Ksenia Anske

View Original

My Amtrak Residency starts this Monday!

Photo by Rachel Baran

It's here! It's here! Can you believe it?? Pinch me. This Monday I'm hopping on the train and heading to Chicago, then to LA via Texas and all the way back to Seattle again, spending a total of 2 weeks in my own private roomette writing my sorry ass off and staring out the window. Well, I hope more writing will happen than staring, as my goal is to start and compete the 1st draft of Tube by the time I'm back.

Here is what to expect. 

TONS OF PICTURES. 

I will be taking tons of pictures, obviously, so go to my Instagram to see them, as most of them will be there.  

TONS OF TWEETS IN BURSTS. 

I will most likely alternate between tweeting a lot in a short period of time and nothing for hours, so head to my Twitter if you want to catch my scrambled travel thoughts. 

SHORTISH STORIES ON ELLO. 

When my thoughts will run too long for Twitter, I will post them on Ello as very short stories with a picture, most likely. So if you want a quieter pace, hop over there once a day. 

DAILY BLOG POSTS. 

Once a day I will post a story on how the day went on my blog, and send it to Amtrak to post it on their blog (there will be a link attached to my bio) as well. Unless my writing sweeps me up, I hope not to miss a single day. 

LOTS OF EXCITEMENT AND FEAR.

When you will read my snippets about this adventure, I will most likely appear out of my mind or on drugs or drunk. That will be for two reasons. One, I get very excited about new things and tend to shout about it loudly and jump up and down. That is regarding excitement. Two, I'm afraid of the dark and of sleeping alone (lovely remnants of equally lovely childhood), and I will be writing a scary story and reading such sweet charming books as The Exorsist, Omen, Rosemary's Baby, Misery...shall I go on? So, at night I will probably be terrified and tweeting some nonsense. Tell me to calm down and assure me that there are no monsters under my bed, okay? Thanks. 

THE FIRST DRAFT OF TUBE WILL BE DONE! 

Okay, that will happen when I'm back. That's the goal, anyway. Hold me to it. Oh, and in case you want to track my movements and stop by on the platform to say hello and take as selfie and hug and kiss, here is the itinerary.

ITINERARY.

Train #8 Empire Builder:
March 16th (Monday) depart from Seattle at 4:40 p.m. 
March 18th (Wednesday) arrive in Chicago at 3:55 p.m.  
Lovely Jacquelyn Delcamp will be hosting me in Chicago. Thank you!

Train #421 Texas Eagle:
March 20th (Friday) depart from Chicago at 3:45 p.m.
March 23rd (Monday) arrive in Los Angeles at 5:35 a.m.
My darling daughter will be hosting me. Expect tons of pictures!

Train #422 Texas Eagle:
March 25th (Wednesday), depart Los Angeles at 10:00 p.m.
March 28th (Saturday), arrive in Chicago at 1:52 p.m.

I will be staying with Jacquelyn again!

Train #7 Empire Builder:
March 29th (Sunday) depart from Chicago at 2:15 p.m.
March 31st (Tuesday) arrive in Seattle at 10:25 a.m.

I'm back home!

If you want to see the towns and cities those trains will stop by, just click on the links and you will see the complete itinerary on the Amtrak website. Would love to meet you!

XOXO