"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
French Novelist
1871 - 1922
For some people the environment is crucial to their happiness. They let where they live affect their emotional life. And there is some truth to the fact. Cloudy days can bring people down. Long winters give some people cabin fever. Others need the mountains or the ocean or the prairie. How does your environment affect you as an artist? Does it inspire your creativity? Does it make you hopeful? Does it make you happy?
For other people like Proust and myself, the environment is less important? I can create anywhere. I can sit in a shopping mall and write poetry. I can sit in a church and write. As I write these words I am sitting in a hotel in South Carolina. And the environment rarely affects my mood or happiness. I love the mountains, the ocean and the prairie, but I don't need them to be happy. I live inside my head. Can you create anywhere? Or must you be in a certain place? A certain mood? A special environment?
