Andrew Terrill's Blog, page 8

On Foot Every Day

 

 

FOR ME, GETTING out on foot into nature is a priority. I’m certain that I could manage just fine if I didn’t have frequent contact with wild places, but I’m profoundly glad that I don’t have to test this theory to find out if it’s true!

I’ve made it a priority because nature grounds me. It provides balance, perspective, and inspiration. It keeps me moving forward. I swear it keeps me young. A day without the earth beneath my feet is a day only half lived.

By choice (and good fortune) I live...

On Sacred Ground – a progress report

High in the Trollheimen Range, Norway, July 11, 1998.

MY SECOND BOOK – On Sacred Ground – is coming along well. In fact, it’s almost done. The manuscript is fully written, and, aside from a few extra passages, it has been professionally edited.

Alex Roddie, my editor, returned the manuscript to me shortly before Christmas. Since then, I’ve been working through his edits obsessively. His response to the book has been greatly encouraging. Here’s what he posted on Instagram while he was working on ...

A Welcome Snow

WINTER HAS FINALLY arrived in Colorado’s Front Range. And not before time. In truth, a day earlier would have been better.

You may have seen the news: the wind-fueled wild fires on December 30th that torched over 1,000 homes and businesses south of Boulder. I saw the smoke from my home twelve miles to the south, never guessing how bad things were. The winds were ferocious – powerful gusts that blew bins and branches down the street and tore a neighbour’s magnificent and much-loved blue spruce i...

The Earth Beneath My Feet – Prologue

PROLOGUE: AN ALPINE BOUNCE

The Bernese Oberland, Switzerland

 

ON THE SECOND day of June, 1993, I fell down a mountain. It was a spectacularly unpleasant thing to do. As an experience it isn’t something I’d recommend, but for the way it changed my approach to life I remain eternally grateful.

The accident took place in the Bernese Oberland, a mountain range on the northern edge of the Swiss Alps. Rearing 10,000 feet from gentler ​country, the range forms a startling wall of snow, rock and ice....

The Earth Beneath My Feet – in colour

A FAIR NUMBER of people have now asked me: “Why isn’t The Earth Beneath My Feet in colour?”

It’s a reasonable question, and one I completely understand. I’ve only ever read genuine curiosity in it – never criticism.

I usually answer by saying: “I wish it was!” After all, the wild Europe I walked across is a vibrantly colourful place – why shouldn’t I show it in its full glory?

The trouble is, printing a full-colour 378-page book is a costly exercise – especially for a small, independent publishe...

Going slow on The High Lonesome Loop

OVER THE LAST month and a half I’ve been lost in the wild – well, lost in writing about the wild! I’ve been deeply engaged in an epic reworking of On Sacred Ground, taking all the feedback I’ve received from my incredible beta readers and fully developing and articulating all the book’s themes. I’ve been obsessed, to be honest, neglecting most of my other work – including this blog. But I’m excited by the result. On Sacred Ground is now with my editor, Alex Roddie, and moving ever closer to comp...

Book Review: The Farthest Shore

A book that goes one step farther – a rare book of honesty and insight. 

The Farthest Shore by Alex Roddie is a rare book. It is rare for several reasons, partly for the journey it describes – a challenging adventure attempted at a challenging time of year – but mostly for its honesty, its authenticity and its insights. It is these three aspects that truly set it apart.

On the surface, The Farthest Shore is a travel narrative that describes a 300-mile walk along Northwest Scotland’s vaguely-def...

The Importance of Beta Readers

 

BACK IN JUNE, I forwarded the manuscript of my second book, On Sacred Ground, to six trusted friends. Their task was to read it and provide honest critical feedback, with a focus on picking up sections that were slow, redundant, or simply didn’t make sense. I asked them to comment without holding back, to not worry about hurting my feelings. I said that they wouldn’t – that the more critical they were the more helpful it would be.

Readers who perform this task are known as beta readers, a ter...

Summer

I FELT AS THOUGH I was in my early twenties again as I charged along the trail, expanding my lungs and my horizons, feeling excited by each twist and turn, by everything that lay ahead: the night in camp, the quietness, the simplicity and adventure, and by the season – most of all by the season – the ease of it, the warmth, and the sheer invigorating aliveness of it.

Goodness, but I love summer!

I love waist-high grass, thick and lush, interwoven with wildflowers. I love warm air on bare skin, a...

Early Praise for ‘The Earth Beneath My Feet’

The Earth Beneath My Feet hasn’t been out for long, but it has received some great early reviews. If you are still on the fence, uncertain whether or not the book is worth your time, please see the reviews and endorsements below. And if you have read the book already – please DO let me know what you think of it!

 

The summit of the Apennines – Corno Grande in the Gran Sasso d’Italia, July 21, 1997.

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“There’s a classic of outdoor literature in the making here… If this and its not-yet-published...