I was introduced to the beauty of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) as a teenager and have been on three canoe camping trips there. Canoe camping in the Boundary Waters brought out my love of nature, water, and the Earth. My last two trips to the BWCA were with my dad. He was an accomplished canoeist and camper. He planned the routes, organized the food, applied for the permits, bought the supplies, and knew how to tie all the knots. I was the lucky passenger on those trips. Every time I would enter this vast wilderness, my heart slowed, my priorities shifted, and my love of the outdoors grew.
Amy and her dad in the Boundary Waters 1988
I tripped off to married life, and it would be thirty years before I ventured to the Boundary Waters again, but my dad continued to explore new areas of the BWCA for another decade with friends.
In the summer of 2020, my dad fought non-Hodgkin's lymphoma for the second time in ten years. My husband and I visited my parents in South Carolina for two weeks in September of 2020, and I told my dad I was taking a writing class and writing about our trips to the Boundary Waters.
Throughout the next several months, I took portions of my essays and incorporated them into a love story. I went back and forth over email, phone, and text with my dad for camping details, clarifications, and stories about the Boundary Waters. The connection we shared over my writing helped me process his cancer, and it gave him something else to think about outside of his terrible disease. However, I never told him I was attempting to write a book.
I submitted my manuscript to the Fifth Avenue Press of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in April of 2021 and decided I would tell my dad I wrote a book if my manuscript was accepted.
On June 6, 2021, my dad lost his battle with cancer. On June 7, 2021, The Fifth Avenue Press sent me an email informing me they had accepted my manuscript for publication. My dad was always my biggest cheerleader, and he would’ve been so proud my accomplishment. I dedicated my first novella, Northern Woods, to my dad.
What I will include
Through these pages, I hope to share my writing journey alongside my love of the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota. I plan to post at least once a season or when I have bookish news. I will keep this newsletter free and am always eager to answer any random questions from readers.
I’m currently working on revising my third manuscript. My first two novellas are out in the world.
I’m currently reading Riding the Waves: A Memoir of Love, Loss & Grief by Katherine Krige. I highly recommend this memoir.
