Nature Blog Network

Meet Priscilla Stuckey, the blogger behind This Lively Earth. She’s new to blogging–just took it up this year–but is a longtime birder, nature watcher, and bookworm. “I like to say my life is about books: I teach them, edit them, and write them.” Priscilla teaches humanities in the graduate programs of a small college and is writing a book called A Wider Circle of Friends: How a Scholar of Religion Learned Spirituality from Trees, Animals, and Rocks. She also loves to play in mud, having taken ceramics classes for fifteen years.

In addition to her blog, you can find Priscilla on Twitter as @priscillast .

Priscilla, why do you blog?
I started blogging when I discovered I had some things to say that didn’t fit in the book I am writing. I wanted to be part of ongoing conversations, to make connections with like-minded folks–nature lovers especially. I blog because I feel compelled to say things. Something will catch my attention, and it won’t let go of me until I get it down in a post. I like that process–it feels like being part of a dance that’s larger than me.

What’s the best thing about blogging?
The best thing is feeling like the writing circle is complete in a way it wasn’t before I started the blog. My writing is now reaching an audience, and the circle of creativity is being completed every time I press “publish.” I love the feeling of “just having written”–getting a post out and watching what others’ reactions will be. At the same time, keeping up a blog can be a writing boot camp–the challenge of writing another post, and another…. It also gets frustrating when I realize that I’m spending yet another afternoon in my office writing about connecting with nature rather than getting out there and doing it. But being part of a creative process is deeply satisfying. And a blog is instant gratification–at least by comparison with writing a book!

How has blogging changed how you think about nature?
I discovered I loved the photography part of blogging a lot more than I expected. I carry my little pocket camera on every hike now, and my eyes are more sharply tuned to framing a picture. My photos aren’t great, but they give me a lot of pleasure because they call to mind each moment, each place in nature that I visited and got to know, however briefly. They help me remember my relationships with place.

How do you promote your blog and attract readers?
I try to participate in blog carnivals because they’re so much fun, but I’ve fallen behind on that one lately. I also try to discover, visit, and comment on nature blogs I didn’t know about before, especially those written by people I have something in common with–love of a certain place or type of writing, for example. I always publicize on Twitter, and I’ve found some good buddies that way. And I feed my posts through my Facebook page.

Is there a story behind the name of your blog?
My writing is all about helping us move past the old mechanistic view of nature, so I was looking for a name that called to mind aliveness–the sense that the earth is a living thing and that being human is but one way of being alive here. I’m always trying to draw connections between humans and the rest of nature, to call into question that old view of nature as object. If even one person remembers how magical it was to root in the dirt as a child or to explore the shapes of leaves, or if one person goes out and looks more deeply at a tree or a rock as a result of my blog, then it’s all worthwhile.

Do you feel you’re part of a community with other nature bloggers?
Yes, I keep finding more nature bloggers and nature writers. Every connection is precious, and I’m thrilled to be making so many new friends.

Any words of wisdom for new nature bloggers?
Find the joy in the process. If you find a way to make money at it, all the better! (I haven’t!)

What are your favorite posts from the blog?
• Being Known by a Birch Tree
• The Berlin Wall for Wildlife

Anything else you’d like me to ask you, or that you’d like to volunteer without being asked?
I’ve been a freelance editor and academic all my life, which has meant for the most part sitting in my office alone with my work. I find blogging is a wonderful way to make connections with others. I feel part of a network of people who are passionate about nature, and I feel connected up in a way that was never possible until the past few years.