I also can relate to this article on Einstein. I got more creative work done when I was alone during graduate school and while I was on a one-year "sabbatical" from life. I wrote a book on US history *(A Christian Nation? An examination of Christian nation theories and proofs). I find that I write best late at night or early in the morning when there is nothing else to bother me. I have pages of poetry dictated while riding my motorcycle or alone in a tavern.

I can relate!! I doubt I'll ever dazzle the world as Einstein did, but I definitely notice my mind making far better connections between ideas when I'm bored (often if doing something particularly mundane at work at my desk) and that's typically when I write into my journal of "Things I would like to post to Facebook but can't because I care what people think".

Hopefully this website will now be such a journal.