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Hi all, I am writing to you from within The Vortex. For those of you who aren’t across this lingo - The Vortex is a dark, lonely, unhygienic place where creativity hangs out, and a place I go when I need to finish writing a novel. In case it’s not clear, The Vortex isn’t a physical space, it is a concept, the cornerstones of which are as follows. In The Vortex, one does not: - keep sociable hours, - return phone calls or text messages,
- shower,
- cook,
- eat proper meals, or
- exercise. In The Vortex, one does: - buy random things online, usually from Instagram ads,
- engage in regular and hearty self-loathing,
- move furniture around - or paint it with that leftover chalk paint you found in the garage and immediately regret it,
- go deep in Reddit threads that don’t concern you and become enraged by the comments, and
- write. I used to feel like The Vortex was a shameful secret of mine, and I tried hard to counteract it by doing yoga and showering and eating a vegetable every now and again as I powered toward my deadlines. But as it turns out, my books have a strong preference for The Vortex, particularly in the last few weeks of our time together, so my hands are tied. Recently I’ve come to realise that almost all creatives I know have a period in The Vortex, or at least their own version of it. At the risk of sounding self-important, I think some Vortex time might be a necessity of creating art. In my case, I’ve become quite fond of The Vortex and will be embracing my time there over the next few weeks until my book is with my editor. All this to say, if I see you during a brief period outside The Vortex – such as dropping my kids at school without any of the stuff they need – please forgive me my sins (and my smell). I’ll be out in the world soon, and so will my next book. This one has been two years coming and I cannot tell you how excited I am about it. If the next few weeks in The Vortex go well, I know it will be my best book yet. Sally x
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