Saturday, March 01, 2014

Amtrak's Plan to Give Free Rides to Writers

Inside Amtrak's (Absolutely Awesome) Plan to Give Free Rides to Writers, article.

This is cool, hope it spreads to Europe. (Though we don't have the same long, empty stretches that characterises mid-US. To get a long train ride in Europe, you'd pretty much have to cross several countries.)

A bit over 20 years ago, I read an article about writing on a (then-nascent) laptop in cafés and such, and though it took years before I could afford even a used Laptop (quite pricey in the nineties), I really loved the idea, and have ever since. You are out of your home or office, so you are sort of "out of yourself" and away from your daily duties and procrastination methods, and have more free attention. (Especially if you have the discipline to turn off the cell phone and email/chat.)

And in a café as in a train, you're in a relative safe environment still, so you can concentrate on writing, yet in a mildly stimulating environment, which takes the edge off the "white page paralysis".

And I think a train may be an even better idea, since you are more "trapped" in a good way. You can't just walk out and go home in five minutes, so you might as well go with it and write.

6 comments:

TC [Girl] said...

And I think a train may be an even better idea, since you are more "trapped" in a good way. You can't just walk out and go home in five minutes, so you might as well go with it and write.

...and you can just look out the window and enjoy the scenery going by, while the creative juices are starting up...and carry on, after a short visual break... :-D

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Ed Zacchary. (Though some trips may have hours and hours of identical wheat fields)

Tommy said...

Gee, do you think if I just took some paper and a pencil, that I could fake it??

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yeah, or buy a used, 20-pound used office typewriter from the fifties!

Like mine:

http://eolake.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/typewriter-to-keyboard.html

Tommy said...

A typewriter from the fifties might just be more that the train ticket costs.. :-)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

One in good condition, a lot more. I won't even tell what I paid for my own restored one!

But nobody will be able to say you don't take writing seriously, when you have to have a strong travel companion just to help lugging your writing gear around!

Or you could go the other way around, being serious about compact high-tech:

http://ereaderjoy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/logitech-wired-keyboard-with-lightning.html