Cross-Country Travel Means Writing Less But "Reading" More

I’m still unpacking boxes, but we are finally in our new home after living in temporary quarters. The last task was emptying the storage unit that held stuff we were warehousing for our son and daughter-in-law and delivering it to them in California. 

Wanting to complete the trip before winter weather set in, we transferred all of it into the smallest-possible U-Haul trailer, hooked the trailer up to our little Honda Fit, and set off across the country. 

It was interesting to see mask use variations in different states – and even in different parts of the same state. No one who lives here will be surprised to know that northern Illinois and southern Illinois do not share the same opinions. Happily, we never ran into anyone who got huffy about us wearing masks. 

While I love being a passenger on long drives, I have always had a tendency to motion sickness, so I don’t read or write while traveling. Instead, we listen to books. When the kids were young, we once drove far longer than we had planned because no one wanted Jim Dale to stop reading Harry Potter to us. (Yes, I know Stephen Fry also recorded Harry Potter books. Take a look at this review of both voice artists.)

During this trip, we started listening to Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. I say “started” because, even though it takes a long time for a Honda Fit to drag a U-Haul trailer over the Rocky Mountains, the Wheel of Time audio series takes longer. It takes 19 days, 5 hours, and 25 minutes to listen to all of it. 

We heard the first two books and started The Dragon Reborn before returning home. Now we have to figure out how to listen to the rest. When do other people listen to audio books? We talk while exercising and don’t commute for work. Maybe we have to sit around the speaker in the evening like folks sat around the radio before television. 

I’ve read (and watched) plenty of fantasy in my time, although I wouldn’t say it’s my go-to genre. I have very fond memories of feeling secluded in a completely different world when I read The Lord of the Rings books all at once over several very long days when I was young. But once was enough and I never re-read them. 

So far, I’m enjoying the Wheel of Time books and they aren’t influencing me unduly. Have you ever had that experience where what you are writing suddenly starts sounding like what you are reading? It’s like how people pick up accents from the people they are living with. I usually try to plan my reading around what I’m writing because of this. Since I’m writing about the 1920s right now, a fantasy influence would be too weird!

What are you reading these days? Or listening to? I’m looking for suggestions that can be read on my Kindle because I do know where that is. All of my books, of course, are still packed in moving boxes!

Photo by Stas Knop from Pexels