Why Writers Should Travel

"I wanted to write down every detail of the feeling and experience (the smell of mountain pine, the sound of the snow falling from the trees, the blinding blue of the fresh lake), but instead I simply experienced it. I let it soak into my bones and soul, knowing eventually these new experiences and sights would present themselves in my future as stories, metaphors, descriptions, and poetry."

The above is an excerpt taken from my journal after I took a trip to Lake Tahoe in late October. I was fortunate because the Aspen trees were still bright yellow, and a fresh snow had recently fallen on the mountains. The mix of yellow leaves, white snow, green pine and blue lake was it's own poem and didn't need me to write about it, just live it. I was satisfied knowing that my body was soaking up a new experience that I would be able to use in the future for art. I was with friends and just enjoying living. I wasn't there to write a novel or shut myself away for hours and write. I was there to celebrate life. I knew by simply experiencing this trip, those adventures would help my writings in the future.

As writers, traveling and new experiences are vital to our art. Every trip I've taken has found it's way back to me in a story as a description or a location for a plot at some time or another. I used to be amazed when reading books at how well the author was able to describe a foreign place. I would try to copy them and describe some cool place (that I had never actually been to), and fail, of course. It wasn't real to me.

Then, one day, it dawned on me (I'm not sure why was so late). I realized, these authors write what they know! That is why it is so poetic and descriptive. That is why I feel like I am with them! It's in their bones! They've traveled to new lands and lived wild memories. It's personal. (This is why I believe everyone's writings get better with age, because we have more experiences to write about!)

Ironically though, when writers write their best work, oftentimes it's describing the place where they grew up. Technically, they never had to leave to write about this location. I believe it's the leaving (even for a short period) that causes us to better accurately understand and describe our home. Authors' childhood location might have seemed mundane and boring to them at first, but they learned to stepped back and realize that their experiences are new to someone else. That is what good writers do: romanticize their own life.

L.M. Montgomery can write about the small quaint towns of Canada better than anyone else because that was her home. Agatha Christie describes the mid-century Brits effortlessly, because they surrounded her everyday.

I, on the other hand, can write about a childhood in St. Louis and describe the feeling of a thunderstorm rolling over a valley better than most people. I also can humorously write about growing up with four other strong female personalities and a quiet dad, and sadly, write about the feeling of grieving the loss of my dad years later.

Traveling teaches us things a formal education can never offer and gives us enchanting memories to write about. But, traveling isn't the answer to good writing. I know what it's like to both feel stuck in a small town and dream of the day of exploring foreign streets. I also understand the feeling of finally landing at a new destination and still feeling discontent.

I remember the first time my feet stepped on French soil. I had dreamed of this day for years. I had been studying the language long enough and now I had a chance to be with the people! When I stood in Nice, France (a beautiful town I highly recommend) and looked upon the Mediterranean Sea, I realized a very alarming (yet sobering) fact: I was still me (with all my good and bad parts). At that particular moment, I was still irritable and hangry. I was overwhelmed. A part of me even wanted to go back home. A place didn't make me happier, and it can't make us better writers. (Don't worry, I didn't go back home after the first day. I fully enjoyed France and got over my jet-lagged, hangry mood).

Life also handed me a long season when I didn't travel and my routine felt predictable. I had a choice: allow the mundane to be my excuse for zombie living, or find adventure into the mundane. I chose the latter and soon learned, there's no such thing as a "mundane" or "predictable" day. Every day is new and has adventures waiting to be discovered.

It wasn't until I finally tapped into the power of contentment in my everyday life that I learned to fully appreciate traveling. If we're not learning to see the beauty in the "boring," we'll never fully taste the exciting.

I passionately believe we should all plan trips and actually take them! We should leave our phones in our back pockets and really taste the pasta in Italy (in all it's red, carb-y glory). We should soak up what it feels like to be completely foreign somewhere (that scary and invigorating feeling of being the odd man out who doesn't understand cultural norms). We should all dance in the streets of Paris because an old man is playing the accordion. We should eat the street-food in the middle of the night in Málaga, Spain. We should definitely see the mountains and snow and ocean (and all the other things our Pinterest boards inspire us to do). These trips are important and will ultimately add to our writing.

However, we will never be good writers if we are only “wander-lusting” for the next trip and forgetting to recognize the beauty of everyday life.

How can we discover magic, for example, on a Monday morning, when coffee is spilled, it's raining, and we’re late for a job we hate with a mean boss?! Yes, it can be hard to find beauty in a situation like that, but it's possible. When the coffee is cleaned up, we can notice the way the pavement glistens in the November rain and mentally take notes of our boss' behavior to use as character inspiration in the future (I do this all the time with people; agitating people are perfect character research)!

We are writers. We have a superpower that not many other people possess. We can take any experience, mundane or adventurous, and find the beauty and story in it.

So that being said, I hope you plan a trip today, and in the process, enjoy the "boring" routine of life.