In this, my 400th episode on “Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity,” I talk with writer Heather Lende about how she approaches her craft and what it means to write about, and for, a real community. Heather is the author of four books centered on her life in Haines, Alaska (pop ~2000): If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name, Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs, Find the Good: Life Lessons from a Small-town Obituary Writer, and, most recently, Of Bears and Ballots, about her adventures in local politics.
Living in the small town, Heather sees writing less as performance and more as an act of careful observation, listening, and responsibility. Our conversation touches on her long-running obituary column, which requires her to listen carefully, get the details right, and tell people’s stories with humility and care. She sees herself as “an observer of life,” while her careful attention to people and their details has earned her the informal label of “story catcher.” We talk about what changes when you write about people you know—or at least know of.
We explore what I call Heather’s nonlinear writing process, her discomfort with neat conclusions, and how grief, memory, and daily observation shape her work. We also explore doubt, discipline, and the tension between creative ambition and ordinary life. Throughout the conversation, writing emerges as a way of staying connected—to place, to people, and to the small, meaningful moments that make up a life.
We dive deeply into the story “Alaskans Dear” from her book, If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name, to understand her writing process and what it means to live in a small town.
