Desperados Writing on a Train

Okay, desperado. Walter Jon Williams found the ride too bumpy to write. And it was only in my journal.

So tonight (technically last night, Wednesday, but I ain’t been to bed yet) was our monthly writers’ group, cleverly named Critical Mass. Owing to a difficult situation one of our members finds himself in carpooling from Albuquerque to Santa Fe isn’t going to be practical for a while. Nor is my driving, until, basically, I get a new car.

So the time had come to try the new Rail Runner train that runs primarily between ABQ and SF along I-25. Indeed, right along the median part of the way,  it turns out. Bought my tickets online last night. Set out early to pick up dinner at Powdrell’s.

Only minor dramatics, first involving taking the scenic route because I confused the directions, then brief panic when, cutting it tighter than I liked, I found the street to the train station blocked by the damned train. Fortunately it was the south-, by which I mean other-way, bound.

So I got on the train fine.  The ride through the North Valley was quite pretty:  along with greening trees there’re many fruit trees in bloom. Eventually I found myself an empty table an unlimbered my dinner of fried catfish with BBQ beans. A bit disappointing, in truth:  dry and not as tasty as a man might prefer. But a welcome change from the ordinary for me.

I ate, then unlimbered the notebook to, well, write about the experience in my journal. They actually had power outlets which is cool. They do not – yet, they claim – have Internet access. Like it’s going to kill me to be off the Net for a few hours.

The 1:15 trip went by pretty quick. I never did go exploring to find Walter, who’d driven up from Los Lunas to the downtown ABQ station. First I saw him was when he debarked a few cars back at the Santa Fe South Capitol station. The sun was just setting; the excellent Ian Tregillis was waiting to drive us to Steve and Jan Stirling’s house.

We kept the session moving, since we got there at 7 and intended to leave around 9 to catch the last train south at 9;30. Melinda Snodgrass was there, although she didn’t submit a piece, as was Terry England. Fortunately a smallish group.

I ran my new BattleTech yarn, “Ozymandias” by them. To my relief they liked it. The big criticism was it was long winded, which I knew. (Turns out Steve and I share a habit of, as Terry more or less put it, writing notes on our world in our rough drafts.) Everybody offered great suggestions.  Best was Walter’s, to start the story with the Big Robot Battle (you knew there was going to be one, yes? I mean, that’s not much of a spoiler) and intercut with the rest, so that basically when a character’s BattleMech appeared or acted, we’d flash back to the significant interaction with our protagonist, Cassie Suthorn. Which should work really wizard. I look forward to hitting the rewrite. Not that I don’t have plenty to do in the interim…

As it happened Ian dropped us off at the station about 9:11. Deciding I had too much to juggle, and since I’m not terribly sensitive to cold, I’d decided to leave the jacket behind. Santa Fe’s cooler than ABQ, which I expected; there was also a breeze. Plus a 20-minute wait for the train. So I was more than ready to climb aboard when it arrived.

(This after mistaking identifying an approaching light as our train. Which proved to be a bicycle. Coming from the wrong direction.)

The ride home, like the ride out, was unventful. Which is how we like them. Once again we sat on the upper deck, this time on GPs, since the car stayed brightly lit and it was hard to see much outside the windows. Walter’s going to Turkey on a research trip here shortly. He’s been there before, and much entertained me talking about the country, as well as the political background to his novel-in-progress, Deep State. Which by remarkable coincidence we critiqued the beginning of tonight.

My car was still there. It actually started first try. Yay! And I was home by 11.

So, cool. Next time we meet in Santa Fe may be on a Saturday; if it’s Wednesday again I might just take an earlier train and eat dinner with some of nthe northern contingent.

Riding the train was surprisingly pleasant. I mean, I like riding trains well enough, although some experiences with Amtrak had put me of long cross-country trips. But this beat hell out of driving, or even riding as a passenger as a car.  Truth was, it was kinda fun.

A good day. And now to bed, and now to bed.

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