The Nature Essay
I’ve been lost for a while now.
Fiction writing and editing for years had been my dream, my avocation. But I made little progress on my stories. I fumbled around with world-building for too long. I tried to create perfect characters. But I could never get past the first chapter. My brain wouldn’t let me.
So I took a break from creative writing.
And when I did I realized that I’d cloistered myself in my apartment. I barely spent time with my girlfriend. I drank a lot more than I’d used to. And my health was going to shit.
It was time for a change.
But when you have an addictive personality like me you need a replacement, something to fill the hole, or you’ll relapse, and I didn’t want to relapse.
So I needed to branch out, try something new, actually more like something forgotten.
I went to college in central Wisconsin. A beautiful land of pine and oak, dotted with lakes. There I’d gotten into the habit of hiking. My roommate was a forestry major, so we were always going out on adventures off the beaten path.
Something about hiking clicked with me back then. The solitude of the woods, maybe, but it’s not really solitude.
If you look in any direction, you’re bound to see life: a squirrel waving his tail or a deer standing motionless, trying its hardest to blend in.
I want to get back to that harmony I felt in the woods. I think hiking will be my salvation.
But I still feel the need to write. Not fiction. Part of my problem was I had trouble creating ex nihilo. For the life of me I couldn’t come up with characters out of thin air.
Now I’ll try non-fiction, in the form of a Nature Essay. These nature essays will be based off my hikes. But, having a Philosophy degree, I can’t help but throw in maxims and aphorisms I learned along the way.
If you have anything particular you want me to write about, or any trails in central Florida you want me to hike, please feel free to message me.
