Travel and the Writer

Today my guest is Jim Ingraham who wants to share his take on a recent trip north with his son Pete and wife Slim.

And while Jim is here at Terry's Place, I'm over at "The Old Silly" blog sharing a quick lesson on Transitions.

Welcome, Jim

I have just returned from a seven-day voyage to Alaska. I had originally planned to keep a journal or perhaps a diary so that I would remember events of the trip. I described the flight from Florida to Seattle (truly uneventful) and the marvelous experience of having dinner on the rotating restaurant on the Space Needle. After boarding the ship that was to carry us north, I set the journal aside and just enjoyed what I was witnessing. I do not intend to write “Murder on the Alaska Cruise.” Agatha did that about a train ride, and one’s enough. But I did give a lot of thought to the value of travel to writers.

Somerset Maugham traveled for story material and came up with good stuff like “Rain.” Hemingway and Flaubert and Graham Greene, among flocks of others, made productive use of travel. Alternatively, the legendary editor Max Perkins discouraged a woman from traveling to Paris for atmosphere. “It’s better to use your imagination,” he said, or something like that.

So what do writers gain from travel?

Adventurous?

Today my guest is author Tory Richards, who discovered a sense of adventure. She's offering one of her books to a commenter. Contest runs all week, so you can leave a comment even if you get here "late."

Before I begin I’d just like to thank Terry for giving me this opportunity to talk about myself. Not my favorite subject but I’ll give it a try. It might be a case of once I get started, watch out!


I love to travel. Who doesn’t? And until my granddaughter was born three years ago my traveling buddies were my daughter and niece. We’re all very close and when we get together it’s like watching a sitcom of The Golden Girls. In fact, that’s what my son-in-law calls us.

We’ve been to neat places like Croatia, Spain, Rome and Greece but my favorite was when we took an Alaskan cruise. OMG was that a beautiful place. And I discovered a new adventurous side of me on that vacation…even if it was forced upon me.