The Tale of Ol' Split Toe
Date Published: 03-31-2026
Narrator: Dan Ellens
Run Time: 10 hours 6 minutes
Split Toe witnesses two hundred years of conflict building between modern humans -- who fight to control the natural world -- and Mother Nature, who repeatedly reaches for balance. He wonders whether human ways will ultimately overpower Mother Nature, until he meets a boy who changes everything.
DE: I am a Michigander, though I have traveled extensively. I lived in Germany for several years as a child and in India for three years as an adult. I am retired from a full career in industry and am now caretaker of Winterfield Pines Nature Sanctuary in Clare County, Michigan. I live in the sanctuary’s forest half time (all seasons), in an electricity-free treehouse with woodstove heat, handpump water, and oil lamp lighting.
DE: I read first-hand historical accounts (often from the shelves of second hand bookstores or antique shops). I also read historical or literary fiction, poetry, and occasionally humor. I like frontier novels and stories about the struggles of exploration. I have read most of the books by Simon Winchester, Larry McMurtry, Wilbur Smith, Allen Eckert and Louis L’Amour (several times). Many other authors captivate me, such as Arturo Perez-Reverte, Carlos Ruiz Zaron, and Elizabeth Kostova.
DE: I am reading Devouring Time: Jim Harrison, a Writer’s Life, by Todd Goddard. This is a biography of Jim Harrison, a naturalist, poet, and novelist. The book has helped me to understand and appreciate free verse poetry in a deeper way. It also provides Jim Harrison’s backstory and the struggles he faced throughout his life as a writer. Buckle your seatbelt for this one!
DE: My own favorite sports have to do with the outdoors – hiking, canoeing, bicycling, mountain trekking, camping, hunting. For competitive spectator sports, I like ice hockey best – a true Michigander!
DE: Michigan is blanketed with beautiful countryside (agriculture and forest), and many, many opportunities for outdoor recreation – iconic rivers and lakes, state and national parks and forests, trails for walkers, bicyclers, and horses. There are also trails set aside for snowmobiles and ATVs. I like Michigan’s seasonal change. My favorite National Park is Isle Royale in Lake Superior.
DE: I began writing in the mid-1990s and was first published in 2000. Forest Legend: The Tale of Ol’ Split Toe is my fifth book. It is my debut into the world of fiction. I write books to connect people with nature, inspire adventure, and promote self-sufficient lifestyles.
DE: I spend a good deal of time thinking about my topic before I begin writing. When I wrote Forest Legend, the plot was not planned in detail, but the message I wanted to get across was clear in my mind. When I sat down to write, I wrote, and wrote, and wrote, day after day, until a draft was complete. The writing drew me in. Everything else faded into the background until the first draft was complete. It took six weeks. I remember my mind racing ahead to the next chapters as I worked through current settings and characters. Because Forest Legend steps through time, I was continuously thinking about new characters and landscape description.
When the first draft was done, I picked it apart. I read it and reread it. I asked myself, “Where will a reader put the story down?” Too slow. Confusing. Repetitious. I found the problematic spot and rewrote it. Then I asked the question again, looking for what the most vulnerable place was now where a reader might drop it. I improved the that spot. I did this over and over until I was satisfied that the story would hold the reader from beginning to end. The story did not change, but the pace, intensity, and clarity did.
DE: My inspiration for Forest Legend was Suzanne Simard’s book Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, which describes her research into the living connection trees have with each other below the forest floor. When I read her book I realized that, despite spending decades as an advocate for forests, I did not really understand trees. I misjudged them. I thought it was a pity that I found this information in my sixties. I wanted my children and grandchildren to fill in the puzzle piece when they were younger.
I decided to write an adventure for a broad audience of fiction readers who might not read a book focused purely on non-fiction information. I wanted people to read the story for the adventure in a way that the environmental concepts would rub off on them. Because of my decades immersed and isolated in the forest, the contribution I could uniquely make was to tell the story from natures point of view. I developed the character of Ol’ Spit Toe, a time-traveling deer, to help with that.
DE: On the day Forest Legend was finally published, I had a lovely launch party and thanked all of the people who helped to bring the book to life.
Keep your submittal information simple and tight. Follow the submittal rules.
How do you organize everything and finding the time to sit down and write?
When I write, all I do is write. I don’t try to fit it in with other things. I am driven until I reach a stopping point. Total focus.
DE: My spirit animal is a white-tailed deer. What else could it be with a story like Forest Legend: The Tale of Ol’ Split Toe to my credit?
Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing?
As I looked for a publisher, my sister, Rebecca, helped me get the book past a difficult roadblock. She enthusiastically believed in the book’s potential and connected me with other people who helped me enormously.
DE: I pick names to honor people I know. Some of the characters in Forest Legend are named after my parents or grandparents. I pick names to fit the periods in which the scenes took place. Scenes from the past warrant old-fashioned names. Edra is a very old-style name. My maternal grandmother, born around 1900, was named Edra. Grace was the name of my other grandmother, born in 1905. Ol’ Split Toe is not a name I invented. It is a bit like Big Foot. Split Toe is a legendary deer talked about in deer camps throughout North America.
DE: I write and research with intense focus. When I wrote Forest Legend, I stayed at the computer with a pot of coffee close by and a stack of reference books on the table. I ate simple meals at the computer. I began early, often before daybreak. I wrote and researched for 12-plus hours straight. Much of Forest Legend was written while I was in the forest, in a treehouse with 360 degrees of windows overlooking the world I was writing about. The electricity-free aspects of the treehouse and the lack of connectivity added unique challenges.
Dan Ellens is an outdoor enthusiast who is passionate about connecting people with nature.
He spends nearly half of each year off-grid in an isolated, hand-built, electricity-free treehouse nestled within Winterfield Pines Nature Sanctuary with woodstove heat, handpump water, and oil lamp lighting.
Dan was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and grew up in southeast Michigan. He has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Calvin University and an MBA from Michigan State University. Dan is retired from a full career in industry and international business.
During 1996, 1997, and 1998, his family lived as expatriates in Bangalore, India, the inspiration for “A Time for India”, Dan’s second book, now in its second edition.
When Dan’s children were small – 10 years old - he took them each on an outward-bound, father-child adventure. The journal of those four trips became Dan’s first book, “Turning Ten: Great Adventures in the Great Lakes”, now in its second edition.
Dan is an accomplished woodworker and carpenter. His lifelong love for old-school carpentry inspired “Building the Bunkee: A Photo Anthology of Custom Log Cabin Construction and One Man’s Retirement Dream”. Dan is a hobby artist who is passionate about rescuing, restoring, and finding new homes for fine art. In the wilds, he sees cooking and baking without modern conveniences as their own adventure and creative expression. “Treehouse Letters: The Unabridged Michigan Forest Life Journal” includes entries about his art and his back-woods cooking … and many other things that one might think about while in a tree.
“Forest Legend: The Tale of Ol’ Split Toe”, Dan’s upcoming novel – his debut fiction piece written while sitting in his treehouse nest - brings experience from decades of life in the forest together with a rich understanding of mid-Michigan’s pioneer history and changing landscape. In this sweeping adventure, Dan explores the resilience of nature through the eyes of a majestic, time-traveling deer.
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