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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The journey to move my writing from the sideline to center field began while I was working as a nurse. The most common end-of-life advice bestowed implicitly and explicitly by the terminally ill was rooted in regret about abandoned hopes and dreams. My dying patients initiated this book. They made me consider what was essential about my work and my life.

My husband, parents, sister, friends, and children treated me as an esteemed writer even before I’d broken into print. Judy Bridges and the writers from Red-bird Writing Studios, Marilyn L. Taylor, and the Council for Wisconsin writers, Anne O’Meara and the UWM Spring Writers Festival, Jo McReynolds Blochowiak and the Great Lakes Writers Workshop, Anne Bingham, Nina Leopold Bradley, Sheree Bykofsky, and Mary E. Flynn, have all contributed to an essential community of support. Jim Perlman and Holy Cow! Press have championed literature from the Midwest since 1977 and nurtured this book project for the last year. Thank you also to all those friends and supporters who go unnamed.

Alverno College rewired me, recalling for me an ardor for words and ideas that had been stifled. Bennington College flung me into Liam Rector’s vortex of prose, verse, and intensity. Susan Cheever introduced me to a range, addiction, and love of literature, as she celebrated the relationship between a life of letters and living a passionate life. Bob Shacochis recognized the first forays into my subject matter as a potential book and helped me to shape the concept of Every Natural Fact. He also kicked my butt when the work fell short and explained precisely why some writing had literary merit and some did not yet meet the standard. He called for a higher level of generosity to the reader, less lyrically known as a rewrite. This was invaluable. Tom Bissell gave bigheartedly of his talent, criticism, and support. He evaluated each word I sent him with the care of a master artisan. Phillip Lopate, the quintessential New York writer, pulled out his figurative flannel shirt and went with me to the Wisconsin wilderness where he pressed me to also write for those who are seduced by words rather than nature.

This book became a reality thanks to The Mesa Refuge Writing Fellowship, Ellis/Henderson Outdoor Writing Award, Florida Review Nonfiction Prize, Flint Hill Review’s Nonfiction Award, Rosebud Magazine’s X.J. Kennedy Nonfiction Award, Wisconsin Regional Writers Association Jade Ring Award, Literal Latté Nonfiction Prize, and the Santa Fe Writers Literary Prize, which have supported and honored my work.

Finally, thanks to all who work to preserve, restore, and love every natural place.