What Autumn Taught Me About Writing, Travel, and Life

My friend Autumn taught me that to write well, you must travel well, and in this way, you will live well. If you travel intentionally, noticing the world slowly and without judgment, you will gather seeds that will become the foundation of your writing. As you travel, breathing in all that surrounds you, you can reflect it in your writing. Gathering, reflecting, and beginning anew brings you closer to understanding yourself, and this understanding of yourself and the world around you will lead to a life well-lived.

Autumn explained that when you are traveling, you feed your writing ability by gathering seeds that will become your written product. This process of gathering requires you to be awake, curious, and out of place. The memories and experiences we collect during travel are seeds that inspire our art. To collect seeds requires observing and reflecting without judgment. Autumn told me to be open, search for a starting point with boundless curiosity, and the seed of inspiration will reveal itself. She urged me to collect these seeds without worrying about what I would do with them; I would know when the time came to plant my seeds and watch their growth.

But how do you start writing? I ask her. Look at all the objects around you, she answers. When you are traveling and pick up an object, it already has a story to tell. Ask what stories the objects around you are telling or what story they want you to tell. Autumn urges me to focus on all the senses. Take a beat, she says. Focus, notice, and write about what you see, hear, smell, and taste. 

Let’s say you notice the people around you in your new environment. When you are writing about people, you can describe their features, but a more effective approach is to describe their movements or what they are wearing. You can use colors and light to mark time, but you must remain still to notice the color and the light. While you are still, you are not meditating because you are not shutting the world out; instead, you are observing it around you. 

She asks, 'During your travels, will you walk?' Walking can be a meditation—a way of remembering where you are. You can learn by looking at the ground and collecting items like seeds. Indeed, archaeology is found in trash. It tells a people’s story. Autumn reminds me to soften my gaze because sometimes we look too hard or move too quickly to see. The illusion of speed as you race through your travels is that it saves time. You will live, travel, and write better if you slow down, notice, and collect your seeds.

Ultimately, Autumn explains, writing aims to reduce the veil between literature and life. What gets in the way? Self-censorship and Self-doubt. In our art, we strive to transition from creating something nice to creating something meaningful. So, collect your seeds, travel, and notice the world around you, and then reflect on it without judgment. Don't worry that you don't have a story to tell, she comforts me. This creative process is uniting your words with the world around you.

And when you finish your writing, let it go out into the world, Autumn advises. We should always be creating and letting go to make more art. With each creation, we inch closer to who we are. And remember to take advantage of the jolt of creativity when it strikes. When you’re feeling inspired, keep going. You don’t know when the feeling will return. Learn to notice yourself and realize when you feel inspired. When you do, peel yourself away from everyone else, write, and chase your story to its conclusion.

Don’t judge yourself, she counsels. Remember to prioritize your writing and your time. Remember to be amazed. Be in the presence of something vast that transcends our understanding of the world. As you travel, learn the names, learn the language, and become part of the culture. Understand that if your mind were any deeper, it would drown you in meaning, and that life runs alongside you unseen. In the end, Autumn’s greatest gift to me is her guidance to travel, collect your seeds, write about them, reflect without judgment, and become more yourself.

Autumn and I enjoy a sunny day in Lamu with smiles and laughter aboard a colorful boat.