Listening to Audiobooks Out Loud in the Woods
Plus: Hoarding Time! Pointy Trees! Being Here Now! And More...
In the new year, I’ve become the kind of person who listens to audiobooks out loud on my phone (like some kind of maniac) while I’m walking the dog.
That wasn’t one of my official resolutions, but every dog park in Pittsburgh has turned into a mud puddle… so I’ve been taking Chaely on these long, meandering walks in the woods by our house every day — and I don’t want to have earphones in because there’s a lot of deer and other wildlife and we’re pretty much alone out there, so I feel like I should be present and attentive.
For some reason Ram Dass and Be Here Now keeps popping up wherever I look — you know how that happens sometimes? — so I’m also trying to take that as a note from the universe: be here now.
But, also, sometimes I’m out there for… like, a couple of hours.
So since we’re alone in the woods, I’ve been listening to these old Sword and Sorcery audiobooks — like The Wheel of Time series — out loud. There’s a newer fantasy that I really liked, too, called Legends and Lattes (“A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes”).
And there’s something so incredibly satisfying about trudging through muddy woods in the rain and snow, listening to stories about elves and rogues and wanderers who are always — inevitably — trudging through muddy woods.
In the rain and in the snow.
I actually wrote a short story about the woods by our house for Scholastic’s Storyworks Magazine — after years of living in NYC, I can’t get enough of them… I even filmed my Storm Blown and Snow Struck read-alouds there—so if you or your school or library are subscribers, look for me in the May / June issue!
Speaking of Chaely and our walks!
For the past few years, for Christmas presents — instead of gifting less personal stuff — I’ve gone back to the drawing board (sigh) and doodled shirt designs.
And this years gift was, of course: Chaely!
I don’t really keep tabs on my TeePublic store — I just put up a drawing every few months and order myself a shirt — but it’s really sweet and a little surprising to check in every once in a while and see that there are people out there actually ordering my goose and turtle shirts!
If you do find yourself on TeePublic for some book merch, just make sure you hit it up on a 35% off sale week (it seems like that’s every other week).
Because this is apparently the Puppy Edition™ of this newsletter, I was recently at a dog park and met a dog named Arrow. My first instinct was was to start singing “Me and My Arrow,” the song about a round-headed kid and his dog named Arrow — but it turns out that maybe The Point isn’t the universal reference I thought it was…
I remember watching an old VHS of The Point a lot as a kid and I thought every one else did, too, but I’d never really looked into it until now...
And there’s not a lot of information out there!
The Wikipedia page is pretty wild, though!
“I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's [still] a point to it.'"
So I’ve been thinking about The Point a lot lately.
And about time, as I walk in the woods under the pointy trees, listening to thirty-hour fantasy novels without headphones — trying to “be here now,” with the owls and the deer... but with a little magic mixed in, to keep things interesting.
I haven’t worn a watch in years, but I recently got one so I’d stop looking at my phone to check the time. And as soon as I started wearing that one, I found myself scrolling through eBay and specialty watch sites… looking for more.
I added a Snoopy watch to my collection, first.
Then a knock-around watch for the dog park, and then a complicated solar watch that tells you the phases of the moon and the tides. I got briefly and legitimately into watches and it wasn’t until I saw them all together that it clicked.
It was like when you’re telling someone about a dream you had and then realize, halfway through, how completely transparent it is.
I’m about to be on deadline to write some more books (more on that later!) so I’m planning on buckling down for the rest of the winter and meeting a bunch of weekly word count goals. It’s my own version of a quest, I guess — every book is a quest when you’re writing it! — and I didn’t know how much those deadlines were swirling around in my head until I saw the little watch display in my closet and realized:
I was literally trying to hoard time!
So with that in mind, I’m wishing you lots and lots of time — and long walks in the woods, and epic quests without headphones — in the new year!
Thank you (thank you!) to everyone who’s reached out to schedule school visits, and to everyone who’s read, featured, recommended, or reviewed Snow Struck. I wouldn’t be on this quest without you!
Your friend,
For new subscribers: I haven’t linked to my free teacher resources in a while. You can download these on TPT or find more information on my website (here’s the page for Storm Blown and here’s the page for Snow Struck)!
I also have a handful of book-themed coloring pages (drawn by yours truly!) that are free and available to download and print on TPT and on my website :)