Join Beth Barany and I as we share with you the magic of travel and writing. Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, novels, short stories, personal essays or keep journals, we offer information, tips, techniques and tools for using travel to inspire, inform, enrich and empower your writing. Look for posts from both of us at diviningthemuse.com/blog and writersfunzone.com/blog every other Wednesday. And get information on our destination retreats, Beth’s in Paris, mine near Delphi, Greece. This is the second post in our travel and writing series. This week we share why we think travel is an important activity for writers.
I love to travel. Astrologers would say it’s because I have a whole lot of planets up in the ninth house of my natal chart, the ninth house being the house of expanding one’s horizons through activities such as education, publishing and foreign travel.
So how could I not love to travel? And how could travel not feed and nurture my writing?
But, astrology aside, there are other reasons I love to travel for writing and here are three reasons for you to travel as well:
- Distance provides perspective. You know that old saying of not being able to see the forest for the trees? That can so easily happen with our stories, especially if you’ve been working on it for a while and find yourself on an endless loop of writing, re-writing, editing and re-writing several chapters. Getting away pushes you out just far enough to see with new eyes both the bigger picture and the smaller details of your current manuscript.
- New environments entice the Muse out to play. The Muse gets bored being in the same place doing the same thing all the time. Travel to new places and especially into new cultures (which I’ll be writing about later in the series) stimulates the senses and is an invitation to play. Writing on a train, in a café, on a bench overlooking a lake, or sitting curled up at the feet of a very old oak tree delights the Muse and her desire for play.
- Magic happens in the in-between places. This is the belief of many old earth-based spiritual traditions. And, when you travel, you cross many thresholds and spend time at in-between places such as airports, train stations and other terminals. You are also in-between when you fly, or take a boat or train, or even drive. I’ll never forget riding the Fresca Rosa (the Red Arrow express train) from Milan to Florence at 182 miles an hour feeling like I could be going anywhere or nowhere forever. As you move magically from one place to another, there is that sense of being out of reach of others’ demands and needs, of having a break from the routine and the habitual. This time away from time is a magic key for opening up the creative gateways.
The roar of jet engines, the rattle of train wheels over tracks, or the whir of tires on pavement can actually be a soothing backdrop, a kind of white noise that moves the mind into the more creative alpha or theta states.
And, of course, if you are traveling to a place your love or a place that helps you relax, imagine and dream, all the better.
I think Greece is an ideal place to travel to, especially for a writing retreat, because it provides all three benefits of travel, plus the relaxing sunshine and breezes, the sounds of the ocean, and the Muse’s delight in being on home territory.
So check out my Greece retreat at www.retreatwithyourmuse.com and check out Beth’s post here.