Wanderlust

 

(This article appeared in The Greer Citizen)

            It’s five AM and I’m loading the car with the essentials for a day of adventure in the backcountry. Besides hiking and fishing gear, I pack my lunch and a few snacks for the journey, as well as a full thermos of coffee. One doesn’t get far on an empty stomach, and without plenty of caffeine to get me going and to help sustain some level of alertness, I would be stumbling blindly through the world this morning. There’s a small stream I discovered on a topo map, and for weeks now, I’ve been hatching a plan to see what it’s all about.

To reach the place I want to fish, I will need to cover a lot of ground. I wear a pair of old worn out combat-style boots that I’ve had for years. These boots have been through the ringer, and even though the best days are now behind them, they’re still comfortable enough and tough enough to get me there and back with no worries. I pour another cup of coffee into the tin cup at the pull-off at the end of a gated off Forest Service road and try to pump myself up for the three mile jaunt to this new prospect.

It's still dark when I start up the old logging road, and I click on my headlamp to negotiate the rough terrain. At what I figure is about the half-way mark, the sun is trying to come up, and when I reach the top of a knoll, I turn around just in time to see the eastern sky aglow with the new day. The birds are starting to chirp. I’m standing on a ridge right in the middle of the shift change, and as the woods are coming to life, the night critters are headed back in from partying all night.

After trekking for well over an hour, I finally hear the soft purl of water over rocks. At this point, I start the switchbacks down the side of a steep slope through thick rhododendrons. Finally reaching the water, I unpack my rod and begin to search out the deep runs undercutting the stream banks for trout. I will follow this ribbon of water upstream for as far as it goes. Once I reach the source, I might just head back downstream past my starting point to see where it all goes. I have nothing but time now, and a restless soul longing to discover someplace new.

Author Bio

 

Josh Lanier is a writer living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in upstate South Carolina. His published work ranges from nonfiction in the Outdoor/Nature genre, to journalism about local history and culture, to literary fiction and poetry. Josh is also a blogger and newspaper columnist, and he is the author of a book, Wildcat Creek Journal: Selected Stories and Prose. Much of his inspiration comes from the natural world, and the history and culture of Southern Appalachia. When Josh is not working on his latest nonfiction article or short story, he enjoys spending time with his family and enjoying hiking, fly fishing, and various other outdoor pursuits. For nearly four years, he wrote a monthly outdoor/nature column for his local newspaper and is currently a contributor to The Tryon Daily Bulletin, in Western North Carolina.

Welcome to my author page

    

     One thing that I have discovered in nearly a decade of being a published writer is how you work really hard to get the gig, dedicate all kinds of time and resources completing a project, only to find yourself unemployed again when it's over with. From the beginning, I saw it as a never-ending cycle. I've never known a writer who created a magnum opus and never had to worry about coming up with another good idea to survive. In my experience, a writer has to evolve, adapt, or die. 

    As a writer, I never liked the idea of labels, putting my work into a neat little box, pigeonholing myself as a certain type of writer in one particular genre. I don't mind being called an outdoor writer, or nature writer, an Appalachian or Southern writer. What I don't want is to feel trapped as an artist, expected to stay within the bounds set by those in the publishing world. 

    The first works I had published were poetry and a couple of essays in an online magazine, aptly named NatureWriting.com. One of the greatest frustrations as an up-and-coming writer was when the web administrator pulled the plug on the website, and my first dozen or so published works were lost to the world. Since then, I have made it a point to keep up with my previously published pieces, to keep that from happening ever again. This is part of why I have created this author page, to highlight some of the work that I am proudest of, and sort of a touchstone for myself to look back on whenever I face the blank page!

    This website contains a sampling of my published works, from poems to newspaper columns, outdoor/nature journalism (print and online) to short fiction and fragments of longer works in-progress. I created this forum to give readers and potential clients a feel for the kind of work I am capable of, as well as some of the writing/editing services I offer. This webpage is also a means to document my thoughts and experiences for aspiring writers out there trying to navigate the world of publishing, dreaming of seeing their byline in print, or their book on the shelf alongside their favorite authors. 

    The posts on this website are intended to give the readers of my work some insight to my own creative processes. I will periodically discuss the craft of writing, and any hints that come to mind as to the business end of having work published. I am always delighted to share my knowledge of literature and creative writing with other like-minded individuals. 

    Thank you for reading my work, and be sure to subscribe and check back regularly to see what I'm up to!

    All the best,

    Josh Lanier