Writing on the Road

Writing is portable . . . thankfully. Three weeks into a four-week road trip, and I've been able to get in a solid session on my novel every day except one. True, these sessions have been squeezed in before or after hikes, depending on the heat of the day, and long talks with my wonderful wife, Debbie Birdseye, my amazing sister, Ann Birdseye, and her pie-loving husband,Robert Raffield, as well as my warm and welcoming writing friend Kate Ferguson. And my usual office niceties have been missing — no desk, or countertop to spread notes, or shelves lined with books. But through it all the backdrop has been amazing: the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, Arches, Dinosaur National Monument, the Devil's Tower, and several thousand stunning highway miles in between. Setting matters, both within the story and in the way it soaks into the brain of the storyteller. I'm not going to become an itinerant writer, but it's nice to know that I can take to the road and still get after it. I am a very lucky guy.