Writers' Stories in Motion: Healing, Joy, and Triumph

In this book, various writers from different backgrounds share beautiful, creatively-written essays about how forms of physical activity (e.g., hiking, backpacking, road running, building a fire, practicing yoga, trail running, walking, boogie boarding, cycling, snowshoeing, swimming, mountain biking, and doing triathlons) as well as their interactions with the natural world have impacted their specific writing practices, teaching approaches, and who they are as people. In their lively pieces they explore the myriad ways in which physical activities in particular environmental contexts have directly and radically impacted their composing processes as well as their lives as writers. Drawing from techniques in creative nonfiction as well as rhetoric and writing studies, each author draws the reader into her/his adventures and experiences in illuminating ways, furthering the argument that physical activities are not disconnected from our writing. Rather, they are inextricably linked to our writing practices. And oftentimes we are in fact composing in the very act of engaging in such physical activities.

About the Author :
Laura Gray-Rosendale, President's Distinguished Teaching Fellow and Professor of English at Northern Arizona University, is the author of numerous books that bring together creative nonfiction, writing studies, and rhetoric. Her books College Girl: A Memoir and Getting Personal: Teaching Personal Writing in the Digital Age have both received IPPY Awards.

Review :
"Writers' Stories in Motion encourages us all to think both literally and metaphorically about the relationship between moving and writing, between putting one foot in front of the other and putting one word in front of the other. In thoughtful and energetic prose, each author persuades us in their own way to come to terms differently with the understanding that our best writing ideas come to us when the body is most deeply engaged."--Amy E. Robillard, Professor of Rhetoric and Composition, Illinois State University "Writers' Stories in Motion tells us that we're not alone, that we laugh, cry, manage, do better than manage when the physical joins the intellectual and the creative wonder of writing. Every essay in this book is a joy, even in descriptions of tragedy and outrage. We are reminded yet again, through truly lovely writing, that the physical, mental, and creative are symbiotic."--Victor Villanueva, Regents Professor and Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts at Washington State University "Laura Gray-Rosendale has assembled a collection of beautifully rendered essays that are very personal to me. Since our daughter began her struggle with an eating disorder, I no longer move through the world in the same way. Now, mostly, I walk with my daughter and talk about the places we will go and the book we will one day write when she is better. Then, I see something close to a smile. These essays remind me of that half-smile. They plumb essential and hard-won truths about the beauty and tenuousness of life."--James Campbell, Author of Braving It and recipient of the Lowell Thomas Travel Writing Silver Medal