In my recent book about walking the Way of St. Francis, I share everything from facts to legends about this most-beloved saint's life. I have found that many who walk on this route know little about him at all and that knowing a bit of his story makes this pilgrimage all the more meaningful. In … Continue reading Why Saint Francis Matters Today
A Year of Changing Plans
Like everyone else, this year has turned out quite differently than I had been planned. In early March I was on a small book tour of "outfitter" shops and was enjoying interacting with readers and sharing about the Camino de Santiago and the five-hundred mile journey that I took there in 2018, which I wrote … Continue reading A Year of Changing Plans
Book sales top 1,000
Last September I published my own book, The Walk of a Lifetime: 500 Miles on the Camino de Santiago, and set the modest goal of selling 1,000 copies in my first year. I'm happy to say that I crossed that milestone early this month, after only ten months, and I'm celebrating. Like many other authors, … Continue reading Book sales top 1,000
A Year of Downshifting
This piece was originally posted in January of 2019 on the now-defunct blog, The Rusty Walker "So, what are you doing these days now that you are retired?" This is a question that I get asked regularly. "It's complicated," is my first response, followed up by, "actually, I'm not retired. I've downshifted." In a car, you … Continue reading A Year of Downshifting
Solitude and mind clarification: Walking the Meseta on the Camino de Santiago
Several pilgrims I met before Burgos told me they planned to skip the Meseta, the broad central Spanish plain. They had heard it was long, dull and monotonous. They were going to take the bus to Leon, cutting out, at very least, seven days of walking. I would not have skipped it for anything. The … Continue reading Solitude and mind clarification: Walking the Meseta on the Camino de Santiago
Live life to the hilt
Backpacking with Greg, Great Smoky Mountains, 1976. The author is kneeling. A few days ago, was my brother-in law Greg Blaesing’s birthday. Were he still alive, he would be 66 and just a few months shy of full retirement age. Unfortunately, he died nearly a decade ago of non-smoker’s lung cancer. The time between his … Continue reading Live life to the hilt
How I used crowdsourcing to become a self-published author
I never thought I would write a book, even though I have published books for well over a hundred authors in recent decades. I have always loved writing and decided when I left my job as Publisher and Executive Director of MennoMedia in early 2018 that I would semi-vocationally write articles and shorter pieces on … Continue reading How I used crowdsourcing to become a self-published author
Why self-publish a book? (part 2)
There's a lot to be said for publishers of any kind. The word "publishing" literally means to "make public". We tend to think of it as something printed, but that's not the actual definition of the word. In the ancient world, it was an oral message. In our time it can include something published online … Continue reading Why self-publish a book? (part 2)
Why self-publish a book? (Part 1)
Why did I self-publish my book? I get asked this a lot and it's a good question. Here are some of the reasons: Working with a traditional publisher would have taken a lot longer to get my book into print. I thought about going this route last year, but I knew that to get my … Continue reading Why self-publish a book? (Part 1)
What’s it like to write a book?
Last year I walked the Camino Frances, the 500 miles pilgrimage route from St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France, to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. It was a life-changing experience, something I'd dreamed of doing for 20 years. I had no intention of writing a book about it, but while I was there my inner life opened up and... out … Continue reading What’s it like to write a book?
Russ Eanes 
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