros in Greece), it feels as if I’m finally able to…ease myself slowly down into the spring and then stay soaking there – hanging out with my soul – for ten glorious days…without having to keep jumping back out again to chat, eat, explore, etc with whoever it is I am traveling with.
When I’m traveling on my own, I definitely move at a much slower pace…but that’s not to say I’m not working hard. In fact, it’s when I’m traveling solo that I tend to really move the needle forward on my larger writing projects…screenplays, TV series, play scripts, book manuscripts, etc. I suspect a big reason for this is because I have more downtime to think deeply…“let my line of thought dip deep into the stream,” as Virginia Woolf wrote in A Room of One’s Own.
At any rate, I love being a digital nomad…solo and with a friend. I love being able to take my work with me wherever I go – and I am extremely grateful that I can! I love the simplicity of living out of a suitcase. Mind you, having a Bohemian lifestyle 😊 doesn’t mean that I don’t have a routine. I most certainly do…perhaps too much at times!
Just for fun, I thought I would share with you my daily routine on Folegandros:
7am: Wake up, have first cup of coffee while staring at sea…thinking, dreaming, reflecting, and capturing any ideas or creative insights about a project I am working on.
“A writer is working when he’s staring out the window.”
– Burton Rascoe
7:30am: Have second cup of coffee while staring at sea. This is usually when The Resident Cat would join me…often curling up on my lap and falling fast asleep.
8am: Do my morning yoga practice.
8:30am: Do first one-hour work session (I usually work past my timer, especially if I am in flow)
9:45am: Have breakfast: Greek yogurt with honey, almonds and apple…yum!
10am: Do second one-hour work session (again, I usually work past my timer…but if I don’t at least set a timer, I would stay working on my laptop way too long)
These first two work sessions of the day are reserved for “deep work” – which for me is usually writing a larger project (such as a book manuscript, screenplay, playscript, etc). This work requires intense focus and concentration, so I do it first in my day when I have the most energy and am the least likely to be distracted. This mental work is exhausting…although it doesn’t feel like it at the time because I am so deep into the ‘flow’ state.
11:30am: Go for a walk (which on Folegandros was a twenty-minute uphill HIKE) to the nearest village to get a few groceries, go to the bakery, or have lunch, etc. Then home again.
1pm: If I didn’t have lunch in town, then I would make a Greek salad and eat it, staring at the sea.
1:30pm: Do third one-hour work session that requires a little less mental energy but still requires focus and concentration (like writing the first draft of a blog).
2:30pm: Take a break and handwash a bit of laundry in the sink, then hang to dry on clothesline overlooking sea. Sigh…
3pm: I would usually get a short but sweet visit from the host/owner, Alexis, of the guest house where I was staying. He would always pop by with gifts (bottled water or toilet paper!) and check to see if I needed service. “Well, yes I do as a matter of fact,” is what I wanted to say. But I think he was referring to my room, not…me 😉
3:30pm: After I had recovered from Alexis’ brief but rather breathtaking visit, I would head into my fourth and final one-hour work session of the day. This is usually when I would venture into the g-mail vortex to send and answer e-mails and tackle other admin tasks.
5pm: Time to put on my swimsuit, pack up my little backpack with lots of water, a sarong and water shoes…then head off on my epic downhill hike to the nearest beach. This would usually take me half an hour and let me tell you, by the time I plunged into the ocean, I was one happy camper. Until I remembered that I had to hike all the way back UPHILL again…which took me a lot longer than half an hour!
On that uphill hike, I was usually thinking one of three things: maybe I should steal a donkey; how much I hated the hike OR; how good the beer was going to taste when and if I ever got back to the guest house again. The more I did that hike, the better I got at not wasting precious energy hating an activity that I was CHOOSING to do. We are such funny creatures.
7pm: Right around now is when I would finally stagger back to the guest house, looking a little worse for wear, let me tell ya. I would then drink a big bottle of water with rehydration salts. Then I’d grab a nice big ice-cold beer from the fridge and head into hammock #1 (aka “the beer hammock”), where I would happily stay for the next hour or so, staring at the setting sun and/or reading. At this point, the cat would return from wherever it had been all day…and patiently watch me swinging in the hammock. We both knew what came next.
7:45pm: Time to roll out of the hammock and head into the kitchen to make dinner. First feed cat.
8:15pm: Eat dinner and drink wine, watching the last of the sunset. Sigh…
8:30pm: Do dishes.
9pm: Climb into hammock #2 for the evening stargazing extravaganza. WOW!
9:30pm: Bedtime…yay! After a nice warm shower, I climb into my cozy bed then take a moment to reflect on my day and give thanks for all the awesome stuff that happened…the insights I had, the beauty I saw, the people I met, the food I ate, the swim I had, the beer I drank, the cat curled up at the foot of my bed, etc.
And then…I would read Harry Potter! I just finished the fifth book. I LOVE the series!
How I ended up on Folegandros…
If you are a regular reader of my blogs, you may recall that I first met Alexis at a restaurant in Milan a couple of years ago. He told me that he and his family own a restaurant (Chic Restaurant) on Folegandros…so the following year, my friend Lynne and I went to visit the island and eat at their restaurant. YUM!
It was on that first visit that Alexis told me they also have beautiful guest houses (called “Notos”) for rent…that would be a perfect place for me to write. So that’s what I did this year. He was right…it WAS absolutely perfect. I am already planning my next trip back!
If you would like to stay at Notos but don’t want to do the epic hike to the beach, you can just rent a car…that’s what most people do!
And it wasn’t all work, hiking and sinking down deep into the soul-spring during my time there. Thanks to Alexis, I also got to go to a traditional Greek wedding at the church down the path!
After my solo writing retreat on Folegandros came to end, I took a ferry to the island of Naxos to meet up with Lynne. We are having a BLAST!! It’s a little busier pace…but not too much. I am still getting in lots of reflective downtime & writing time. But I’ll share the stories & photos in a future blog 🙂
Until then, thanks for reading & take care!
Here is one last stunning photo from Folegandros:
Related blogs by Maryanne
What I Re-Learned on My Recent Solo Writing Retreat in Oregon
Sweet Solitude – Why Spending Time Alone Matters
Recommended podcast
Mel Robbins interview with Dr. Cal Newport about deep work & slow productivity: How to Get Things Done, Stay Focused and Be More Productive.
Maryanne Pope is the author of “A Widow’s Awakening.” She also writes screenplays, playscripts & blogs. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Co-Founder of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. To receive her blog, “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” please subscribe here. And be sure to visit our PinkGazelleCards Etsy shop.