Courtesy of The Frisky
No more trying to find a coffee shop with reliable WiFi and clean bathrooms. No more praying your roommate can refrain from talking for half a day while you peck away on the keyboard. It’s still in the “test-run” phase, but it’s OK to get your hopes up because Amtrak has confirmed that it will be implementing a writing residency program. It’s just what it sounds like: writers will be able to take long (hopefully free), roundtrip train rides with the sole purpose of writing. It’s genius because between the people watching, the change of scenery and the quiet, it’s hard to come up with excuses not to be productive (a writers’ favorite game). If you don’t suffer from motion sickness, it’s essentially the perfect environment to write your essay, novel or screenplay.
It all started with Alexander Chee’s interview in PEN Ten America where he said, “I still like a train best for [writing]. I wish Amtrak had residencies for writers.” Other writers voiced similar sentiments on Twitter and with some attention from Amtrak, and a few emails, Jessica Gross took the first, totally free test-run from NYC to Chicago and back, sharing the details of her journey in The Paris Review.