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| Prince Willam Sound Alaska on an icy filled fjord |
Something so profound speaks to me like the droplets of rain on the window of a boat looking out over an ice-filled ocean. The clouds shroud the land in obscurity--so much so one could get lost in it.
I was fortunate to take the journey. I was even more fortunate to get lost in the moment--to take in the landscape and embrace it like a long lost lover. It was a summer where I was hired to be aboard glacier tour boats for no other reason than to interpret the landscape as an interpretive ranger for the U.S. Forest Service. And from these experiences, I've begun drafting a book entitled Reflections in the Ice. The book has 20 chapters and is reaching 50,000 words, which was my goal. I'm now mostly in the editing process and have already begun looking for literary agents and potential publishers.
The book is about change. Primarily about a changing climate where the eulogy is the witness of retreating glaciers in a rugged landscape. It's also a connection to both Alaska and something deep inside of me that had been pushed down, squelched into submission only to finally erupt and blossom with the world around me. A personal journey into the world of glaciers, snow capped mountains, close encounters with bears both black and brown. Living on the banks of the Pacific Ocean where Alaskan ferry boats, cruise ships and float planes pass by on lazy summer days. A place where the cracking and calving of glaciers marks the dramatic element of nature changing nature in a world few people will ever see.
Full of color imagery, personal journeys, quiet reflections and abundant wildlife, Reflections in the Ice is a book one could get lost in...like the droplets of rain on the window of a boat looking out over an ice-filled ocean.
Update #3: I have now reached 50,000 words and am going through my 2nd wave of edits. I've had one publisher approach me for a contract, but it was a bad one in which I declined. I believe in this project! I'm not selling myself short.
I'm also adding a new layer of metaphor to the work that falls in line with H. D. Thoreau and his ability of parables and metaphors. It's a way to handle the more sensitive issues of my past, but also gives me a tool for understanding regarding nature and preservation.
I hope to have the book completed in the next few months. I will keep you posted.
