A JOURNAL FOR THE JOURNEY

My book, Trail Thoughts, is composed of 365 original short essays written between 2003 and 2006. Writing the book was no easy task, at least not at first. In 2003, I produced an essay every day, and even though I became a better writer as the year wore on, the overall effort fell well short of the mark. In fact, when I reviewed the previous year’s work in early 2004, I was appalled to find that what once seemed like profundity now was sadly trite and trivial when viewed through the lens of receding time.

The only solution was to buckle down to the hard work of revisions and rewrites. Even then, the job was not finished. I hired an editor who helped me reach to higher levels of expression. I asked a friend to help with further changes, and all the while, I kept on working on the text itself, always believing that I could find a better word or a more compelling sentence.

Recently, I heard an author quote another writer who had said that you never really finish a book; you just have to abandon it. I am near the stage where I am more than happy to “abandon” Trail Thoughts, even though I consider it an intimate friend who has spent some wonderful times with me. But like a grown child, my book needs to leave me now to go out into the world to build new relationships of its own. In the meantime, I am contemplating a new project that I have tentatively called the Trail Thoughts Journal which will be designed explicitly for the hiking community.

Many hikers keep journals. At the end of a long day they jot down thoughts or reflections to summarize some of the adventures experienced during their daily walk in the woods. With my new book, I want to include a biblical verse for every journal page and perhaps an occasional reflection of my own. I am hoping that the verse will prompt more than a recitation of the day’s events. I am also hoping that the journal will be only a first step in creating truly memorable pieces of writing developed from the raw material written down while on the journey. Most importantly, I hope to design the new book to be light and easy to pack. Hikers are very conscious of carrying too much weight; this little book needs to be viewed as an essential to the trip; otherwise, it will not be serve its purpose of encouraging truly reflective and original writing that expresses the true nature of the journey itself.