Holding the wild story in small hands

August 17, 2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

My father had watched the rabbit’s nest for days and didn’t see the mother return. Still heartbroken over the event and not realizing then that the mother was probably caring for the remaining babies early in the morning, he decided we needed to rescue them…

The power of your naming…

June 12, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

As much as I hate the “tell us your name and something about you” exercise, I planned for this time of introduction with teen writers to be a little more creative . . .

Settings: the places that shape us

November 24, 2018.Reading time 11 minutes.

All the seconds run together now, and clocks don’t seem to matter much. Maybe they never did in a place where time and work and rest were measured more by when the rooster crowed and the sun set . . . when the rain came or didn’t and the first frost threatened.

Staying resilient, slaying parasites

August 16, 2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

The man made a beeline for me.

I, and a few authors, had just finished leading a discussion about the importance of the voices of “midlife” writers.

This particular writer, who had been in the audience, almost seem dazed–eyes glassy, lips parted as if what he needed to verbalize hadn’t fully formed yet and was resting between them.

Then…

From Here to Hear

July 21, 2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

This is a rare morning of solitude. Sitting in the gray light, I feel the damp air sift through the screen door behind me as the smell of rain lays itself across the skin of my bare neck and right shoulder.

I’m listening.

Two stories and one picture from the other side

July 8, 2018.Reading time 7 minutes.

by Amanda Cleary Eastep We stepped up to our ankles in the cold water, careful to keep our footing on the gray and brown mosaic of smooth stones beneath our pale feet. This simple act was a pinnacle moment–leaving our shoes on the gritty sand of the “bonny, bonny bank” and walking together into Loch […]

Travels with a Plantser

May 28, 2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep I dragged the line on the Google map from the A1 highway to a road along the coast of the UK that looked like a long piece of birthday crepe paper that had been crumpled up and (uselessly) stretched out again. According to Google calculations, taking that squiggly route instead of […]

Keep Pedaling: the slow and steady climb to writer

May 8, 2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

I struggle with the “that’s it” part. I want to race myself and win. I want to master the incline like I have the writer thighs of Ernest Hemingway.

Saying Yes and Staying Humble: A Lesson from the Festival of Faith and Writing

April 21, 2018.Reading time 7 minutes.

I felt shook up. A little like I imagined author Kwame Alexander felt after the car accident that rolled him and his family over and over on the road one day, sending boxes of his father’s beloved books for the city book fair strewn across the road like litter…

Childhood Dreams, Second Callings

January 28, 2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep This is a dream come true moment. I remember crawling up there and asking my traveling companion to capture my “I’ll never forget this place, this lake, this rock” moment. Well, I’ve forgotten. I mean, I know I was in Scotland, but exactly where, I don’t recall now. But that’s OK, […]