Overview

"For the past few years I have divided my writing year into eight segments, pausing at the start of each season to examine my goals for living and writing. For each holiday, I wrote a meditation, an essay linking common writing predicaments or challenges with the natural world or the chores of my daily life and published it on the Home Page of my website, www.windbreakhouse.com. Readers as well as writers who have come to my retreat house or worked with me online have urged me to compile them into a book that would be a useful guide for all writers who want to create a writing schedule that allows them to approach their work regularly and seriously. The book is structured with sixteen essays, one for each of the eight seasons through two years. You may choose to take two years to read it, from the beginning of one year through to the end of the second, finding writing suggestions for each of the sixteen seasons represented. Each meditative essay in the book is followed by writing suggestions aimed toward guiding writers to topics that will challenge them and encourage them to achieve their writing goals. Each essay links some aspect of writing with the season that is changing the natural or mundane world in which all writers live. Nature is easy to find, even if you live in a city. Look up; common birds like sparrows and robins are to be found nearly everywhere in the U.S. and even peregrine falcons are nesting in the densest urban jungles. I've seen trees growing on the balconies of high-rise apartment buildings and found rich earth clinging to the roots of vegetables in farmers' markets in places so crowded I had to wiggle to get through the hordes of shoppers. You may, of course, choose to dip into each season at your own speed. The writing suggestions provided might furnish you with material for many more than sixteen seasons of writing, so you may return whenever the flame of your inspiration burns low. This revised edition of the book includes editorial corrections, a new ""About This Book"" section, and new photographs and illustrations."

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9780917624100

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"Linda M. Hasselstrom is an award-winning poet and writer of the High Plains whose work is rooted in the arid landscape of her southwestern South Dakota ranch; she holds degrees from the University of South Dakota and University of Missouri. Author of seventeen books of nonfiction and poetry, she has conducted hundreds of readings, workshops, talks and lectures about writing and publishing for audiences ranging from elementary students to senior citizens. She is the resident writer and instructor at Windbreak House, established as a retreat in 1996. The eldest son of a South Dakota historian, photographer James Parker has always been fascinated by the architectural detritus and geologic history of the West. As an artist, he's interested in the effects of the passage of time on a human scale. His recent work, ""Stories Told in Things Left Behind,"" focuses on interior spaces and rural landscapes. Parker also writes for his own blog, ""Life As Itinerant Artist"", and helps others develop their own voice. Telling stories is one of his favorite things in life. A former life as an art director lends him street cred as a designer, too."

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