Storytelling

I was going to start this post with a nice quote by Neil Gaiman, but I can't remember the quote and I am unsure where to start looking for it (Smoke & Mirrors, Fragile Things, or his weblog) and as I don't have a lot of time to write this, I will just dive in.
I think storytelling is one of the most important things we humans do. It is so fundamentally human (we probably started developing language and telling stories because we needed something to do by the fire at night, which was the beginning of culture) and so important (people have survived the most horrible conditions; war, concentration camps, being stranded in remote places, through storytelling) that I think most people could never do without. I tell a lot of stories, talking to people about things I have done or seen or heard, sharing pieces of information or news, or just recounting things that I am reading or have read. I don't think I could survive a day without telling at least one story, because even on those rare days that I talk to no other person I still have my cats to make up some story ("Soooo, you thought you were going to jump inside my bag and travel with me, didn't you? Well I'm sorry, but I'm not going out today, so you're going to have to find another way to have an adventure..." etc).
The thing is, with so much energy going into these stories, and a lot of my energy going into other people's stories (not only things friends tell me, but also the plays I'm reading for my Modern Theatre course and the book I'm translating for another course), and then some energy going into writing or thinking up things for classes, I don't have any energy left to write down my own stories. I tell stories, but I don't write them. Maybe it was good I had such a quiet period as a teenager, because I did write a lot then.
I now understand why some writers (e.g. the aforementioned Neil Gaiman) like to hide in some quiet cabin in the woods for a couple of months each year so they can write their novels. You need the quiet, you need to be able to gather all the little strands of the stories and thoughts whirling around in your head and make them into something consistent and beautiful, and you need to be able to put that down in words without being distracted by other things. You need to focus on just your own stories, and nobody else's. You need to be able to tell the story to your paper first, because if you've already told it to 5 other people, it will feel less original and unique and fresh when you finally get to write it down (btw, "writing manuals" don't agree on this, because some say it is good to share your story with as many people as possible to flesh it out... But I don't believe in writing manuals anyway). I had one of these "quiet" periods just before classes started again, and I started writing on a story, but then I became busy again and the thoughts flew away. Let's hope I'll have a really quiet summer holiday (strange thing to hope for).
On the other hand, I think I couldn't really write without having contact with other people. I need to hear about their stories or things that are going in the world, not only to remember myself what life is really like, what people are really like, what kinds of things are really happening, but also just for inspiration. The most random news item or comment or story can suddenly pull open a box full of literary wonders. Also, I'd just go plain nuts being on my own the whole time, with no one to talk (see?) to.
So there would have to be some happy middle between complete isolation and contact. I guess I could do with a little house in the garden, if I (we) ever have a big house, and a garden, and enough time on my hands.