[at-l] Awwww.....Lynn Seltzer

[hikester@mindspring.com (Lynn Setzer)]

Well List-Friends, you have certainly made my day.  Trail Magic Lives!   I
spent the day on the road visiting the folks, so I didn't pick up the posts
until now...and I have to say that your comments have brought tears to my
eyes.  Thank you so much!

When the idea to write "A Season" came to me, I was so afraid that I
couldn't see/tell a true story, that somehow powers of observation would
fail me or that hikers wouldn't talk to me, or that something -- I don't
know what -- would go wrong.  I knew I didn't want to write a pile of BS.  I
knew that I wanted the story of these ordinary people undertaking an
extraordinary endeavor to mean something.

Through the miracle of the people who hike the Trail, the book came together
and there it was.  I'd be lying to you if I said I don't pick up the book
every once in a while and remember what it was like to get to the trail,
start out hiking alone, wonder if that day I'd see anyone.  There was
Wildhair in the mist at Neel's Gap, Bloody Nose on a gorgeous sunny day at
the Rufus Morgan shelter, the ponies at Grayson Highlands, always missing
Gutsy by a day or three, Trail Days, meeting Ward Leonard at Port Clinton,
Cornhusker taking time out for a prayer in the garden at Greymoor, Skylark
bumming off Sandman after someone stole her pack, Doc and Cornhusker in the
Whites, Hiking Viking Marv stumbling with near-crippled feet the day he
summited the Big K.  Damn, I'd like to out there today!

And then Bryson's book came out and sold a gazillion copies.  Well, I guess
he laughed all the way to the bank, and that's ok, because what better way
to go to the bank, right?

But every once in a while the stars line up and you see the truth:  I have
the experience and the lessons I learned from the thru-hikers, and that,
like the two roads that diverge in the yellowed wood, has made all the
difference.

Thank you.

Lynn









----- Original Message -----
From: "kahley" <kahley@ptd.net>
To: <at-l@backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2002 11:02 AM
Subject: [at-l] Awwww.....Lynn Seltzer


> Back then Lynn wrote this in part:
>
> Was I jealous of Bryson and his book?  Yep, because people who know me
said
> things like "if you had written it his way, look how
> famous and rich you'd be."  Now, I didn't write the book to be famous.  I
> didn't write to become rich.  But just the same, I get tired of
> people telling me how much more "successful" his book has been than mine.
>
> Lynn...if you are still out there, your book was more successful, at least
> IMHO.
> I've read your book more that twice thru.  I read Bryson's
> only as far as it held my interest.  Somehow, it is my memories
> that when he actually stopped hiking, the humor dried up or
> for some reason i lost interest.
>
> Your book "A Season on the Trail" held my interest all the way
> and I'\m sure I will reread it again.
>
> That's what I consider true success for an author.  There is a big
difference
> between a good afternoon read and a GRREAT TRAIL BOOK!!!!!
>
>
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