Hi, I’m Rae Poynter, and I’m on a mission of the poets: to take the road less traveled by and to live deliberately.

I’m a freelance writer, tea enthusiast, author, and travel lover living in the northernmost tip of Minnesota.

Northern climes have a spirit that feels like home. From the quiet pine forests of the Boundary Waters to the misty hills of Scotland, these quiet and chilly places take me back to both the peaceful and courageous life I long to live.

I haven’t always had that soul-satisfying life I wanted to live. I took a different trail, and at some point down the way, stopped and wondered: How did I end up here?

I’d been living a life of predictability: in a city I didn’t care for and with a career path that I just couldn’t bring myself to be passionate about. I found myself at a crossroads: at the intersection of the easy road and the road I longed to travel. It felt like it was now or never, and I had a decision to make.

And so, I packed my bags and moved to my new home, which sits deep in the Superior National Forest. I embraced my long-held love for writing and decided to live the life I’d imagined.

When I started Northern Words, I wanted to create an online space that reflected the real-life values that I hold most dear. Here we believe in observing and creating, in heartfelt exploring and dancing and sucking the marrow out of life.

Northern Words is an independent press, and this site is the wild space of one who loves the wilderness. Like the quiet and wild places in nature, the creative mind doesn’t always grow by fences and rules. We recognize that. We also believe creativity should grow honestly, organically, and with much love, and that any piece of writing here, from published works to reader comments, should reflect that.

Here in this corner of the great Internet frontier you’ll find a base camp for explorers of both the natural and creative worlds.

Today, I’m on a journey to discover the authentic life so many of us yearn for. The kind of life reflected in the peace and solitude of the northwoods, and also in its rugged and adventurous beauty.

I’m on a mission to embrace my writing passion and turn my dream of being a writer into a reality.

I’m on a mission to take the road less traveled by, and help others to live their wild dream. 

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” –Henry David Thoreau

If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you! northernwordspress@gmail.com