Traveling and visiting new places is inspiring to the imagination and helps expand my creative horizons. I have not had the opportunity to travel by train before, but it is something I have long desired to experience.

Some of my best ideas come to me while I am driving, but my hands are occupied and I must rely on a voice recorder to capture the moment. Even then, the idea often tumbles to pieces for lack of paper and pen, with which I can translate the thought directly, without corruption.

Riding on Amtrak, with time set aside specifically to craft my stories, would far surpass the bookstores and coffee shops that I normally frequent, which are both loud and distracting. Rather than rely on noise-blocking headphones, I prefer to listen to music that mingles with the atmosphere and invigorates my mind, another reason that driving is so inspiring.

I have relied on my “trains of thought” for years as a visual connection to the ideas in my head. To ride a real train would be fascinating.