Why I’m Missing My Commute 

For some it’s the shower, but for me, driving has always awakened my muse.

Sometimes, I think a long commute is part of my destiny. Long stretches of road, wind in my hair, music blasting—for me those three things always equal inspiration. Out of college and throughout my MFA program, I worked for a tri-county Gannett newspaper covering high school sports. I drove all over New York state to cover regional and state championships for sports ranging from volleyball and track to bowling and cheerleading.

In those years, Route 17, the rural highway that leads from downstate New York to upstate New York was my muse. Oftentimes, I feel like I plotted my whole MFA thesis (now my forthcoming sophomore novel from Red Adept Publishing!) on that road. It’s even a character all its own in the pages of that book. 

Over the years, these long commutes kept finding me. In my last two years of college, I became a commuter student, tackling a 45-minute drive to class. My graduate school was over an hour from my house. When I finally had a short commute at my first full-time job, I met my now husband and eventually moved across state lines, tripling my commute time for a few tedious months. And now, settled in for almost eight years, I drive—or did before the pandemic—an hour each way. 

A long commute can be tiring, and after the birth of my daughter, I did some creative rearranging to create a manageable work/life balance. But being home for over a year now, never driving more than 25 minutes at a time, I miss those hours spent in a car. I miss sitting behind the wheel and driving those same 45 miles. Something about a long drive opens my mind to my characters, and as the miles pass their stories unfold. I can see what I couldn’t see the night before. Scenes progress before me as if I’m watching a movie. Driving awakens my muse. 

Sometimes I wonder why I miss driving—at rush hour no less—but when I look back on these work-related and daily journeys the answer is right there. The hours I spend behind the wheel are, perhaps, the only time that my mind is truly relaxed. Back when I was writing my thesis, I worked at least two jobs at any given time. Two jobs and an hour commute each way to class, the car was the only time I stopped moving the whole time I was awake. 

When I’m driving, just me and the open road and a plethora of opportunities, my characters sneak in. They tell me their stories in real-time. It’s a wonderous and magical thing. And something I took for granted until the pandemic hit and driving became a luxury. Walks through the neighborhood and quick rides to get takeout have become my refuge in this last year, but neither replace the inspiration a radio and stretches of pavement provide me. 

There are so many reasons I’m grateful to have lost my commute this last year. The sheer number of extra hours I get with my daughter is at the top of that list. But it’s definitely been a different writing experience as I search for ways to get to know my newly crafted characters. What are they thinking? How are they changing? It’s hard to get to that zen place that driving affords me when I’m never alone. 

So, I find the moments–that walk in the sunshine, that drive to the restaurant just a bit further away than usual, those mornings when everyone in my house sleeps and I can tinker at my laptop. I try to cherish these moments. Because I know that soon enough I’ll be back to the commute, and it won’t feel like a luxury when I’m sitting in Route 1 traffic. It’ll feel like a rush hour I could’ve spent letting my daughter ride her Big Wheel around the block before preschool. But then, one morning that new character will show up with a story to tell, and I’ll remember exactly why I missed my commute this year. And when that happens, I’ll turn the music up a little louder, and I’ll listen. 

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Casey Dembowski loves to write stories that focus on the intricacies of relationships–whether they be romantic, familial, or friendship. Her novels focus on the inner workings of women and how everything in their lives leads them to exactly where they are, whether they like it or not.

The first story Casey remembers writing was in the second grade, though it wasn’t until she turned twelve that she started carrying a battered composition notebook everywhere she went. Since then, there hasn’t been a time when she isn’t writing.

Casey lives in New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and their two cats. She has an MFA in Fiction from Adelphi University and currently works in corporate marketing communications. In her (limited) spare time, she enjoys reading, baking, and watching her favorite television shows on repeat.

Find out more about Casey on her website https://caseydembowski.com/

Follow her on Twitter @casey_dembowski

WHEN WE’RE THIRTY, Casey Dembowski

Two friends. One pact. The performance of their lives.

Hannah Abbott is stuck in a dead-end relationship and at a job she loves but that barely pays the bills. The four walls of her tiny New York City apartment have never seemed so small. She’s barely toasted her thirtieth birthday when her old college friend Will knocks on her door with an unexpected proposal.

Will Thorne never forgot the marriage pact he made with Hannah, but he also never imagined he’d be the one to initiate it. One ex-fiancée and an almost-career-ending mistake later, however, he finds himself outside Hannah’s door, on bended knee, to collect on their graduation-night pinky promise.

With both of their futures at stake, Hannah and Will take a leap of faith. Now, all they have to do is convince their friends and family that they’re madly in love. As long as they follow the list of rules they’ve drafted, everything should go smoothly. Except Will has never been good with rules, and Hannah can’t stop overthinking the sleeping arrangements. Turning thirty has never been so promising.

BUY HERE

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