Walk in a Writer's Footsteps
"Live in each season as it passes: breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit." – Henry David Thoreau
Summer is in full tilt here and there’s been lots of beautiful weather to enjoy. I’ve been grateful to have some time to slow down and soak in the world. Lately, I’ve been relishing the gift of deep reading—not just for pleasure, but with the question: How do these writers organize their thoughts? How do they shape their ideas into something cohesive? Observing their process is helping me shape my own writing, which has, in turn, inspired me to offer a new writing series centered around John McPhee’s book, “Draft No. 4” which is a terrific book on the writing process.
Finding the Thoreau in You
This week, I return to Walden Pond to lead another session for Approaching Walden, a professional development seminar for educators who come from across the country to study Walden through different lenses—including their own experiences of being there. My session, Sense of Place and Story: Finding the Thoreau in You, invites participants to explore their own sense of place, much like Thoreau did in his time.
This year, visiting Thoreau’s cabin site feels even more meaningful because, just last month, I had the chance to visit another writer’s Walden—the lake and cabin site of writer, ecologist, and woodswoman Anne LaBastille who passed away in 2011.
Anne, who championed conservation and empowered women in the outdoors, built a second cabin on her land and named it Thoreau Two. Recently I had the privilege of experiencing her cabin site firsthand, on an overnight kayak and camping trip, led by her friend Leslie Surprenant. Leslie wove Anne’s presence into the journey most beautifully and powerfully, including bringing Anne’s favorite drink for a toast around the campfire and lighting a lantern once owned by Anne, We also took turns reading passages from her books by the fire in the moonlight. That night, surrounded by water, loons, and new friends, I felt cradled by both place and story, and my new friends.
Pilgrimage and Place
Visiting the places where writers lived and worked always feel like going on a pilgrimage to me. Standing somewhere, whether it’s Thoreau’s cabin, Aldo Leopold’s shack, or Emily Dickinson’s bedroom, where they stood, feels like a bridge between the past and present, and between their words and their surroundings.
More than anything, these visits are an invitation to slow down. To pause. To notice. To look at the world through another’s eyes for a moment. When I read their words after being in the very places that inspired them, they come to life in a visceral way.
Sense of Place Tip: Take a Place Pilgrimage
Try this: Design a visit to a place where a writer lived or spent time. You could seek out anywhere that has inspired them—whether it’s their home, a trail they loved to walk or a town they liked to roam. Make it a pilgrimage. Go and absorb the landscape, the light, the sounds, the small details and consider how these may have shaped their words. Give your mind the space to pause, reflect, wander, step back in time and walk in their footsteps for a while.
Your Turn: Do you have a memory of a time you visited a writer’s home that has stayed with you? Is there a place you want to go? Write and tell me your plan or share a past experience. I’d love to know!
Pro tip: Do you work as a guide giving people tours of historic homes? Consider one reason a visitor may be there is for a personal pilgrimage. They may be coming to soak up the feeling of being there or wanting to drift off into their imagination for a while. While often the only way to see a house is for them to go on a guided tour, think about planning a few moments during the tour, where you’re intentionally not speaking, but inviting them to slow down, reflect, use their imagination and tap into the power of place.
Favorite Thing Tip: Going camping this summer? Try this for the best sleep ever. For my overnight adventure, I had to update a bunch of gear. (I love you REI.) My new favorite thing is the Mondo King Thermarest. This is not your mother’s Thermarest. It’s 4 inches high and just like a dreamy bed. Perfect for car and kayak camping.
Summer Writing
As I’ve worked with writers over the years, I’ve seen a common challenge: how to weave together the fragments of thought, observation, and insight into something cohesive. That struggle has inspired me to offer a new summer writing series focused on just that—helping writers structure and shape their work in meaningful ways. Using John McPhee’s book on writing as our guide, we’ll explore how to move from scattered ideas to an organized, compelling narrative. If this interests you, check out my Creative Writing Classes for the upcoming series.