I’m not here to try and fill the world with my words. My journey with writing, so far, as been a personal one. I feel I have stories to tell and I enjoy trying to capture the essence of those stories on paper. The act of trying to get my thoughts down on a sheet of paper, to read the distillation of so many wonderings, is soothing. If the words come out right, I experience true satisfaction. For me, the search for those perfect words, those words that are my character and spirit in print, is one of my greatest adventures.
My Early Writing Path
I traveled extensively for work from 2003 to 2013: Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, South America, India, China, Australia. I conducted field work for a mapping company and spent many hours in the field, driving around city centers and the countryside, alike. During those hours, I observed. I watched the countryside go by. I watched my drivers and co-workers interact with each other. I watched all these different countries go about their business. I have always been an observer and a reader. One, plus the other, equals a budding writer.
I read Paul Theroux, Graham Greene, Joseph Conrad, William Least Heat-Moon, Bill Bryson, Stephen King. These were authors who had a strong sense of place. The descriptions of their settings were palpable. I wanted to be able to describe the places I was seeing like they were able to do. I started by trying to write stories set in some of the places I was seeing. My early efforts still sit in a box. Sadly, my writing efforts gathered dust for some years after those early efforts.
A Deepening Sense of Place
From 2009 to the present, I’ve been traveling in the wilderness of the American West. My spirit soars out there among the high country of Colorado, or the canyon country of Utah. My bike takes me places now and my reading has turned to Edward Abbey, HDT, Henry Beston, Annie Dillard, Alastair Humphreys and John McPhee, to name a few. Authors also suitably skilled at writing about place, yet in a more spiritual, metaphysical way. They intertwine the inner struggles we have with an ability to make places come alive. The landscapes become characters.
I want to capture these places that mean so much to me. That is a task easier said than done, however. Next to the rugged nature of these remote and hidden places there is a subtle grace and beauty that is difficult to put to words. Henry Beston’s Outermost House captures the essence of Cape Cod in a way that very few books about a place manage to do. How does he do it, exactly? Well, that is the beauty of the book. It’s not apparent that he is even trying. His spirit is so moved by the place that the words just seem to come.
My hope is to be able to capture the essence of the places I’ve been, alongside the struggles I have during my trips, or just during the course of my life. Perhaps, someone will find something to relate to, something that confirms their own feelings or something that resonates. I want to bring alive these adventures I’ve been so lucky to have. And, if these stories become nothing more than documentation for posterity’s sake, then so be it.
– Nick Woodland, Fort Collins, January 9, 2025