Pilgrim in the What?

Why did I name my blog pilgrim in the trailer park? Well the second part is obvious: I live in a trailer park. Riverside Mobile Home and RV Park, to be exact. But “why pilgrim?” as John asked. Well, in college I read this book called Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard.  A lot of people in the class couldn’t stand the book. I loved the book; she described nature with a poets heart, she took simile and metaphor to the next degree, she owned the adjective. I can’t remember a lot of it now and I don’t own a copy (but I just might buy one). It is described as “ the story of a dramatic year in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley, where Annie Dillard set out to chronicle incidents of ‘beauty tangled in a rapture with violence’” (thriftbooks.com). So I put a spin on her title and made it my own, although my writing doesn’t compare with hers. It’s an aspiring inspiration. 

As I remember, Dillard journaled her way to quit smoking, as she famously survived on chocolate milk and cigarettes (Ironically, I smoke when I write, using nicotine as a catalyst). The writing was so good it got turned into a book.  The anthology I read also included An American Childhood and The Writing Life, also very good. In fact, I think I will order the book.