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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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
Rebecca Solnit's Wanderlust is my favourite book about walking and Hesse's short stories, Wandering.
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.
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.
Thank you for your re-stack! Have a fabulous day with, hopefully, lots of walking!