Debra Harman is a writer, editor and a publisher. She launched a number of successful Medium publications, Narrative Arc, Wind Phone, and Imogene's Notebook.
Debra is an avid hiker exploring the Cascades and Pacific Crest trail in her native Oregon, USA. She likes to venture around the world as well, and has hiked the storied Camino de Santiago trail in Europe.
She is also a musician, playing with a band and bringing joy to all who listen.
Debra lived as an expat in Cambodia and wrote a memoir of her time there Love and Loss in Cambodia
Today, we interview Debra and read her story from one of her travels across Spain. It is a touching story about loss and adventure. (Read the essay)
From the show:
“… If you really want to write well, you have to read a lot. I would say that as an editor, I've got a lot of experience in examining craft and how an essay is structured and how a story is paced. I have a really good eye for what a writer is doing with her pacing of a story. For example, you want to speed up the narrative, use shorter sentences. You want to pause the narrative, isolate a sentence. You want to slow the reader down, add in some exposition and some description, and then build the story. That's why it's called an arc …”
“… Q: What do you think we all need more of in our lives?
A: Oh, I would have to say kindness to other people. Kindness, absolutely. Not tolerance. Tolerance implies that there's something wrong with the other people. I think that it's important to be kind and to listen to other people and to share food, share nature, and show appreciation. …”
Share this post