The Long, Steep Path: Everyday Inspiration from the Author of Pay It Forward is a collection of creative nonfiction stories. And that's something I have never done before! This is a new direction for me (though I don't plan to be other than a fiction writer in the future). 

The release date is January, 2013. It's a series of observations about life, small new ways of seeing things that have made a difference to me. Many of the essays involve my big hikes in the great outdoors, and how they helped me change my perception of the world (for the better).

And for the first time ever, it will be a book that contains many of my own photos as well. For that reason, at least for the time being, this title will be ebook only. That way I can use photos without increasing the production costs (and therefore the price you pay for the book) and I can link to many more.   

Here's the book description:

We can find the life we want. It’s hiding in plain sight…in the life we have now.

If you believe that life is a journey, that we can’t hold still even if we tried, then THE LONG, STEEP PATH: EVERYDAY INSPIRATION FROM THE AUTHOR OF PAY IT FORWARD is the gentle, thoughtful, and wholly entertaining roadmap to a happy life of self-knowledge and creative inspiration, from someone who has been through it all.

"What inspired you to write the novel Pay It Forward?"

Years after the publication of Pay It Forward, this is still the most common question asked of Catherine Ryan Hyde, bestselling and critically acclaimed author of more than 18 novels for adults and young adults, including Pay It Forward, the incredible bestselling novel that led to a movie, a foundation, and an entire social movement.

Everything Pay It Forward became, it turns out, is rooted in a small, but extraordinary act of kindness, which Catherine received as a young adult. It was one life moment that caused her to look at life in a different way, changing all other life moments that followed. It was a moment of true inspiration.

A few years before she began to pursue her dream of being a writer, Catherine’s life was spiraling into depression and addiction. And now…it’s not. And it hasn’t been for nearly a quarter of a century. Changing your life isn’t easy, but Catherine started with the most ordinary ingredients. She started with the life she had. And she found her inspiration.

In THE LONG STEEP PATH: EVERYDAY INSPIRATION FROM THE AUTHOR OF PAY IT FORWARD, Catherine shares her journey, as well as what inspires her, in a series of funny and totally engaging stories that manage to be at once intimate and universal. This is the rare inspirational book that even the most cynical reader can love.