I had a lovely conversation with Holly Gutwillinger about our shared love of Nature, writing, & creative expression. You can find it here: open.substack.com/pub/hollybri...

Singing While You Work: How Wild Things Feed a Writer’s Soul

Episode Summary

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Epic… …Nahoko Uehashi’s 2022 “Kokun – The Girl from the West” (translated by Cathy Hirano) is an unexpected union of Japanese fiction and ecology. A powerful re-imagining of Japan’s past reworked against a fantastical backdrop, it nonetheless feels eerily familiar – a powerful dynastic (1 of 5)

...Grace spends a lot of time wandering in the forest... maybe we all should... An excerpt from "A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace", written by me :) #fiction #fairytale #cozyfantasy #ya #nature #environment

Leonora Carrington was primarily known for her surrealist paintings. Naturally, her writing embodies a similar feel & flair. Her novella, “The Stone Door” (written during the 1940’s but unpublished until 1976) reads like a hallucinatory dream -- knotted with meaning specific to the (1 of 3)

Juelz the Horse has a small part in my novel, "A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace", but her wisdom is welcome ;) (I took the photo of "Rattlesnake Meadow" in Tourne County Park.) #fairytale #cozyfantasy #ya #animals #nature #VoicesOfTheBrightWood

Nancy Mitford wrote her 1949 novel, “Love in a Cold Climate”, with a cool, appraising eye turned on 1930’s England’s ‘between wars’ societally privileged. We gain access to the Montdore family’s extravagance & narrow attitudes through Fanny who – despite her lack of status – (1 of 4)

In his 2015 #memoir “The Penguin Lessons”, Tom Michell recalls his time at 23 years old, travelling & teaching in South America in 1975. Though most of the book takes place in Argentina during enormous political & economic upheaval, it was while visiting Uruguay that he encountered (1 of 4)

I'm so grateful to James Walters for the opportunity to converse with him on his amazing podcast, "A Quiet Rebellion" -- his calm, his insight, his intuitive questions made for a warm, welcoming experience -- give a listen! www.ajoyfulrebellion.com/e/a-quiet-re... #creativity #writing #novel

No matter how well read we are, there remain books that slip past us unnoticed. Despite reading all the 'little girl' & 'animal' books in my grammar school library, Betty Brock’s 1970 “No Flying in the House” is a fine example. A sweet tale of young Annabel Tippens (accompanied by her (1 of 4)

"Notes" Song sparrows scrawling notes on January snow, trilling for spring's thaw. -- C.Birde, 1/26 #poetry #creativewriting #birds #snow

Fabulist… … sensualist, sorceress of prose. Tanith Lee coaxes order from chaos & weaves not only worlds, but whole mythologies out of word & image & sheer, brilliant imagining. Her 1978 “Night’s Master – Tales from the Flat Earth: Book One” is a collection of short stories, connected (1 of 4)

I'm still tiptoeing my way back to drawing, still chasing the relationships of line, this time, with a little fox mischief. These small works are a balance between creative need & physical restraints, which don't rouse much complaint from my hand's/arm's delicate tendons & ligaments. #sketch #fox

Born in 1900 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Sandor Marai gained literary fame there in the 1930s. Though he survived WWII, Communist persecution that followed forced him to flee Hungary in 1948. His novel, “Embers” (written in 1941 and translated into English in 2001) is a taut meditation (1 of 3)

"Receding" That white-laced edge where snow recedes from sallow grasses -- White-throated Sparrows. -- C.Birde, 1/26 (The temps reach unlikely Jan. warmth, & I distract myself from anxiety by watching the birds' activities...) #poetry #birds #compassion #create

...I injured my arm (permanently) some years ago & am trying to find my way back into drawing. To limit anxiety, I sketch on scrap paper w/a mechanical pencil to de-emphasize outcome. Here, I followed a correspondence of line, how they meet & overlap to form the idea of "deer". #sketch #create

Yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released the latest round of sage grouse plans. Urge Congress to restore ESA protections for the Greater Sage-Grouse, maintain critical conservation funding & uphold a strong Endangered Species Act. Act now: act.abcbirds.org/a/take-actio...

Sarah Arthur confesses admiration for C.S.Lewis & J.R.R.Tolkien, & her affection shines through the pages of her 2024 novel “Once a Queen”. Arthur has not only written a spell-binding story in which her young heroine, Eva, (1 of 3)

Last Sunday, I read an excerpt of my book, "A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace," to an intimate gathering at The Sanctuary -- it was a warm & engaging evening of q&a and conversation. I'm grateful to those who braved the frigid night to join in! #debut #author #fairytale #cozyfantasy #ya #fiction

Enchanting… When Robert MacFarlane learned the Oxford University Press had dropped scores of nature-themed words from its pages & replaced them with those more technologically themed, he did what we hope any motivated creative might (1 of 3)

Poetical... When L.M.Montgomery began “Anne of Green Gables” in 1907, she later reflected that she “did not for a moment dream” the book would bring the fame & success she had dreamed of, & that this freedom from “writing up to any particular reputation or style” allowed the opening (1 of 3)

Shirley Jackson enjoyed placing extreme personalities in extreme situations. Her 1958 #novella, “The Sundial”, uncomfortably settles three generations of the wealthy Halloran family – all at odds with one another – in a palatial home. Opening with a death (that may have been a (1 of 3)

As I #write, I make small #thumbnail #sketches to remind myself where I've placed objects. An example below, for my newly published #fairytale "A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace" - Grace's home, with garden arch & brick path, clothesline & henhouse, even the distant bee skep. #fiction #ya #cozyfantasy

zen begins a new podcast live from the basin #Caturday 😸😽

Chilling… Stephen King cites Henry James’ 1898 gothic horror “The Turn of the Screw” as one of two “most important” ghost stories, for good reason. James wrote the novella while experiencing great personal loss. This is reflected in the melancholic atmosphere, as well as its main character’s –

It's been a while! On Oct. 11, I had my #debut #novel's #book launch! What a wonderful, warm, welcoming experience -- I'm fortunate to have the support of exceptional friends & an amazing community. I hope "A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace" finds its way to those who will cherish it❣️

Magnificent... Chloe Dalton’s 2024 “Raising Hare” captures all the nuanced delight & heartache that accompanies forming relationship with a wild creature. She writes with a poet’s heart & a scientist’s eye, illuminating the fraught results of humanity’s unconscious actions & effects on the natural

I'm so happy to have "conversed" with the incomparable @tesscallahan.bsky.social in her Substack, "Writers at the Well" -- Tess is warm, welcoming, and asks deep, thought-provoking, soul-searching questions ❣️ Carrie Birde on Writing from the "Bright Wood" Within open.substack.com/pub/tesscall...

Carrie Birde on Discovering the "Bright Wood" Within

How a friendship with a Catbird inspired a literary fairy tale

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O thou monster Ignorance, how deformed dost thou look!

Bunny-gram! Out on delivery, stretching to reach the door bell...! #rabbit #lovenature #photography

Crepe myrtle's improbable pink frilled blooms clouding, drifting, dropping petaled confetti, heralding summer's encore. --C.Birde, 8/25 #poetry #crepemyrtle #inbloom #pink #lovenature #observation #photography