Has anyone noticed that staring fixedly at nothing is a great aide to thought?

Source: This painting is by Jenny Saville. I think it's called "Stare." And, personally, I think it's beautiful.

Over the last year, I've spent hundreds of hours doing heavy thinking on various novel-related things. Unfortunately, many of these hours were during engagements where I was supposed to be paying attention to my friends, family, or classmates…