“Learn. Fail. Grow.” That’s part of the creative action plan for award-winning writer and Susan J. Tweit. In this episode of Emerging Form, we continue our Soul Food Series and talk with Susan about the importance of reflection--how writing not only helps us to meet difficult moments, but also helps us to find “deeper levels and better understanding” as time passes. We talk about the process of reflection and how it leads our writing toward the universal. As Susan says, “Without reflection, what’s the point?”

An award-winning writer and plant ecologist, Susan J. Tweit began her career in Wyoming, studying grizzly bear habitat—collecting and dissecting bear poop—coring trees to map historic wildfires, and researching aromatic big sagebrush. Tweit began writing after realizing that she loved writing the stories behind the data as much as collecting the data. She's written thirteen non-fiction books ranging from memoir and nature writing to kids and travel, along with hundreds of magazine articles, columns, and essays. She admits to being a plant nerd focused on the intriguing lives and interrelationships that weave the West’s living landscapes. Her passion is re-storying this earth, and those with whom we who share the planet. When Tweit is not writing, she's most often outside eradicating invasive weeds—restoring nature, plant by plant. As a Quaker, she walks her talk, and she lives with her heart outstretched as if it were her hand, loving this world. Her most recent book is Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying. 

Susan Tweit’s website.

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