Back in 2000 or so, a number of us gathered at Gary Riekes’ forest retreat. We called this place “The Riekes Field Station”. We holed up there for about 6 weeks and worked on a book concept teaching bird language. Back then, we thought it should be divided between story/narrative and field guide/technique. It was a struggle.
Coyote’s Guide 2nd edition is off to the presses here in the next couple of days. With any luck there will an “E-version” of Coyote’s Guide, and soon. I want you all to see how beautiful this second edition is. Deb Winters led the charge (and continues to) with a very competent team. Despite many setbacks, it’s on its way. You know, that book is now almost 600 pages. That’s amazing.
The first try at bird language was nearly 700 pages too. That was in Word, and on 8.5 x 11 paper. So, I cannot imagine what we would have had if we finished that project then.
Almost two years ago, I was speaking in Fairfax. Mia Andler set up a talk for the local Permaculture group, Sustainable Fairfax. Someone in the neighborhood stopped in, and heard me speak. Bonnie approached me that night and asked who my agent was for publishing and speaking. Well, there was no agent.
So, the rest is hard work, many drafts and history. Now, there’s a short video on this project, and I hope you can go watch the video and let me know what you think! What the Robin Knows is the name of the book project and the short video this time, and it promises to be all narrative non-fiction, though instructional at it’s core. It’s really about a journey. I am working with a great team, including some of the folks from back in 2000. Dan Gardoqui is doing the science research with me, and Mike Bryan has helped bring the writing forward to this point. It’s coming along!
