Today’s writing challenge topic is Your Commute To/From Work. This photo is it, folks. Atlanta traffic is legendary. Or infamous, whichever. And we are only ranked 9th worst traffic in the nation. I’ve driven in some of the other top ranked spots, most notably Houston, and frankly it all feels the same to me: it SUCKS. I live in the northern suburbs of Atlanta. My commute mile-wise is 29.7 miles each way. If I leave my house by 6AM, I’m usually to work by 650, 700AM. If I leave around 615, then I’m lucky to get to work by 730. I try to leave work by 330PM. On Mondays, I can usually make it home in about 45 minutes (there are always exceptions). Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I’m lucky to be home by 5. Fridays…all bets are off. The Friday morning commute is great, 40-45 mintutes even if I leave as late as 630. Friday afternoon commute is around 2 hours.

All this time in the car drains the energy of wanting to do anything else, like workout or write for instance. I’ve tried a couple of times to make the best of it and do some WIP dictation into my phone that I can transcribe later. That did not turn out very well. I find that I get too distracted, especially in the bumper to bumper traffic. I also yell at the cars around me a lot, so that doesn’t make for very good dictation. I listen to the traffic reports when I first get in my car for the drive home, then I play an audio book or some podcasts.

That’s it for me. Atlanta is an amazing city with so much to see and do, but I stay home a lot because of the traffic. Because I’m pathetic. I’m hoping to move closer to the city, or into the city in the fall or winter since my kid will be done with high school. If I can get a couple of hours of my day back, that would be aces.

Ilona Andrews has posted the latest episode of One Fell Sweep on her blog so I am OUT!!!