Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Writing energizes me. English is such a rich language - Richard Lederer calls it a “portmanteau language” that it is both challenging and fun to figure out what you want to say and exactly how to say it. It is important to know what to leave out or edit out. Editing can be painful because you fall in love with your own words.
Does a big ego help or hurt writers?
You have to have a big enough ego to think that what you have to say is important enough that people will want to read it. At the same time, you have to have humility as well so that what becomes important is your reader, not yourself.
Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?
Your own voice is vital. By writing, and writing, and writing some more, we develop that voice and make it strong. That is originality and that is what readers respond to and feel comfortable with.
Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly?
I don’t really see how you can write if you don’t feel emotions strongly. Human beings are both mind and heart. The best objective writers and critical thinkers are passionate about their message and their research. It is important to them. That to me is strong emotion. The other side of the coin is that you can’t let strong emotion cloud your objectivity. It is the yin and yang of writing, really.
Do you view writing as a kind of spiritual practice?
Writing is a spiritual practice. When you write honestly and passionately, and when you care about the subject you are writing about, by necessity you delve deep into your soul. Sometimes the deepest writing comes unbidden and that, to me, is a spiritual experience.
What is your favorite childhood book?
My favorite childhood book is E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. My first-grade teacher read it aloud to us and it turned me into a lifetime fan of E.B. White. I have read everything he has published and have read Charlotte’s Web easily fifty times.
What were you like at school?
I studied fairly hard, I got good grades, I liked school, and I was athletic. I was known for my sincerity. I went from a classroom that combined 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade in one room – 10 of us in all - to a prep school, to full-scholarship Ivy league college. Each situation had its challenges and its fun. I loved it all (I can say that in retrospect).
Were you good at English?
My mother majored in English in college and she required us to be excellent in both written and spoken English. She revered great writing, was moved by it, and passed that gift on. I feel blessed by her tutelage.
Which writers inspire you?
I find every genre of writing inspiring. I am especially drawn to memoirs, fiction, poetry, and essays. I could name many authors in each category. Here are a few: Ivan Doig, E.B. White, Mary Oliver, Naomi Shihab Nye, David Whyte. What inspires me is when a writer says something that stops you in your tracks. It can be lyrical, funny, painful, sweet, or all of the above. You realize that they have worked hard to give you their best. That is inspiring.
What are you working on at the minute?
I am just starting to write a novel that is set in Wyoming and it will include my grandparents and be based on everything I know from growing up in the most magnificent ranching country you can imagine.
What is Walking from Here to There about?
This book is equal parts reflection, factual account of the challenges and joys of the Pilgrimage, and practical advice for preparing for it and making it the best experience possible. Read it if you are planning to walk El Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Read it if you know you never will and want to know what it is like. If you like first-person accounts full of facts and reflection, you will like Walking from Here to There.
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Who is Christy Day?
I am a Wyoming ranch girl who migrated to the East Coast and is now firmly rooted in New Hampshire. I have two grown daughters who migrated West and they are my inspiration. I walked El Camino de Santiago de Compostela when I was 66 and it was the most transformative experience of my lifetime (so far). I love to travel, I love hiking and camping. I am sailor and I have my private pilot's license. Photography and writing are the two ways I express myself best.
In this interview, she talks about her debut book, Walking from Here to There: Finding My Way on El Camino, published bySeacoast Press, a Division of Mindstir Media, LLC.
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