I loved watching the Octopus teacher, a beautiful story and there is much life and writing wisdom there too.
Thank you for this wonderful Substack. I like your focus on curiosity and the shock of new and different activities / experiences, then quick ways to record thoughts and things you have noticed. I am a new writer but I am getting better at listening to the world around me, collecting snippets of conversation, images of the sky, interactions btw the natural and human, things that spark my curiosity. The tricky part is finding ways to thread these things together.
What’s sparking my curiosity — the morning sky, I made a commitment to wake before sunrise and run with friend. So much joy while the world is waking up.
Also cold water swimming and saunas - we are building a sauna and I have just started going down to the beach for a dip when I can. Though I’m not quite up to free diving in freezing water just yet!!
Figuring out how out to thread these things together IS the tricky part. I agree with you 100%. So helpful to look into narrative arcs and story structure to begin to gain insight into that. Feeling the "click" of when a story snaps into shape simply takes time and trial and error. When I wrote Tree Dreams, I wrote it first in 3rd person, then rotating 1st person, then 1st person. That's when I finally understood whose story it was--and that's for fiction. With memoir, getting a feel for the before, during, and after of transformation lies at the heart of it.
I love your commitment to wake before sunrise. I have never been a morning person, so that is an incredible accomplishment. And cold water dips and saunas have both been a great source of "leaving the known world" for me. Something about the radical shift in temperate opens up the aperture and all kinds of insight streams in. Love it!
Fabulous list. It took me several published novels before i could identify the recurring themes in my stories. Funny how thta can be .. it's so much part of who we are we can't see it!
I'm always amazed by how much we can be unaware of ourselves! It can be really uncomfortable to discover. And I weirdly also love the discovery, too. I've been a meditator for decades and one of the gifts of meditation for me is seeing your own patterns more and more clearly. An ever-evolving journey to be sure. Thanks for stopping by to say hi!
So many gems - I related hard because of diving btw, been meaning to write about my diving adventures but haven’t come around to it. It’s time, I reckon 🌊
Thank you, Ishita! And it's definitely time! It must be such a wonder to be able to immerse yourself in what's effectively another world that so few of us know anything about. I've spent more time in the forest and amongst trees myself, so I'd love to read about your experience!
I recently wrote about being a tree. That felt really good! I have been trying to explore themes in nature that I can then use in growth / performance as a coach.
I’m a permaculturist as well and spend a lot of time in forests and farms.
So lovely meeting you, Kristin. :)
I’m from India and if you’re ever visiting, please hit me up. ✨
Oh I will Ishita! I haven't been to India, but I would love to go. When I was doing all of my forest research for Tree Dreams I met an academic from India who taught me so much about forests. The one thing I was just in awe of was that some are deemed Sacred Forests and let untouched. We have no such notion here in the states. Ever since I heard that it has made me want to go and walk through one. Onedya! And if I do I'll reach out ;)
I loved watching the Octopus teacher, a beautiful story and there is much life and writing wisdom there too.
Thank you for this wonderful Substack. I like your focus on curiosity and the shock of new and different activities / experiences, then quick ways to record thoughts and things you have noticed. I am a new writer but I am getting better at listening to the world around me, collecting snippets of conversation, images of the sky, interactions btw the natural and human, things that spark my curiosity. The tricky part is finding ways to thread these things together.
What’s sparking my curiosity — the morning sky, I made a commitment to wake before sunrise and run with friend. So much joy while the world is waking up.
Also cold water swimming and saunas - we are building a sauna and I have just started going down to the beach for a dip when I can. Though I’m not quite up to free diving in freezing water just yet!!
Figuring out how out to thread these things together IS the tricky part. I agree with you 100%. So helpful to look into narrative arcs and story structure to begin to gain insight into that. Feeling the "click" of when a story snaps into shape simply takes time and trial and error. When I wrote Tree Dreams, I wrote it first in 3rd person, then rotating 1st person, then 1st person. That's when I finally understood whose story it was--and that's for fiction. With memoir, getting a feel for the before, during, and after of transformation lies at the heart of it.
I love your commitment to wake before sunrise. I have never been a morning person, so that is an incredible accomplishment. And cold water dips and saunas have both been a great source of "leaving the known world" for me. Something about the radical shift in temperate opens up the aperture and all kinds of insight streams in. Love it!
Fabulous list. It took me several published novels before i could identify the recurring themes in my stories. Funny how thta can be .. it's so much part of who we are we can't see it!
I'm always amazed by how much we can be unaware of ourselves! It can be really uncomfortable to discover. And I weirdly also love the discovery, too. I've been a meditator for decades and one of the gifts of meditation for me is seeing your own patterns more and more clearly. An ever-evolving journey to be sure. Thanks for stopping by to say hi!
Loved reading this 🙌
So many gems - I related hard because of diving btw, been meaning to write about my diving adventures but haven’t come around to it. It’s time, I reckon 🌊
Thank you, Ishita! And it's definitely time! It must be such a wonder to be able to immerse yourself in what's effectively another world that so few of us know anything about. I've spent more time in the forest and amongst trees myself, so I'd love to read about your experience!
I recently wrote about being a tree. That felt really good! I have been trying to explore themes in nature that I can then use in growth / performance as a coach.
I’m a permaculturist as well and spend a lot of time in forests and farms.
So lovely meeting you, Kristin. :)
I’m from India and if you’re ever visiting, please hit me up. ✨
Oh I will Ishita! I haven't been to India, but I would love to go. When I was doing all of my forest research for Tree Dreams I met an academic from India who taught me so much about forests. The one thing I was just in awe of was that some are deemed Sacred Forests and let untouched. We have no such notion here in the states. Ever since I heard that it has made me want to go and walk through one. Onedya! And if I do I'll reach out ;)