flâneur

isolation - by Elaine - manners & mystery

elainewrites.substack.com · 976 words · saved by 1 readers

the tyranny of doing what you love

A picture of a photograph by Keisha Scarville at the ICP Twice in my life I’ve experienced extreme loneliness. One was after a breakup, which sparked the desire to make more friends. The other was over a two-year period when I first tried writing a novel. What’s bewildering about this experience is that my isolation was entirely self-imposed. Looking back, I feel embarrassed by the choices I made. What was I thinking? I had just moved back to New York from Cincinnati, expecting to resume the same post-college party lifestyle I had despairingly renounced when I left for the midwest. But…

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