Yasmin, I was thinking about land art and other forms of visual art as being about place too…. There’s a book I have in mind but can’t remember the name of it, I have it somewhere. Also, I love Thomas A. Clark’s poetry about place (online at the Scottish Poetry Lubrary,) Ian Hamilton Finlay et al. Oh, and Hamish Fulton’s piece: Rock Fall Echo Dust. Wow. X
I write about walking (and walk about writing) for a living, including hiking guidebooks. I also write about "walking writing" on the UKhillwalking website... Among the great walking writers I'd count John Muir, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Nan Shepherd. Also Poet Lauriate Simon Armitage 'Walking Home'. Robert Louis Stevenson 'Travels with a Donkey'. It's on record that both Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote while walking: Wordsworth strolling on a smooth lawn, but Coleridge while struggling up the wooded coombs of the Quantocks.
There are some familiar names here, Ronald, and one I need to investigate... I don't know much about Fermor so I'll look this one up. Thanks so much for your comment, and I hope to read some of your writing very soon.
Greetings from the Land at the Edge of the Sky, Yasmin~
My rambles around our multi-generational family farm informed the blog that I ran on WordPress for several years. However, we recently moved into a small town so my walking habits have had to change. And, I’ve launched a different “blog” on Substack.
As a geologist retired from academia, I recall discussions about “place-based” learning. But your posts about “place writing” have been eye-opening and helpful…although I must admit that I haven’t surfed through all of them yet!
But I also liked your comment about “place as a character” in writing fiction. That’s one of the main things that I’ve worked at and have had some reinforcement from professional writers who did developmental edits on a couple of my manuscripts. I’m thinking about releasing one of them as a serial here on Substack.
Thank you for your comment and welcome to Place Writing!
I enjoyed blogging when I had a Wordpress site, and before that I think it was Blogger. Doing the research for the blogs and writing them up made me realise just how much I liked both activities and so I made it my career by first doing a Masters degree in Creative Writing and then the PhD that I'm about to finish in the next few weeks. I'm not really a fiction writer - my creative writing is non-fiction and as you see, I've found a niche in Place Writing.
I'm looking forward to finding more time next year for reading and Heat Moon is on the list. I've seen some interviews - he seems like an incredibly interesting person. He's not so well known here in the UK so I haven't read any of his work yet. Where do you recommend I start?
Good luck with your fiction, and with walking in and around your new home.
And thanks again for your comment. It's great to have these 'conversations' about place, and writing about place.
Absolutely. The rhythm of walking benefits my mental health so much, I would struggle to be me without it! It frees up my brain to think. Cycling can work too.
Thank you for this, Yasmin. I can't walk as much now as I did (around our 30 acres of Texas Hill Country) but I do as much as I can, every day, to offset the time I spend in my head and onscreen (like Jill). A "place" book to add to your list: Already Home: A Topography of Spirit and Place, by Barbara Gates (2003), based on many walking meditations around Berkeley CA.
Hi Susan, lovely to hear from you. The availability of thirty acres of hill country sounds idyllic, but frustrating if you cannot get out for one reason or another. The weather is a big factor for me - I prefer to go out when it's not freezing or boiling hot, although rain doesn't bother me. Thanks for the book suggestion.
I have found walking is part of my writing process. It forces me to notice, to observe, to pay attention to what is outside of me and all around me. It certainly helps clear my head; walking is a bit like flossing my memory.
I have a dog so I walk at least five times a day for fifteen to twenty minutes. If I need to run errands in the car, Daisy dog comes along and we stop at one of the 27 city parks here in Appleton WI. Walking grounds me as I live in my head (and behind a screen) too many hours of the day.
Before I do anything else besides pee in the morning, it is to get outside for a walking meditation with the dog. Get fresh air in my nose, feel the ground under my feet, and focus on where I am.
Yasmin, I was thinking about land art and other forms of visual art as being about place too…. There’s a book I have in mind but can’t remember the name of it, I have it somewhere. Also, I love Thomas A. Clark’s poetry about place (online at the Scottish Poetry Lubrary,) Ian Hamilton Finlay et al. Oh, and Hamish Fulton’s piece: Rock Fall Echo Dust. Wow. X
We can respond to place in many creative ways. Land art is wonderful because it can be made in miniature as well as large scale.
I write about walking (and walk about writing) for a living, including hiking guidebooks. I also write about "walking writing" on the UKhillwalking website... Among the great walking writers I'd count John Muir, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Nan Shepherd. Also Poet Lauriate Simon Armitage 'Walking Home'. Robert Louis Stevenson 'Travels with a Donkey'. It's on record that both Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote while walking: Wordsworth strolling on a smooth lawn, but Coleridge while struggling up the wooded coombs of the Quantocks.
There are some familiar names here, Ronald, and one I need to investigate... I don't know much about Fermor so I'll look this one up. Thanks so much for your comment, and I hope to read some of your writing very soon.
Greetings from the Land at the Edge of the Sky, Yasmin~
My rambles around our multi-generational family farm informed the blog that I ran on WordPress for several years. However, we recently moved into a small town so my walking habits have had to change. And, I’ve launched a different “blog” on Substack.
As a geologist retired from academia, I recall discussions about “place-based” learning. But your posts about “place writing” have been eye-opening and helpful…although I must admit that I haven’t surfed through all of them yet!
In particular, your Maps as Prompts resonated with me because Deep Maps (modeled on Prairie Eryth by William Least-Heat Moon) were central to my initial post: https://georgeshurr.substack.com/p/land-at-the-edge-of-the-sky
But I also liked your comment about “place as a character” in writing fiction. That’s one of the main things that I’ve worked at and have had some reinforcement from professional writers who did developmental edits on a couple of my manuscripts. I’m thinking about releasing one of them as a serial here on Substack.
Thanks~
George Shurr
Hi George.
Thank you for your comment and welcome to Place Writing!
I enjoyed blogging when I had a Wordpress site, and before that I think it was Blogger. Doing the research for the blogs and writing them up made me realise just how much I liked both activities and so I made it my career by first doing a Masters degree in Creative Writing and then the PhD that I'm about to finish in the next few weeks. I'm not really a fiction writer - my creative writing is non-fiction and as you see, I've found a niche in Place Writing.
I'm looking forward to finding more time next year for reading and Heat Moon is on the list. I've seen some interviews - he seems like an incredibly interesting person. He's not so well known here in the UK so I haven't read any of his work yet. Where do you recommend I start?
Good luck with your fiction, and with walking in and around your new home.
And thanks again for your comment. It's great to have these 'conversations' about place, and writing about place.
Rebecca Solnit's Wanderlust is my favourite book about walking and Hesse's short stories, Wandering.
Thank you, Carol. These books are excellent suggestions for further reading. I hope you are managing to get out and about?
Absolutely. The rhythm of walking benefits my mental health so much, I would struggle to be me without it! It frees up my brain to think. Cycling can work too.
Thank you for this, Yasmin. I can't walk as much now as I did (around our 30 acres of Texas Hill Country) but I do as much as I can, every day, to offset the time I spend in my head and onscreen (like Jill). A "place" book to add to your list: Already Home: A Topography of Spirit and Place, by Barbara Gates (2003), based on many walking meditations around Berkeley CA.
Hi Susan, lovely to hear from you. The availability of thirty acres of hill country sounds idyllic, but frustrating if you cannot get out for one reason or another. The weather is a big factor for me - I prefer to go out when it's not freezing or boiling hot, although rain doesn't bother me. Thanks for the book suggestion.
I have found walking is part of my writing process. It forces me to notice, to observe, to pay attention to what is outside of me and all around me. It certainly helps clear my head; walking is a bit like flossing my memory.
I like the idea of walking flossing the memory. Thanks for commenting, Jill. How often do you walk?
I have a dog so I walk at least five times a day for fifteen to twenty minutes. If I need to run errands in the car, Daisy dog comes along and we stop at one of the 27 city parks here in Appleton WI. Walking grounds me as I live in my head (and behind a screen) too many hours of the day.
How wonderful. I know what you mean about living in your head. And I don't have a dog so I have to be more proactive about getting outside.
Before I do anything else besides pee in the morning, it is to get outside for a walking meditation with the dog. Get fresh air in my nose, feel the ground under my feet, and focus on where I am.
Thank you for your re-stack! Have a fabulous day with, hopefully, lots of walking!