Get Write On Board

So a couple of years ago, I was working on a major deadline. I had a massive writing project that I needed to complete, and things at work and at home were just too frantic for me to clear up enough head space to get it done.

To top it all off, I had to travel the weekend before my project was due.

I mean, I say "had to." It was actually a trip that was for nothing but fun. I was meeting a friend in Colonial Williamsburg for a fabulous, fun-filled weekend of pretending we lived in the 18th century. (My friend is a best-selling historical fiction author who often writes in that era.) But I'd had this trip planned for ages, and I wasn't going to give it up just because of some insane writing deadline I was on.

So I cancelled my flight to Virginia and booked a train ride instead. 

A very, very, very long train ride.

Everybody knows the wifi on trains is absymal, right? But there's an electrical outlet in every seat in business class, so running out of battery time on your laptop isn't an issue. And people tend to leave you alone on trains. It's a perfect writer's retreat. There's even a cafe car just a few steps away.

On a long train ride from Boston to Virginia, I figured I'd get in at least 16 hours (assuming no major delays) of blissful, uninterrupted travel time. Then I could frolic the weekend away with my friend, manhandling doeskin breeches and swooning over historically accurate millinery to our hearts' delight. Then I'd get back on the train and pack in another 16 straight hours of writing.

And lo, it was AWESOME.

So I wasn't at all surprised -- delighted, but not a bit surprised -- when I saw the news today that Amtrak is now offering writer's residencies on their long distance service lines to folks like me. To writers who need some uninterrupted creative time away from the pressures of work and home. To writers who love train travel. To writers who aren't afraid to bundle themselves off toward some distant destination and dedicate themselves solely to the task of getting some G-D work done before the engine delivers them safely back home.

Seriously, it is a genius idea.

And they're offering them for FREE.

I mean, all of this is theoretical for now. It's only been announced in the most abstract of forms. As a thing they plan to do. I don't think there's even a formal application process in place yet.

But it is great to see it even approaching reality.

I'm lucky. I have a life that is generally highly conducive to getting massive amounts of writing done. (Doesn't mean I always do it -- just that I don't have the valid excuses so many of my writing brothers and sisters do.) I don't have kids, I get to work from home pretty regularly, I live in a quiet, idyllic setting close to water and woods. (Yes, Cape Cod is fairly awesome.)

But it is STILL hard sometimes to find those long blocks of time and headspace necessary to really push a major project out the door.

You're a writer. You know how it is. 

How do YOU find sweet, sweet alone time to get your writing done?

Would YOU like to take a long train ride to nowhere in particular, just so you could get some writing done?

Image by tashalutek