Wild author presence
Tending to your heartwood (& beyond)
There’s something quietly radical about tending to your presence as a writer not with hustle or hype, but with heartwood.
Over the past year, I’ve been reimagining what it means to show up as a writer -not just with words, but in the world. Not just sharing what I’ve written, but embodying the deeper rhythm behind it. That reimagining has found form in two ways:
🌿 The Author Ecosystem course, supporting other wildhearted writers to root into their own presence
🌿 And The Rewilding Yearbook, co-written with Maddy Winterbrook, which will be published by Verbena at David & Charles this autumn
Together at The Wild Academy, Maddy and I are cultivating a shared wild author presence - one that feels sustainable, soulful, and shaped by the earth and the seasons. In today’s post, I’m sharing a glimpse into this process, to give you an idea of what you might achieve in Author Ecosystem…
🌳 Our heartwood
At the core of our work is a grounded, earthy voice. There’s a quiet confidence in how we speak of the sacred and the seasonal, how we offer rituals that are practical but never prescriptive. We walk alongside, not above.
🌿 A living map
In The Rewilding Yearbook, we don’t tell you how to rewild your life - instead, we offer pathways, symbols, and questions to help you find your own way. The importance of interconnection - with each other, the earth, and our more-than-human kin - seeps through every word.
Our creative identity is spirited and ever-evolving, and we encourage our readers to come to arrive with a similar mindset: this isn’t a book to be conquered in one sitting. It’s a companion, a seasonal lantern to support your journey in your own time, in your own way.
🛖 A digital sanctuary
We’ve been slowly weaving The Wild Academy’s digital home into a sanctuary space - one that reflects the essence of the book and our collaboration. We don’t see it as ‘content’, more an invitation to explore and linger.
🍃 A sustainable ecosystem
We’re not trying to be everywhere.
Substack (The Seed) is our hearthfire - a place where ideas take root.
Instagram? A light dusting. Not our forest anymore.
The Wildheart Podcast is where we commune, unpick and rewild words and stories.
This rhythm is enough, and feels meaningful and sustainable.
🌲 A literary forest
Our author presence isn’t a solo path - it’s a mycelial web. We’re nourished by the community in The Grove and The Seed. We’ll be inviting kindred voices to review the book, reaching out to thoughtful podcasts, and leaning into our circle of friends, family, and fellow wild writers.
🌒 Our next growth ring
Everything we’re doing - writing, sharing, connecting - is part of a natural cycle. We’re not in a rush to bloom, and choose to attune with the season we’re in. The next ring of growth will come from deepening what already feels true.
If you’re reading this and you’re curious about how to tend to your own wild author presence - how to weave voice, values, visibility and rooted strategy into something that actually feels like you - you’re warmly invited to explore the Author Ecosystem course, now open for enrolment.
Let your presence grow from the inside out.
Rooted. Rhythmic. Real.