Yes!!!! I picture all three memoirs together on a shelf somewhere (once mine comes out in August). Kelly has already seen hers alongside the other one (called When it all Burns) at a (sneaky!!) Barnes & Noble.
I think it’s very cool that multiple memoirs are coming out on this topic. After all, how sad would it be if someone could read only one and not read another for a different perspective. For example, I can’t tell you how many memoirs I’ve read about someone who grew up with parental abuse, or about polyamory, to pick two random examples. The more I read, the more I want to read - and I hope the effect will be the same for your book!
Those are such good examples, and it's so true! For many many decades the "wildland firefighter" memoir has been dominated by men (and mostly white men). Like, 98%. But now there are other perspectives and modes of writing edging in, and my hope is that even more will create a micro genre (and someone called it) filled with different voices and ideas.
I love this so much! I find it inspiring that you’re rejecting ideas around competition and sharing Kelly’s work here like this. It feels refreshing! (And also I’m so happy for you that you have made this connection as you’re both navigating your book launches and reflecting on your experiences!)
Thank you Hanna! I would honestly be a total wreck right now without Kelly, and I'm grateful our books will be coexisting. It was a bit scary to send that initial DM with no idea how she would respond, but everything that happened thereafter has been a literal blessing.
Love this so much, River. I was having this conversation recently with some friends who are botanists and were worried about other "plant" books coming out at the same time as or a bit before theirs. But we all agreed that experience has shown us that if just one of those books starts to do well, they all do better -- when people are interested in a subject, that interest gets spread around to a wider variety of stories.
A magazine editor said that to me once a long time ago, too, when I was annoyed because NPR had covered a little-known thing about walking that I was excited to be writing about in my book. He said something along the lines of, "Good writers always have their own unique way of approaching something. Nobody can take that from you." Good lesson to hang onto for me.
I agree with that NPR editor, but I also felt something similar when niche concepts in my book started getting covered in mainstream outlets. Then I checked myself: don't I want people to be educated about what I'm writing about? Yes! And aren't I writing about it in a relatively unique way? Also yes. I feel like each writer, if they're doing good work, is totally unique- connected to one another but like a snowflake or fingerprint. Thinking of things in that way has helped me so much when it comes to managing thoughts and anxieties around scarcity.
As a fan of botany, I remember when The Botany of Desire came out. Now we have Braiding Sweetgrass and books about night plants and redwoods and specific plant families. Like- amazing! And so many of them written by so many different perspectives! Now all we have to do is convince people to spend less time on social media and more time reading...
This is so smart and insightful! Competition between writers is such a zero-sum game. Teaming up is not only a better way to survive the debut process, which can feel so totally ego crushing, it's also just a nice way to be a human in this world.
River, this is exactly what we need more of in writing and publishing communities. It feels so much nicer to envision support and camaraderie amongst authors than competition.
As a brand new publisher I was initially worried that other small publishers wouldn't feel like helping me learn what I needed to know to survive and thrive in an unknown world. But it turns out there's a lot more grace and sharing amongst the smallest of us, and I'm beginning to feel like I've really found my community.
Thank you for the recommendation, River, and for linking to Bookshop.org and not the billionaire’s non-bookstore! I went ahead and used my Libro.fm credit to get Wildfires (and support Kelly and my local indie bookstore at the same time). I too, have a fire-related book, a poetry chapbook, Fire in My Head / Flame in My Heart: Poems for the Pyrocene (Kelsay Books, 2025). An annotated collection of 32 poems in four sections (Thirsting, Mourning, Coping, Transcending), it describes "the globe-shaped ache" of climate change and the wonders of nature that still offer hope. Congratulations on your forthcoming book! I look forward to reading it when it’s published!
As a librarian who makes booklists and recommendations, I love seeing micro-genres emerge!
Yes!!!! I picture all three memoirs together on a shelf somewhere (once mine comes out in August). Kelly has already seen hers alongside the other one (called When it all Burns) at a (sneaky!!) Barnes & Noble.
Yes!
I think it’s very cool that multiple memoirs are coming out on this topic. After all, how sad would it be if someone could read only one and not read another for a different perspective. For example, I can’t tell you how many memoirs I’ve read about someone who grew up with parental abuse, or about polyamory, to pick two random examples. The more I read, the more I want to read - and I hope the effect will be the same for your book!
Those are such good examples, and it's so true! For many many decades the "wildland firefighter" memoir has been dominated by men (and mostly white men). Like, 98%. But now there are other perspectives and modes of writing edging in, and my hope is that even more will create a micro genre (and someone called it) filled with different voices and ideas.
I love this so much! I find it inspiring that you’re rejecting ideas around competition and sharing Kelly’s work here like this. It feels refreshing! (And also I’m so happy for you that you have made this connection as you’re both navigating your book launches and reflecting on your experiences!)
Thank you Hanna! I would honestly be a total wreck right now without Kelly, and I'm grateful our books will be coexisting. It was a bit scary to send that initial DM with no idea how she would respond, but everything that happened thereafter has been a literal blessing.
Love this so much, River. I was having this conversation recently with some friends who are botanists and were worried about other "plant" books coming out at the same time as or a bit before theirs. But we all agreed that experience has shown us that if just one of those books starts to do well, they all do better -- when people are interested in a subject, that interest gets spread around to a wider variety of stories.
A magazine editor said that to me once a long time ago, too, when I was annoyed because NPR had covered a little-known thing about walking that I was excited to be writing about in my book. He said something along the lines of, "Good writers always have their own unique way of approaching something. Nobody can take that from you." Good lesson to hang onto for me.
I agree with that NPR editor, but I also felt something similar when niche concepts in my book started getting covered in mainstream outlets. Then I checked myself: don't I want people to be educated about what I'm writing about? Yes! And aren't I writing about it in a relatively unique way? Also yes. I feel like each writer, if they're doing good work, is totally unique- connected to one another but like a snowflake or fingerprint. Thinking of things in that way has helped me so much when it comes to managing thoughts and anxieties around scarcity.
As a fan of botany, I remember when The Botany of Desire came out. Now we have Braiding Sweetgrass and books about night plants and redwoods and specific plant families. Like- amazing! And so many of them written by so many different perspectives! Now all we have to do is convince people to spend less time on social media and more time reading...
This is so smart and insightful! Competition between writers is such a zero-sum game. Teaming up is not only a better way to survive the debut process, which can feel so totally ego crushing, it's also just a nice way to be a human in this world.
Wholeheartedly agree, Mandy.
River, this is exactly what we need more of in writing and publishing communities. It feels so much nicer to envision support and camaraderie amongst authors than competition.
As a brand new publisher I was initially worried that other small publishers wouldn't feel like helping me learn what I needed to know to survive and thrive in an unknown world. But it turns out there's a lot more grace and sharing amongst the smallest of us, and I'm beginning to feel like I've really found my community.
This is how writing should be.
Thank you for the recommendation, River, and for linking to Bookshop.org and not the billionaire’s non-bookstore! I went ahead and used my Libro.fm credit to get Wildfires (and support Kelly and my local indie bookstore at the same time). I too, have a fire-related book, a poetry chapbook, Fire in My Head / Flame in My Heart: Poems for the Pyrocene (Kelsay Books, 2025). An annotated collection of 32 poems in four sections (Thirsting, Mourning, Coping, Transcending), it describes "the globe-shaped ache" of climate change and the wonders of nature that still offer hope. Congratulations on your forthcoming book! I look forward to reading it when it’s published!
So lovely, River.
❤️❤️❤️❤️ you soon, too, Riva!!
This is incredible (and thoughtful, honest, and touching). Because of your post, I'm immediately compelled to tell my book club we should read both.