Why Travel is Good for a Writer

Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. — Miriam Beard

My father was born under the sign of Sagittarius, the wanderer of the zodiac. . . . And though in astrology-speak, I have Sagittarius rising, I blame my wayfaring ways on my father. He’s the one who sat me down on the sofa with the invitation to “come have a look.” He spread the big green pre-World War II atlas across both our laps and took me on a tour of the world, page by page, map by map, finally coming to the solar system, the pictures of the planets bright against a deep, black sky. I tell him Venus is my favorite and that one day I want to go there. “I’ll be a Venusian,” I say.

The Universe,” Daddy says, tracing a finger over the inky expanse. “Nobody can say how it came to be or how big it is or where it begins or ends.” He and I fell quiet then, on that scratchy brown sofa, dreaming dreams of natural-born travelers.*

M45, The Pleiades clusterI’ve just returned from a three-week-plus trip to the East Coast. Some time work(ish) —a couple Wild Women, Wild Voices workshops in Vero Beach, Fl, and a delightful stint as keynote speaker at the International Women Writers Guild Summer Conference in Litchfield, CT, where I witnessed the most sustained wild woman howl ever— and some time visiting friends and places on my bucket list (Key Largo, Key West).

key largo sunset 2All along the way, I made notes in my notebook: the can’t-help-but-dance R&B music during Sunday morning brunch at the Juke Joint in Atlanta; the thunderstorm in St. Petersburg, where you needed to wear a bicycle helmet to protect you from the hard-falling rain; the forever of the Everglades on our road trip back from the Keys to St. Petersburg; that mango, those sunsets, “why yes, that is an alligator in the road.” The young girl at the airport who couldn’t stop crying; the view from Carol’s apartment in Manhattan that included the Empire State Building juxtaposed, in my mind, against the Everglades I’d just left; the weight of the air as we strolled East Village to West Village; my crowded mezzanine seat at a Sunday matinee of “The Flick” at the Barrow Street Theater; the chorus of birds in Roger’s backyard, the flap and flutter of wings around the bird feeder; the rented VW Beetle the color of sunshine and the green green green of the hillsides on the two-lane highway in Connecticut; porch-time fireflies after the thunderstorm; the grand of Grand Central Station and the cacophony of human noise so soon after birdsong and waterfall.

grand centralThere is much to write about now that I’ve returned home to San Diego. Not just the outer details of the trip—all that rich sensory stuff, but the interior journey as well—the discoveries, the questions, and the wonderings, intuitive connections and intrigues of mind and heart. So many stories, so many revelations.

We writers are observers. We’re the witnesses and the tellers; we can’t help ourselves. If we were just tourists, we’d bring back tee shirts. But we’re writers, we bring back stories.

Where did you go on your last trip? What’s the story you returned with?

*excerpted from Wild Women, Wild Voices, Ch. 10 – Life Journeys: Adventures, Explorations, Quests, and Pilgrimages

13 thoughts on “Why Travel is Good for a Writer

  1. Thanks so much for the great article and inspiration for my travel journal. My husband and I will be touring around the east coast in October and I’m sure I will be taking lots of notes.

    • What a beautiful time to travel to the East Coast, Sue. In fact, I think May and October are the two best months to travel anywhere. But with all the leaves changing, it should be especially gorgeous. Yes, take lots of notes; take an inventory of the senses every now and again as you’re writing so you don’t miss any details. Have a wonder-full journey.

  2. Judy – I Ioved reading all about your father with the map and the details of your trip. I’m glad it was successful, inspirational and fun. Looking forward to howling a lot with you in the future and with Leslie too!

    • Hi Judy,
      Thanks for sharing with us all your thoughts (and photos) of your latest trip. I enjoyed reading it. I am a native New Yorker, so it resignated with me. Also, I just returned from my own trip of two weeks (bucket list) to Glacier National Park and Banf. I feel my insides churning with crumbs of thoughts awaiting to rise into words, if only I allow them to surface.
      Arlene Kosakoff

      • Hi Arlene, Thanks so much for commenting on the post. Glad my NY visit could remind you of home. Do you keep a travel journal on your trips? I try to make notes, especially of specific details and sensory experiences knowing how difficult it is to keep it all alive in my mind while constantly taking in new.
        My Banff visit was many many years ago. Beautiful! (I wonder if my journal from all those years ago is still in my storage unit).
        Glad you’re going to set aside time to write all those crumbs of thoughts.

      • Hi Judy,
        Glad you were able to see Banff (2 ‘fs’) years ago. I used to keep a journal when I traveled….I have to start doing that again…
        Arlene

      • Yes! a travel journal. I take in so much when I’m traveling, if I don’t write details down, I forget them. I’m thinking of pulling out my journals from a long trip I took many, many years ago (and memories are faded; details lost), and maybe seeing if there are stories inside. Something is itching to be told.

    • Thanks for your comment, Jill. Delighted you liked the post. I know you’re a traveler, too and that you use your journeys to inspire your writing and add depth to your characters and their lives. More howling to come!

  3. Eeekkk you mean someone howled longer than I did in that video I sent? Good for them! That is awesome and I take my horns off to her.

    My daughter and I did that about 20 years ago, wolf calls, and the guy downstairs was listening and cracking up with laughter. We were in the fourplex where I met The Man on the antique bench one night and built a romance. A woman came from another country and decided to buy the property and that ancient stone bench was the USP. However her country would not allow her to take that much money out of country so she stayed home I guess.

    Anyway I don’t howl much any more but then I don’t neigh when I run alongside those horses either.

    Welcome home, Judy.

      • I am going to do it to that idiot whose cigarette smoke comes in here — a nonsmoking building. I will wait til about 3 a.m. and let it rip. Oooohhh! I can’t wait.

  4. Such a good article. I just love all the descriptions and flashes of scenes from where you’ve been. I can’t wait to read the stories that come out of your trip. I hope you blog them. And the connection with your father and the atlas and the universe is so sweet and I could feel them in my heart. Don’t you just love Key West? I can’t wait to get back there. Welcome home Judy, we’re glad you’re back with lots of rich memories.

    • Thanks, Leslie. I hope to post many stories from that nearly month-long trip; so many adventures and people and places. Yes, Key West, except for the tourist-y crowds (am I excusing myself from this grouping?) and stupid tee shirts. Taking the Conch Train tour was the best idea to really get a feel for the history and neighborhoods.

Comments are closed.