Become the River

Well, the summer of 2025 was filled with Northern California author talks to promote my memoir RISK, podcast interviews, engaging in various acts of resistance to the assault on public lands, speaking on author panels at my first literary festivals, along with many blissful days of Tahoe stay-cation

What I learned from author talks is that no matter how small the audience, there was always at least one person—or a few—who made me feel my effort was worth it.  I may not have sold that many books, but those conversations about how someone related to or was touched by my story will stay with me and are priceless. 

Author Talk at Face in a Book Bookstore, El Dorado Hills

The other thing I learned this summer is how hard it is to get your friends to review your book on Goodreads or Amazon, even after they have emailed, texted, or told you how much they liked it and why. Indie authors, who are not published by one of the Big 5, are so dependent on reader reviews to kickstart awareness to a larger audience. A long review with lots of insight is great, but it’s also just as good to say something simple like 'What a great read, held my interest from start to finish.' My goal is to reach 50 reviews on both Goodreads and Amazon by the end of the calendar year. Please help me get there!

I also spent some time this summer using my minuscule ‘platform’ to speak out in support of public lands. It is frustrating to feel so powerless in the face of the truly overwhelming death-by-a-thousand-cuts this administration has launched against our public land management agencies and legislative protections for public lands. Masked as an effort to improve efficiency, these actions are designed to break the system. So, I joined more environmental non-profit advocacy groups, spoke at Indivisible protests, posted on social media, submitted letters to the editor and opinion pieces to the local papers, and designed panel discussions around writing as an act of resistance at two literary festivals in October.

Author/Advocacy Panel at Become the River Festival of Coloma

I spoke at author panels at the Tahoe Literary Festival and, the following weekend, at the inaugural Become the River Literary Festival in Coloma (which I organized). The conversations these events inspire stay with me for days. I have always loved learning more about the author behind their work and how it connects with readers.  

At both festivals, I designed panels to discuss how to use the power of the written word to amplify resistance to the assault on our public lands by telling our personal stories about why and how public lands are essential to us, our families, and society. Whether it is a paragraph added to a comment letter to congressional representatives through the Outdoor Alliance, or a letter to the editor or opinion piece in a media outlet, or a book that connects science, wild landscapes, art, and the human experience*, writing is a powerful act, and we can all do it at some level.

And so, my book has taken me on quite a journey. My former slalom kayaking coach, Bill Endicott, wrote me a couple of months ago with congratulations and words of wisdom. He said I was likely to find that my book would provide me more riches in the form of new opportunities, rather than $$$ from book sales. This was his experience after writing the first quintessential book on whitewater slalom race training, “To Win the Worlds”.  

So far, Bill has been right on.

The inaugural Become the River Literary Festival, which I organized initially to help promote my book, turned out to be so much more. The river community showed up, as did literary colleagues. You can learn more about this event on my website's main page. (ihttps://www.susannormanauthor.com/)

Next year’s festival has been accepted as a new Incubator Project for Arts and Culture El Dorado County.  In partnership with Arts and Culture El Dorado, we will seek grants and sponsors to expand the festival next year and continue the conversation about how writers and environmental advocates can work together to give back to the rivers and watersheds that give us so much.

Indivisible protest, South Lake Tahoe

Arts and Culture El Dorado has also asked me to teach a grant-funded Veterans Voices writing workshop in South Lake Tahoe, starting in November. The workshop is free to Veterans from any branch of the military. 

I will be taking a sabbatical from promoting my book over the winter, so I can start on my new book—a speculative fiction climate change silver-lining tale based on what I believe is the inevitable premise of decommissioning Glen Canyon Dam. There will be some fun research to do for that, so if anyone wants to join me on a unique paddling adventure to explore the emerging side canyons of the Colorado River through Glen Canyon as Lake Powell continues to dry up, please reach out.

The second phase of book promotion for my memoir, RISK, will resume in Colorado next May/June 2026. I will be doing a series of book signings and author talks throughout the state to coincide with the whitewater festival circuit. So far, I have received interest from bookstores in Durango, Salida, Edwards, Steamboat, and Fort Collins.  Combining outdoor play, environmental activism, and book talk sounds like the perfect vacation —stay tuned!

I want to wrap up this month’s blog by following up on a previous story I wrote about The Hudson Bay Girls. The Hudson Bay Girls are a four-member all-female canoe team who completed a groundbreaking expedition paddling a historic Voyageur Fur Trading Route --  a 1,300-mile journey from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay of the Arctic Ocean this past summer.  Along the way, they shared their story to raise awareness about the importance of environmental stewardship, outdoor education, and gender equality in outdoor spaces. 

This team hasn't gotten much press, but their story is so worthy. Their grit, passion, and intelligence shine through every step of their journey. Hopefully, one day they will write a book, but in the meantime, I encourage you to visit the photojournalism they have created on their Facebook page.   https://www.facebook.com/hudsonbaygirls

Hudson Bay Girls

So, I end with an invitation to embrace the Become the River metaphor used in art, literature, and philosophy to express themes of transformation, flow, and oneness with nature. 

To be a river, or ‘essiere fiume’, coined by the Italian artist Giuseppe Penone, reflects a broader artistic and philosophical metaphor for life that includes: Embracing change — Flow and acceptance — the link between Inner and outer landscapes — and the cycle of life.

Become the River

*Below is a list of some of the books I read this past year that are examples of environmental literature blending captivating personal storytelling with the adventure, science, beauty, and mystery of wild landscapes.

Brave the Wild River, by Melissa Sevigny (2023)

A Walk in the Park, by Kevin Fedarko (2024)

Stronghold, by Tucker Malarky (2019)

Life After Dead Pool,  Zak Podmore (2024)