Ruminating on the Parks

Tom and Denise having a jolly time at Zion, October 2011


I am finally able to return to my writing and I'm finishing up a project I've been working on for three years - my National Park project.

This is a collection of short essays and poetry about the nine Western National Parks we've visited over the last 20 years: Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Glacier, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons; and two reservations: Monument Valley (Navajo) and Browning, Montana (Blackfeet).

I only have six more pieces to finish and a little bit of revision to do, which I hope to have done by the first of June. Then I'm going to turn it over to an editor and forget about it for the summer.

In the fall I'll do another revision based on anything the editor finds, then try to find the project a home. This will be the first time I've seriously tried to send a finished manuscript out to find a publisher.

The whole project may be entirely too personal to have a wider audience, and if I can't place it with a publisher, I'll self-publish a limited edition. Either way, it will be exciting to finish up a project I've been working on for a long time and send it on its way!