Taking a quick break from Primitivo posts (more coming this week, so stay tuned!) to share a little book of essays that I’ve just released!

The collection is called ‘A Single Step; Stories of Walking and Wandering’ and it’s available as a PDF Digital Download. 73 pages of walking and travel stories (and photos, too)! Lots of good Camino stuff, but there are also reflections on the pandemic, a glimpse into my study abroad year in Toulouse when I was 20, a road trip adventure, and more. 

 

I’d been working on these essays over the last year, and sharing one a month over on Patreon (a site where you can support my writing/travel stories). Patrons have already had access to many of these essays, and received a free digital copy of the book. But I wanted to make it available more widely as well, and I’m pleased to be able to share it with you today!

I started out just writing somewhat randomly about my travels and my long walks, but I noticed that certain themes were emerging: coming of age and growing older and growing up. Finding confidence, comfort in my own skin. Searching for a place in the world.

If you’ve been a longtime follower (or even recent follower), if you’ve enjoyed my posts and stories about my long walks, then I think you will enjoy these essays. I’ve set a suggested price of $8.00 for the book, but it was important to me to make these essays financially accessible, so there’s a ‘pay what you wish’ option, which lets you choose any price $1.00 or up. And any price is okay! The goal is for these essays to find their way to the readers who might enjoy them, and I think some of you here are part of that audience.

Writing these essays was (mostly) fun. A year ago I was heading into a school year filled with so many unknowns, so much tension and anxiety, so many challenges and I knew that it could be really easy to lose focus and to lose the discipline of a writing practice. I set a very modest goal of writing one essay a month and mostly stuck to it, and I’m happy with some of the words I put together in that time. I look through these essays and am so grateful for the traveling and adventures I’ve been able to have, and I can see how there is still so much room to continue to challenge myself, so many places to explore, more paths to walk, more growing up to do.

Here’s the link for access to the book, if this seems like something you’re interested in, I hope you’ll take a look!