I’m back from a week in Chicago. And one of the highlights of the trip was the train ride itself.
As many of you know, I took the Amtrak Cardinal line from Baltimore to Chicago a couple weekends ago. The Cardinal line number 51 is the very line used in TRACKS, my novel in stories. I’d done a lot of research on the train, had taken a virtual tour, but had not yet ridden that line of track.
Doing so was an invaluable experience. I’ll admit that I didn’t encounter any surprises; there won’t be any major shifts in my novel based on this trip. But it was nice to verify my notions of what it was like to travel on the train.
As I mentioned in last week’s column, on the ride to Chicago I read Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. The train offered a great expanse of relaxing reading time, decorated with the beautiful scenery of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
On the way home last weekend, however, I decided to take another route, just to change the scenery. I rode the Capitol Limited, a line further north. The Capitol Limited took me through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland.
When I gave them my card and told them I’d written a book set on an Amtrak train, the train conductors were kind enough to give me tours. And I met some interesting characters in the lounge car, during the happy hour, in the observation car, and in the diner car. Not to mention some of the passengers in coach.
In addition to observing the details of the scenery and the train, I brought along a bit to do. I was more focused on editing than reading during the return home. I’d brought a printed manuscript of another novel I’m working on -- the one I wrote after TRACKS -- and I got started with my pre-workshop edit. (Next will come a workshop, a rewrite, and another edit or two -- as with TRACKS.)
I also did a bit of reading -- Julie Glass’s The Whole World Over and Adam Haslett’s You Are Not a Stranger Here. I’m mid way through each, and they’re both good.
Regardless of whether you’re in the mood to read, to write, to edit, or just to sit back and enjoy the scenery, I suggest taking the train next time you travel. You won’t get there in a hurry, but you won’t feel like you’re rushed either. It’s a great experience that everyone deserves to enjoy.
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Eric D. Goodman, Books Correspondent
Eric’s column, Lit Bit, is published every Wednesday to Gather Essentials: Books. Featuring bits on writing, writers, books, and literature, Lit Bit will fulfill your literary longings.
Eric is a full-time, professional, published writer and editor. His work has appeared in local, national, and international publications, including a story in the current issue of The Baltimore Review.
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Comments: 14
One certainly can get lost with too many irons in the fire at once. But that's just they way it works for me.
Not the writing part, though. I only WRITE one thing at a time. TRACKS is already written, and although I might fold in some new details and take some advice from the more constructive comments offered in the First Chapters contest, I consider it complete. My focus for TRACKS is to market it to an agent or publisher.
The other novel I mentioned is one I wrote in 2005 -- a year after I wrote the first draft of TRACKS. I'm just now taking it off the shelf to revise, rewrite, edit, workshop. So as far as fiction writing goes, that will be my focus for some time.
As for the reading, I always have a few books going at once. I like to have a few to select from when I'm in the mood to read. You know that feeling of not wanting a book to end? In a way, you get a longer period of time with the characters when you have a few books going at once.
I read an article a few months ago in the NY Times about a man who usually reads about 30 novels at a time. Now THAT would get confusing.
The next day we went on to Montana and it was a delightful trip with wonderful meals.
A few days later we went on to Seattle and again it was great.
After a few days visit with friends we went on to Oakland, CA. Another nice leg of the trip.
A couple days later we took the day train to LA. Didn't get a sleeping car since it would be daytime all the way. That was a mistake. By the time they allowed us peons to go to the dining car, it was just to pick up a box lunch. It wasn't very good and cost about $9.
We changed trains in LA and left there about supper time (or maybe bedtime). When we woke up next morning we were in Arizona but about 2 hours late. At Tuscon we were delayed all day while they tried to fix a bad connection between sleeping cars. We had to get off the train and wait in the tiny station. There were not enough benches for everyone. They did send out for pizza for everyone. Finally we left about supper time. Had a good meal before they informed us we would not get to San Antonio in time to make our connection to Dallas. Therefore, our choice was to go on to San Antonio and be on our own for getting on to Dallas; or we could get off in El Paso about 2 AM and they would bus us to Ft. Worth and try to catch the train there. They promised us we would have breakfast along the way. By the time we got it, it was noon. As we approached Ft. Worth, it was obvious we would not connect with the train there so they kept going on to Dallas, putting us in at about the time we would have gotten there on the train if we had made out connection.
What an adventure. I'm so glad I had this opportunity in spite of the mishaps.
Also a year later I had the priviledge of riding the Adirondack from NYC to Montreal. And the Via Rail from Montreal to Quebec City. Later from Quebec City to New Brunswich. And a week or so later from Portland, ME to Boston.
These trips were a far cry from the short hops on the old steam locomotive trains of my youth. Or the lumbering ride from Arkansas to Pensacola overnight.