I liked your book, although I have my own minor points of view to offer to yours. I am not debating, or attempting to change, or 'straighten' out anyone's mind. To base my application of Virginia Woolf's psychology to mine, I would first have to understand her, and her writing. I have not studied her, as I know you must have, to come to your conclusions, but what I have read of her books, and from others' points of view, I see something I wasn't prepared for. I see someone who is caught in the middle of knowing, and wanting to know what her writing was doing to herself, and what it was doing to others. The point of writing? Caught is the one word I keep finding in her writing. I knew she wanted that solitude, just as I can, and crave, but she also wanted recognition for a number of reasons. Here is the dilemma for the writer, as I see it: How can you have both? You want the recognition, but when it happens, what then? I wonder just how much of this recognition, or lack of it, drove her to her distracted states of mind. I read it in her writing. I hear it in the voice of her characters. She was all over the pages with her questions. She's up, she's down, she's all around. These moments of solitude are wonderful, when they CAN be creative. It's what a creative mind thrives on - but when it's not creative, there is nothing but emptiness. Forcing creativity when it isn't there, can hurt the process.......the objective, and the mind. Emptiness comes in all forms, also: The anger, the outbursts, the distractions of these moments, can heighten during these holiday times of the year. The pressures of the holidays can be enormous, and the 'big and bold' times that we live in can be augmented until everything in our lives is all blown out of proportion. You are right, retreat to a place of 'peace and quiet'. In Virginia's life: I know what you've said, about what may, or may not have brought her to her demise. It all has a bearing on why she ended it all. Everything in her life, as well as ours, adds to each new perspect of 'every' day of our lives. Do you push it, or pull all of these influences away? But I feel that solitude can also be over-rated. Sticking in the solitary lifestyle, without the friends and family to support you, can also bring on pressures even more. Speaking for myself, I've felt these pressures, but in the same breath, I fight them just the same. I want to be who I am, when I want it. Basicially, no one can tell me differently - how to live my life. But, again...... We avoid situations that put demands upon us. We avoid people, and certain life-styles, and where does it get us? Yes, we can say we have the guts to do what we want, and then we become labled as a loner. How does that feel to us? Putting yourself out 'there' will, as I said, bring you in the realm of being caught in the middle....between yourself, and the world around you, which includes people who love you. Where do you place the importance? I find myself getting stuck in the middle of it, at times. How much to participate in the holiday, without loosing the spirit of it all, which is what it's about, the spirit.....how much to hold back from people? How much is enough? When is enough, enough? Who gets mashed in the middle when we can't make up our minds, and choose a side------me or them? Yes, it can be a catch 22 situation. But I think the end results have to come from knowing someone, or situation, well enough, to know when enough, IS enough. As old as I am, I am still learning-----I have, and I can, still choose the wrong sides. Then again.....is there a wrong side?