My Very Personal, Hard Fought Accomplishment!

Thanks again for support and encouragement everyone. In the future, when I'm having a bad day, I know I can come back to this thread to find some motivation and inspiration. That's no small thing.

jeffo said:

I wonder if there's a series of short stories in there somewhere... "Scenes from Ikea..."

As for the Amtrak, I would absolutely love that. There were some concerns at first from a number of writers about the rights granted for submissions, I haven't heard how that worked out. There's a thread somewhere around here about that event.

I think the isolation and time to write can be great. Last month I had my own, personal, writer's retreat -- I went to a cabin up in the mountains and scheduled nothing but writing time. It worked out pretty good -- but was way too short. My mind tends to wander to the next thing I need to do, so I need a long period of time with nothing else scheduled to really get into great writing for me!

Best of luck with your writing now that you have time for it!

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I don't know what it is but, I find Ikea hugely inspiring! As a matter of fact, I'm going there tomorrow if I feel better. I woke up today feeling sick. I haven't been sick in a long time because I stayed in my apartment for the last nine months! There wasn't anyone to GET me sick! I must have crossed paths with someone in the building who wasn't feeling well. I hate being sick. I fully admit to being a big, fat, poor me baby! I'm not a complainer and I don't whine about it but I'm definitely a big ol' baby!

I'll have to see if I can find that thread about Amtrak and the rights issue. Was Amtrak trying to claim rights to the work writer's created while on their train?

I went to a cabin up in the mountains and scheduled nothing but writing time.

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That's my dream life. To live in a small log cabin in the mountains and make a living from my writing. I wanted to do this for my dream vacation, too but, after spending nine months alone in my apartment, I've started dreaming a little bigger! A cruise. That's my dream vacation. A four month cruise around the world and I would never ask for anything else again. Six months and I'll marry you. But, I'd settle for a seven day Canadian/Alaskan cruise. Heck, right now stick me on a Disney cruise! The idea of waking up, having nothing but time, beauty, writing, and ports of call on the agenda is the way to get me to squeal like a seven year old girl. Throw in that you have all of your food prepared for you, available around the clock, and just try to get my head out of the clouds.

Still, even though my time off was a struggle of epic proportions, it was time. And that was the best gift I received out of it all.

Kylabelle said:

Yes, more or less. The wording of the contract claimed more rights than people would reasonably want to assign to Amtrak. Details in the thread, but you'll have to look through it to find where that discussion started.

As I recall, where the discussion ended, we'd learned that Amtrak was reconsidering their contract language because a lot of authors were raising objections to it. I don't know what the outcome is however, or if it has been decided finally.

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Just... wow. I don't put up with such foolishness. It's nothing short of theft. The articles I read made Amtrak sound like they were offering such opportunities to give back to the community out of the kindness of their hearts. I am really sick of companies trying to take advantage of others. That's why I quit my job in the first place!

In light of the real story, I think anyone who signs any kind of contract for such an "opportunity" is a fool. If I want to take a trip on Amtrak to write my book, I'll buy my own ticket.

Again, thank you everyone for taking the time to read and respond. Reading your responses is some of the most encouragement I've had in a very long time. It's definitely fueled my fire!