I’ve had a car for most of winter, which is handy for getting to work when it’s cold and dark in the mornings. But it does mean that I’m missing an important ritual of my teaching days: catching the train and the bus. I’ll have to give up this car again soon, but I’m really looking forward to getting back into the public transport lifestyle.

If you haven’t tried it (and especially if you otherwise sit in the car for a long commute) I heartily and thoroughly recommend a few commuter trips on the train and bus to inspire some good fiction writing. Getting on the train works for me on so many levels that I can even feel a bullet-pointed list coming on:

• I see (and eavesdrop on) all kinds of people. On the commuter train headed into the city centre in the mornings there are all kinds of workings; the teenagers and school kids are there in the afternoons on my way home from school; on the bus I find immigrants and students studying English here, some of them my own students, and I’ve even met a bunch of librarians who take the same bus. You don’t get to hear how these people talk, what they talk about, how they dress or how they move their hands – all important fodder for writers – from the inside of your car.
• I get a chance to read more. I’ve noticed the decrease in number of novels consumed since I’ve been driving the car to work. Train and bus time is a bit like going on holiday, in that it’s a guilt-free chance to get my nose stuck in a book.
• And I listen to podcasts on writing and books – something I miss most at the moment because there aren’t that many other moments when I have a good block of time to listen to my favourites. Sometimes I put them on in the kitchen when I’m cooking but it’s hard for me to listen properly and still follow a recipe correctly!
• When I’ve got a story or a chapter to edit or proofread, I can do this surprisingly well on the train – as long as I get a seat. Perhaps there’s so much noise around me that it helps me focus on just my tiny world in front of me, those few pieces of paper that I’m trying to perfect.
• Finally, call me weird but I also adore the walk through the city or through the central train station when I transfer from my train onto the bus in the mornings. The city is alive, and people are heading in every direction. I can sometimes even buy my copy of the Big Issue if a vendor is standing near the art gallery. When I don’t get this injection of city life I really miss it.

Come the hot summer months I’ll no doubt be complaining about the suddenly longer walk home from the train station (it’s only ten minutes, but when the temperature hits the century that sure feels like more), or about Transperth buses that don’t come on time or don’t stop because they’re already full, but if you hear me doing that, just point me back to this post and remind me how good the journey is for my fiction writing.