Thoughts about writing, and the universe.
Writing can be isolating. As a story forms itself and finds its way onto the page, as we craft, dismantle, and reassemble it in final form, the work is solitary. At its best, this solitude is glorious--writing is where we can be perfectly alone and let the mind go where it will, where any thoughts... Continue Reading →
In the five years I've lived now here on the west coast of Norway, my inner relationship to this place has changed and grown. When I came, it was a feeling of complete awe that flooded me, as if this were a fairytale place. The natural beauty proclaims itself here. Dramatic shapes of the land,... Continue Reading →
I'm writing this short post on Thursday night. When it comes Sunday, I'll be away with students skiing. Down here near the fjord, winter cannot hold. It snows and rains, hail and slush and sleet. We will retreat into the mountains where it's cold and clear, the snow so deep, if memories of the last... Continue Reading →
After a glitteringly beautiful August, the rainy days have come. Bands of mist hang against the sides of the mountains, and the colors have muted themselves, clamped closer together in the wet. Sometimes I feel confused about rain. There is of course beauty in rainy days. Particular things, like the water clinging to grass blades,... Continue Reading →
For years, we have been planning a dinner with colleagues. The idea first arose two or three years ago--my husband and I are hobby cheesemakers, and two of our colleague-friends come from India and make delicious food. When we mentioned once that we had made paneer over the weekend, our colleague hatched the plan: you... Continue Reading →
It was two and a half years ago that I made my first ever Words Like Trees post, written here in Billings at Christmastime. A three hour drive to Bergen, followed by eighteen hours of airport-hopping, and we reached Billings this time in its brilliant summer heat. Because of the pandemic, we haven't come here... Continue Reading →
I thought the last few weeks, with IB exams finished, wrapping up loose ends of the year, I thought the last weeks would be calm and quiet. I thought I would have time for myself, for writing and thinking, exercise and sitting doing nothing. There certainly were a few calm days, but things have reared... Continue Reading →
Last weekend, my husband and I took a short hike up the first slope of the mountain next to campus, to where a lookout point shows campus like a toy village, to where the valley as a whole structure becomes visible, and the lip of distant mountains, not visible from the valley floor, peaks over... Continue Reading →
We have catapulted into spring this week, with warmth and sun bounding forth. The trees, which have been holding their thousand green fists tight for weeks against the cold, they now are opening their fingers. The waterfalls have been reduced to trickles. The students are abuzz with life (exams are nearly finished; last night was... Continue Reading →
I'm forever more a planner when I write. Perhaps not down to the minute detail, and certainly my plans change as I go along, but I like to have a basic outline of plot events and thematic points that I expect the story to take up. I make long documents for planning, pages and paragraphs... Continue Reading →
Words like trees 