IT’S TIME FOR an update…
As I may have mentioned a few months ago, I’m working on another book. It’s one of the reasons why my posts on here have been few and far between in recent months. I’ve been focused. I’ve been trying to stay on task.
It probably won’t be a surprise when I reveal that the new book will be another hiking memoir about another long mountain journey. But there’ll be a difference. This time, instead of writing about a traditional through-hike, a journey of forever moving on, I’m writing about travelling in one spot, about spending one year getting to know one wild location here in Colorado as well as I can. The journey’s aim was to return to this one place again and again, from January to December, approaching it from all sides, in all weathers, in all seasons. I wanted to go deep. I wanted to see what doing that might lead to.
This journey ended up leading to more than I could ever have imagined. So far, the writing journey has been doing the same. As of the time of posting, I’ve successfully reached halfway in the writing journey… although I have run into a major challenge: I’ve used up three-quarters of the word count I’ve given myself for the entire book. At this rate the new book will be huge! Heavy editing lies ahead. I’m going to have to cut a great deal.
But I see this as a good problem to have. There’s so much to tell. There are so many experiences and insights to share. I’d rather have too much to write about than too little!
It might be a while before my next blog post – I really do intend to stay on task! In the meantime, here are a few ‘photo updates’ from recent walks and camps. As always, I’m going to be vague with locations. Too many wild places are being trampled by over-visitation. I don’t want to play any part in that. I hope that anyone reading this will go to the wild… but will go with the greatest of care.
