Curt Iles

I write to have influence and impact through well-told stories of my Louisiana Pineywoods life.

Dec. 27 “Two Masters” Bah Humbug Week Continues:

December 27   We’re walking you through the week after Christmas.  I call it “Bah Humbug Week.”  It’s a time of recovery from Christmas.  It’s often a difficult week. I believe it’s an essential week.   A time to slow down. A time to take inventory of the past week. An opportunity to look toward the coming new year.    …

Read More »

The Day After Christmas

December 26 The Day After Christmas It’s the dusk on the day after Christmas. I’m hiding at the edge of Miller Pond, waiting for the wood ducks to come in. You’d laugh if you saw me. I’m in camo and a dark ski mask. I’m sitting in a fold-up chair, trying not to move at all. It’s time for the …

Read More »

My Most Important Story

    My most important story By Curt Iles I make my living as a storyteller. As a novelist, I create characters and stories. What I wish to share is a true story. It’s my story. It’s a story of what happened inside me. I grew up in a rural area of Louisiana. Our lack of material things was offset …

Read More »

Stocking Stuffers from the Creekbank

It’s Christmas and time to help you with stock stuffers and difficult gifts. We are offering five of our Creekbank books for sale during Christmas. Each book is for sale at a discount of $10 per book and to encourage multiple purchases, there is a total shipping fee of $5 regardless of purchase size. Each book is personally autographed. You …

Read More »

The Jericho Road Part II

  Jericho Road Part 2 If you missed the earlier post on “The Jericho Road”, you can read it here. https://mailchi.mp/creekbank/a-lesson-for-our-times-on-the-jericho-road?e=25f4266cad   We left a beaten half-dead traveler laying along the Jericho Road. He is Jewish. The man who stops to aid him is a Samaritan. The Samaritans were a race hated by the Jews. In return, the Samaritans hated …

Read More »

The Jericho Road

  High on the Jericho Road   It’s a story that disturbs me each time I think about it. In Jon Krakauer’s book, Into Thin Air, the author describes the tragic day of May 10, 1996, when over a dozen climbers died during a blizzard in the upper reaches of Mt. Everest. On the Tibetan route near the summit of …

Read More »

Thoughts from the Road

On the Dangerous Side of I-49 I sped along Interstate 49 on the way to Lafayette. Looking ahead, I changed lanes at the sight of a disabled vehicle on the right shoulder. A woman stood in the ditch, watching a squatting deputy change the flat on her car. His patrol unit, blue lights flashing, sat ahead on the shoulder. It …

Read More »

Memorial Day- The Gift of Life: 24,550 Extra Days

Herman Clemenson lived 24,500 days after Sgt. Leroy Johnson saved his life on Dec. 15, 1944. The place was Leyte Island, Philippines. The story is one for the ages. 24,550 days. That’s a long time.  That’s 67 years and over two months. Close to a lifetime.  And Herman Clemenson,  a North Dakota soldier had this gift of a lifetime thanks …

Read More »

A Lesson from King Mockingbird

King Mockingbird The Northern Mockingbird, that most Southern of birds. Each day he sits up there—on the highest limb on the tallest oak. I call him “King Mockingbird.” The area around the oak and our back yard belongs to him. He is the biggest and loudest mockingbird around. It is easy to recognize him high up in the tree. His …

Read More »

A Time to Read … and Grow

Listen to an Audible audiobook free sample of As the Crow Flies. A Time to Read   There have been so many challenges and opportunities during this time of uncertainty. I’m reminded of a quote in The Art of War by Sun Tzu, “In the midst of chaos, there is an opportunity.” Webster’s defines opportunity as a “good chance for …

Read More »

Trail Magic

Trail Magic “Be ye kind one to another.” -Paul in Ephesians 4:32 Frank and I climbed up a steep ridge on the north Georgia part of the Appalachian Trail. We were on a remote and dry portion of the Trail and were parched on this warm day. Our water bottles were empty and we consulted a guidebook for the next …

Read More »

Lightening your Load

Good thoughts for an uncertain time:     Lightening your Load   I love to hike along the Appalachian Trail (or the “A.T.” as it is called.) One thing backpacking quickly teaches you is the priority of traveling light. When you are carrying a 30-40 pound pack on your back for 10-15 miles per day, you quickly learn what not …

Read More »

How to Fight a Bear

How to Fight a Bear I’ve got hiking fever. It’s strikes me several times a year and I find my heart, if not my feet, on a trail in Arkansas or the Appalachian Mountains. In both of these hiking locales, encountering black bears does occur. I want to share a few good bear stories along with information from a “Bear …

Read More »

“Uncle Quincy’s Goose” from ‘Wind in the Pines’

  Uncle Quincy’s Goose   (From Curt Iles’s third book, Wind in the Pines.) “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.” -Proverbs 21:23   You are probably familiar with the old story of the gossip who was confronted for spreading an untruth throughout the community. The offending “tale-bearer” apologized and volunteered to go back to …

Read More »