Walk With Me: Amanda Saint
Stories of place, memory and wilderness
Welcome to a new feature here at Wild Quiet Folk!
Substack is an endless source of inspiration, a cacophony of unique voices that can lead a reader through the weird, wonderful and wild.
Here, I have collaborated with other writers to bring you their meditations on place, story and wilderness - the heart of Wild Quiet Folk. This series is in an interview format, but offering creative prompts rather than questions - the freedom is with the contributor, to respond in whichever way they see fit, be that words, photos, drawings, anything that enlarges rather than restricts.
Our first contributor is
from The Mindful Writer.Thank you for being here, and I very much hope you enjoy the below:
The last walk you went on
I go for a walk every day when I finish work. I’m lucky enough to be living in Exmoor National Park at the moment, so the walks are very beautiful. But wherever I am staying I walk every day. It’s something I enjoy but I also do it to keep my body limber after spending so much time at the laptop, to have time to let my mind wander, and to notice the things going on around me. I also do a lot of my writing in my head when I walk before I ever put things on the page.
The last walk I went on where I specifically went somewhere to walk a trail, was earlier this year when I was housesitting in Scotland for a few months. My husband and I went to walk the Mount Eighe trail overlooking Loch Maree. It was incredible.
A celebration of season
Winter sunrise in Corrigeenroe, Ireland. Where I lived for around 4.5 years, on and off.
The things in your pockets
I only ever have things in my pockets when I go out, as I work at home. When I go out, if it’s cold enough for a coat or jacket, in the pockets will be my purse, my phone, and a lip balm. And occasionally, depending on where I am living, house keys. Where I am living now, we don’t lock our doors as we’re in the middle of nowhere and there are always people around. We live in the annex of our friend’s farmhouse, and they have cottages they rent out here too, so it’s safe to leave the doors unlocked as we know everyone.
A place that feels wild to you
Australia felt wild when I was travelling there and got away from the cities. From December 2014 until February 2015, my husband and I drove from Adelaide to Melbourne along the south coast with forays inland, we did a bit of housesitting along the way but most of the time we camped. Everything was so vast and some of the beaches we visited were overwhelming. Towering sand dunes where snakes slithered across the paths. Colossal waves hammering down onto completely empty beaches that went on for miles and miles in both directions. They felt like places that our civilisations had never touched, could never touch.
We spent quite a lot of time in the Great Otway National Park, which is stunning, and one early morning, just as the sun was coming up, I came out of the tent and I could see something brown and blurry a little bit away from me but I didn’t have my glasses on so couldn’t tell what it was. I went back in the tent and got them and then I could see it was a kangaroo with her joey. They were about 20 feet away from me. I froze. Lots of people had told me how vicious they were and how careful you had to be if you came across them. But we stood and looked at each other and it felt like a message of peace flowed between us. After a while, they turned and hopped away into the forest.
A moment of care
Traditional and delicious Greek food delivered to us unexpectedly by our friend early one evening – his mother-in-law had made it for us.
A place that holds history, yours or others
In 2022, my husband and I went backpacking for 3 months. One of the countries we visited, and the one I loved the most and hope to return to soon, was Thailand. I loved visiting the temples which hold the history of many.
A story you found in the land
In Ireland there is a popular beach, Streedagh Beach, and just before you get to it there is a small rocky bay where hardly anybody goes, and it is chock full of fossils. I’ve got an idea slowly forming for a short story inspired by my visits there.
A small thing you learnt recently
A few weeks ago, when researching for my new novel, I discovered that the body replenishes the lungs of ex-smokers with new cells that are essentially normal and as if they had never smoked. The research is here if you are interested. As an ex-smoker myself, this was really heartening to discover but, in terms of my story, I can introduce this new knowledge to help my protagonist quit smoking when her father is dying of emphysema.
I love learning things about how amazing our bodies are. I have learned so much in the past decade that has completely changed how I think about, and treat, my body and mind.
Amanda is the author of two novels, As If I Were A River (2016) and Remember Tomorrow (2019), and a novella-in-flash, Pressure Drop (2024 ). She writes The Mindful Writer and The Tao of Storytelling. Her short stories have been widely published; long/short listed in many international prizes; nominated for Best Small Fictions 2023; won the Editor’s Choice Prize at 101 Words; and selected for Top in Fiction. In 2012, Amanda founded Retreat West (Winner Most Innovative Publisher 2020 Saboteur Awards) where she teaches writing courses and workshops and hosts a friendly and supportive online community of writers, and published 24 books between 2018 and 2023. In 2022 she launched the WestWord literary journal, publishing great flash fictions and short stories.
Amanda is an early friend of mine on Substack and this was a fun read! Thanks to you both!
I loved reading this and I will use these beautiful and inspiring prompts for my #100daysofwriting today.