Emerging Form

“What is the most important thing about writing?” That’s the question botanist and writer Susan J. Tweit asked Barry Lopez. His answer helped inform her newest book, Earthbound: A Year of Mindful Connection in Nature. We talk with Susan about how she weaves photography, science, haiku and spiritual practice through each chapter, and how these different genres help us connect more wholly with the natural world. We also talk about making up language for our own passions to better understand them, the reciprocal relationship between reader and writer, the effects of negative self-talk, and how simple conversations with other creatives fuel and ignite our own creative endeavors.A plant ecologist by training, Susan J. Tweit traded fieldwork for writing when she realized she loved telling the stories in the data. Her fourteen books don’t pigeonhole well at all, ranging from memoirs (Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying and Walking Nature Home: A Life’s Journey) to nature (Seasons on the Pacific Coast and Seasons in the Desert, Chronicle Books) and travel (Colorado Scenic Byways). They are united by the idea of terraphilia and “re-storying” the human-nature bond. Her writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers from Audubon and Popular Mechanics to the Los Angeles Times and High Country News, and in Best American Nature Writing along with two dozen other anthologies. She lives in an orchard-growing valley on Colorado’s rural West Slope, where big sagebrush perfumes the air and high mesas define the horizon. Her newest book is Earthbound: A Year of Mindful Connection in Nature. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Sometimes a poet can hide inside their work, choosing metaphor over facts. In this episode of Emerging Form, we talk with poet and essayist Wendy Videlock about how writing essays invited a more autobiographical approach–and how that stretched her as a writer and as a person. We talk about Desert Kin: Speaking Animal in the Southwest, Essays and Poems, as well as how using a mythological approach helped her to write about her family members. We also talk about writing from the body and the mind, how her creative practice has deepened as she ages, how to write a good invocation poem, and much more.Wendy Videlock lives on the edge of a mesa in western Colorado. Her poems and essays appear in Dark Horse, Best American Poetry, Poetry Magazine, The New York Times, Rattle, O Magazine, Hudson Review and elsewhere. Wendy is the two-time recipient of the Keats Soul Making Award, and the winner of the Cantor Poetry Prize, The Fischer Prize, the PbtS Sonnet Prize and the Rattle Ekphrastic Prize. Wendy is a syndicated columnist for newspapers across the Four Corner States. Her books are available wherever books are sold. Her book, Desert Kin: Speaking Animal in the Southwest, Essays and Poems just came out. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“The problem with heroes, of course, is that no one is perfect, says Heather Hansman, author of Fierce Country. “Mine aren’t. They bumbled and lied and burned bridges and screwed up. They were often egotistical and angry, driven by an obsessive kind of love.” In this episode of Emerging Form, we talk with Heather about how her new book explores new kinds of heroes–specifically women in the outdoors–and why these voices have not been heard much in the past and why it’s important that we do hear about more women. In addition we talk about how hard it is to be honest about our heroes–to present them with all their flaws and struggles as well as their triumphs. We talk about researching real people after they’ve died, the importance of walking away from a project, and obsession.Heather Hansman is an award-winning freelance writer and the celebrated author of Fierce Country: The Untold Story of Three Women Who Ignited America’s Love for the Wild, Powder Days: Ski Bums, Ski Towns and the Future of Chasing Snow and Downriver: Into the Future of Water in the West. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Outside, among others. She lives in Durango, Colorado, right by the river. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“I feel like these two questions are at the heart of all creative process: What is here? What else is here?” In this episode, Rosemerry and Christie talk about Rosemerry’s new book, The Wonderment, and the four questions that are at the heart of it. How do questions drive a creative practice? We also talk about how to create art out of what is familiar and common, how paradox and metaphor work to create a larger lens for re-seeing the world, how sometimes we swing between loving and hating what we’ve written, and how to write poems about injustice and what is happening in the world without making them overtly polemic or divisively political.Poet and teacher Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is co-host of this podcast. She lives with her family on the banks of the wild San Miguel River in southwest Colorado. Her daily audio series, The Poetic Path, is on the Ritual app. Her poems have appeared on Prairie Home Companion, PBS News Hour, O Magazine, Washington Post’s Book Club, and Carnegie Hall stage. Her recent collections: The Unfolding and The Wonderment. As poet laureate for Evermore, she helps others explore grief and love through poetry. Since 2006, she’s written a daily poem, sharing them on A Hundred Falling Veils.Rosemerry and Christie will be giving the closing keynote at the Grand Mesa Writer’s Symposium this weekend! Come join them as they talk about how to nurture a creative practice in the midst of everyday chaos. The WondermentRosemerry’s Website This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“Make this your worst draft.” That’s what Craig Childs will often say to students when they first sit down to write. “We’re creating stuff out of nowhere, so we’re lucky to get a word down on a page. We’re exploring options.” In this episode of Emerging Form, we talk with the popular creative non-fiction author about his own unusual path to a writing career. Our conversation includes:* How to invite intuition and surprise into your writing,* How teaching writing changes and enhances our understanding of our own process,* How a thesaurus, used unconventionally, can be a great tool for when you’re stuck,* Creative ways to take words from a page and bring them to life,* And how a journaling practice helps inform a writing practice.Craig will be a keynote speaker at the 2026 Grand Mesa Writers’s Symposium in Cedaredge on September 11-13.CRAIG CHILDS is an explorer who brings tales of deserts and ice caps to the page. He has published more than a dozen critically acclaimed books, including The Secret Knowledge of Water, Atlas of a Lost World, Stone Desert, Virga & Bone, Tracing Time, and The Wild Dark. His books have won numerous honors including the Reading the West Book Award, Southwest Book of the Year, a Foreword INDIES medal, and the Orion Book Award. His nonfiction narratives and journalism have appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, High Country News, The New York Times, The Sun, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, and Radiolab. He blogs at Last Word On Nothing. Childs lives in southwest Colorado. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“My writing often comes to me that way–something that interests me in the real life world, something kind of political and thorny, something I don’t entirely totally know how I think about it, something I’m interested in exploring.” These words from short story writer and novelist Claire Boyles are at the heart of this episode on the relationship between fiction and real life. How might having personal experience in a certain arena both help and hinder our ability to use it as material for fiction? How can characters drive the way opinions are explored in a book? How do we create more compelling characters? What must be let go as we create a fictional realm? How can fiction help us explore “thorny” political themes? And how might our past lives help us in practical ways as we move forward in our creative lives?Claire Boyles (she/her) is a writer and former farmer. Her debut novel, Appraisals, is forthcoming in August 2026. A 2022 Whiting Award winner in fiction, she is the author of Site Fidelity, which won the High Plains Book Award and was longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award, the Colorado Book Award, and the Reading the West Award. Her nonfiction has appeared in Sierra Magazine and Virginia Quarterly Review, among other journals, and she is a screenwriter with multiple credits on the Hallmark Channel. She splits time between Loveland, Colorado and Ames, Iowa, where she is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and the Environment at Iowa State University.Claire will be a speaker at the Grand Mesa Writer’s Symposium in Cedaredge on September 12. Details here: https://www.grandmesawriters.org/schedule This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“Sometimes I let the subconscious deal with it,” says science writer Elizabeth Preston, author of the new book The Creature’s Guide to Caring, How animal parents teach us that humans were born to care. In this interview, we talk about the evolution of a manuscript–how she went from the “Big Idea” to the actual book. Other threads include the importance of walking away, balancing parenting with a writing life, why humor helps, the invitation to be bold, and how the “gnomes in the back of my head” have helped Elizabeth solve structural problems with her creative projects.Elizabeth Preston is a science journalist who contributes regularly to The New York Times and has written for Science, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, Orion, Slate, Audubon, Discover, National Geographic, and others. She is a winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Kavli Science Journalism Gold Award. Preston is also a humor writer whose work has appeared in outlets such as McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Parents, and Real Simple, and was the editor of Muse, a magazine about science and ideas for kids. She lives in Massachusetts. Her new book is The Creature’s Guide to Caring: How animal parents teach us that humans were born to care This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“The book is about the opposite of the eureka moment,” says science writer Roberta Kwok about her new book, LOST IN CURIOSITY: Field Notes From Scientists’ Adventures into the Unknown. Join us in a conversation about the difficulties and gifts of showing up day after day. We talk about patience, wrestling with process, and the long slow path to epiphany–in science and in creative endeavors. We talk, too, about how to choose the right people to interview for a book based on research, how the body may or may not be a part of creative process, the possibility that walking is not the most important tool in a writer’s toolbox, and the thrill of collaboration.Roberta Kwok is a science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, NewYorker.com, Nature, New Scientist, Audubon, and otherpublications. She has received a fellowship from the Knight Science Journalism Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geophysical Union. Before becoming a journalist, Kwok worked in a genetics lab at Stanford University. She lives in the Seattle area and is originally from Canada. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“One of my superpowers is I see the nuance in everything,” says podcast host and author Eric Zimmer. “That is also sometimes my greatest weakness because I want to caveat the living heck out of everything that I say.” In this episode of Emerging Form, we talk with Eric about the process of writing his book How a Little Becomes a Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life. We cover· how the stages of change relate to creative process,· why dedicating time is an essential part of setting ourselves up for creative success,· how to support our expectations of wanting to create something really good,· how the hardest parts of our process teach us the most,· why asking for help can help build our trust in our selves as creatives,· why it helps to identify our motivations and intentions for our creative endeavors,· the importance of trust in the evolution of our creativity, and· how the advice to “spend what’s in your pocket” can help shape a book.Eric Zimmer is an author, teacher, speaker, and the creator of The One You Feed podcast—an award-winning show with over 50 million downloads across 800+ conversations exploring meaningful living. At 24, Eric was homeless, addicted to heroin, and facing prison. His journey from those depths sparked his lifelong inquiry into human transformation and resilience. Through his behavior coaching, workshops, and mentorship, he has guided thousands worldwide in creating sustainable habits that last—not through willpower or epiphany, but through steady change. His approach combines cutting-edge science with timeless wisdom, providing practical pathways to greater integrity and deeper meaning. His story and his work have been featured in the media, including TedX, Mind Body Green, Elephant Journal, the BBC and Brain Pickings. His new book is How a Little Becomes a Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life.The One You Feed WebsiteHow a Little Becomes a Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful LifeInstagramLinkedIn This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe