It’s pretty adventurous.
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Tag: writing
Working Remotely or Remotely Working: Lessons Learned From a Work Week at a Climber’s Hostel
The moon shines brightest at 4am.
It had been slinking across the night sky—naturally—but something about the fourth hour causes it to sink into a puncture in the celestial curtain. And just sit there.
The porcelain plate grows brighter, perhaps by fear, as if it’s hanging on by fingernails and knows it’s about to tumble through. The light is immense and the landscape is aglow—like a Murakami pixie dream, everything just twinkling—which means the hat pulled over my eyes simply doesn’t cut it.
Cut to: Tossing. Sleeping bag tightening. Bivvy flap scratching. Under-breath cursing.
Such as it was each night of the past week.
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Chichidho, a climber’s hostel behind La Peña de Bernal, was my home for the last seven days. It was a test to see if mixing work and play was doable, and if so, to what extent.
Then the moon came. All bright enough to walk along at night without an extra light. That glow illuminated something else too: Ah, it reminded me that it was like this a month ago!
When I first arrived.
Funny enough, the dates change, time passes, but the cycle of the moon remains. It’s almost like you can live parallel lives by attaching new memories to a prominent environmental fixture that only occurs every 30 days: There are visits to Chichidho during full moons and without, no in betweens…
But I guess we’ll have to see if the rhythm continues next month too.
(Umm, what about the subject of the article, though?)
Oh yea, this is a blog post about working for a week at a climber’s hostel. So how did it go?
Lessons learned from working remotely at a climber’s hostel
1) There was a break in period
Life in Querétaro has been routine, mostly by design. So far, I’ve been trying to keep a regular schedule, circulate among the same cafes, and generally maintain consistency (for the sake of efficiency!). The emphasis is on work, with weekends reserved for climbing.
I didn’t realize how much a change in environment would alter things. In a city, coffee shops open at specific times, stores are around every corner, and things like weather are mitigated to some extent.
At Chichidho I had to learn a whole new pattern, largely based around the sun, such as:
The big light doesn’t peek over the mountain until 9am (which means it’s cold(er) up to that point); paying attention to the position of the sun during the day as it dictates when and where to go for climbing breaks (and even where you can sit while working); and making sure to charge your laptop and phone before nightfall as the hostel’s solar-powered batteries tend to run low by the end of the day, which precipitates an annoying screech from some sort of electric-thingamajig which I would have liked to minimize as much as possible (to no avail).
You were basing your day around the solar scoundrel up above? How primitive!
Also, the daily ritual of showering for public presentation? Meh.
Takeaway: How does your environment shape your schedule?
2) I was much more vigilant of my mental state and energy levels
In the city, the only real focus is on the tasks that need to get done that day. I find I’m more prone to power through the work even if feeling less than inclined. There’s something about having the intention of “this is a work day” that keeps me “on track” according to more traditional 9-5 hours. This also tends to leave me feeling more drained come nightfall, like you’re “fighting through” to get the job done in a certain time frame.
At Chichidho, projects were still set each day, but the schedule was more variable. Maybe I would start work at 9am then take a break at 2pm to climb with Nathan (a fellow working guest). Maybe I wasn’t feeling it, and instead climb until Noon before starting work. Plus all sorts of other permutations.
Interestingly (probably only to me), I got the same (if not more) work done each day. However, it was spread out and aligned with what felt to be natural “productive periods” (where it didn’t feel like having to overcome inertia: around 10am-2pm, 4-6pm, 8-10pm). I rarely felt depleted come sleepy time.
With that said, I felt very unmotivated to do work today, so there’s something to just sitting down and doing it.
Takeaway: When do you feel most productive? Depleted?
3) The stoke for climbing was more even keel
Maybe the adage, “absence makes the heart grow fonder” applies here.
When I can only climb outside for two days a week, I really look forward to those days. When the weekend comes, climbing is the only focus and the sessions are long.
But, when climbing is all around there is no longer a feeling of scarcity. We’d climb almost everyday but for shorter sessions, and that seemed to give me my fill.
It’s as if during a week in the city, the reservoirs run low and I need a full weekend of climbing to top it up. But at Chichidho, I only used a little gas each day, so the smaller sessions were enough.
Takeaway: How do you recharge?
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What about you? Have you worked while on climbing trips, or for extended stays at a climber’s hostel? How did it go for you? Any tips or lessons learned?
Share in the comments below!
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Lessons Learned from a Year of Blogging
I woke up this morning and realized that I’ve been blogging on a weekly basis for over a year.
When the notion struck, and after my first Nescafe, I started to think about lessons learned (as one does). Very quickly, I distracted myself with other things because a reflection piece was not of interest to me today.
But I have a streak to keep in tact. It’s Thursday after all.
Read on for lessons learned. (Scroll down for a while if you’re eager for the takeaways).
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First: A long-winded intro that circles back to the theme eventually. Per usual.
The idea of pursuing writing or of becoming “a writer” has been brewing for several years.
Last February, I began to put pen to paper while in Budapest. This was the second leg of my Eastern European Trip, Pt. 1 (Act 2): The Prelude, and I had determined that a month in Hungary’s capital city would be the perfect place for a “writing” sojourn. The vision in my head was myopically poetic.
I imagined frantic notebook scrawling in cafes during the morning and long soaks in thermal baths in the evening. There would be walks in between and plenty of goulash sampled on my traipsing through the city (or whatever it is they ate in Hungary). I also kind of hoped I’d become an alcoholic, because that seems to be a thing good writers have in common.
The script didn’t go as theoretically conceived (for one, the beer wasn’t very good there). But, I did write (poems and essays mostly), and more importantly, I began to believe it was possible.
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Life progressed and the idea of giving a go at “writing” niggled it’s way irreparably into the depths of my brain. Like a parasite that couldn’t be satiated.
(Which is probably necessary because writers don’t make a whole lot–outside of the power-law-few anyways–and you likely need to be slightly delusional / intrinsically motivated to pursue such a fool’s errand. But hey, at least I’m not a poet.)
Come November (2018), I committed to posting at least one article per week on this blog.
There were several reasons for this:
- The main aim was simple: To write more.
- I needed to start somewhere, and you only get better at writing through the act of writing.
- It was a schedule that I could stick to, and I wanted to prove to myself that I could be dedicated to a craft.
So I began, and the weekly streak is alive. Onto the lessons learned.
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Lessons Learned:
You never really know what’s going to catch fire.
This goes for what you like to write about, and for what gets page views. If I’m being honest, I was banging my head against a wall for a longtime trying to figure out what I wanted to write.
I actually enjoy creating poetry, but that wasn’t going to further the cause of becoming a writer. My early essays and observational travel pieces felt a bit flat to me then, and read that way to me now. Upon reflection, I know that it’s because they lacked a certain essence or deep-rooted interest for me (poet alert!: He said, “essence”).
For whatever the hell reason, climbing has been the muse that’s really launched things in a new direction: It’s personally intriguing to me, I see plenty of potential to tell different kinds of stories, and I actually get paid to write about it.
The takeaway here is: You need to start writing, try a bunch of shit, and hope to God you come across something that tickles your pickle.
As for page views…
Give the people what they want. (Sort of).
No one really cares about my broken heart.
So I’ve been told on a few occasions. But they love climbing related shit. Like The Coolest Climbing Festivals in Europe that has been far and away the most popular post, and continues to brings in consistent organic traffic each month.
Additionally, distribution matters a lot more than the content.
Every post that’s brought in high volumes of traffic (note: It’s all small-small numbers) has been shared by others through social media.
This is because the readership on the blog is somewhat contained (mostly friends and family–thanks for reading!–and people who subscribe). The only way for articles to spread to the wider world is when I beta spray and post them around, or other people do.
For people to share, it has to be of value to them. Things like informational pieces, destination guides, how to’s, etc. lend themselves more to spraying.
Growing the readership and “creating a brand” haven’t been the priority so far as I just wanted to focus on “writing” and “finding my voice.” I’m not sure if I’ll try to do more with this blog, I kind of like the liberty to talk about whatever.
It’s fun. It’s creative. It makes people more likely to talk to you.
By far the coolest part of this is that people are open to chatting with you.
It’s like getting a license to reach out to whomever and ask all sorts of questions you would normally be too modest to ask of your friends.
As a result, you get to help share stories about people who aren’t typically covered. Oftentimes these folk are inspiring, relatable, kind… and doing really cool shit!
Through this process I’ve flexed my journalism muscles (which I’ve found I quite like), experimented with markety-type content, bared my heart (take that, haters!), and played with a variety of other forms of writing.
It’s changed my life.
Not to be dramatic about it…
If you had asked me last year if I thought I would be able to make a living through writing in 2019, my answer would be emphatically, “No way, dude!” Quickly followed by, “But like, that’d be really cool!”
And now here I am in Queretaro, Mexico getting paid to put words into 1’s and 0’s across the interwebs.
A lot can happen in a year, apparently. Such as it is.
To be clear, it wasn’t the blog all on its own. Rather, it’s been the process of writing, learning that this is something I can do, and then going out and doing it (plus some luck). Still, the blog has played an important role.
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There you have it, some begrudging lessons learned from this past year.
“Onwards and upwards!,” as one of my former bosses liked to say.
7 Surprising Lessons from My First Climbing Trip “on Assignment”
The lens cap wouldn’t go back on. I was fumbling by the greyscale schist, turning ‘round the plastic piece like a steering wheel.
“Uhh, what the fuck,” I mumbled, confusedly, to myself. The circular pissant had started on the lens, I was sure of that, those two pinchy prongs, when squeezed, clearly released the cover from the concave portal. Then why won’t it go back in? I tried jamming it, clomp, clomp, clack, into the hole.
Turns out the camera needed to be powered off in order for the lens to recede and the cap to fit in place.
“Ah, just first day blunders, it’ll all be easy sailing from here!,” I reassured myself.
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I was recently commissioned to write about climbing at Rumney in New Hampshire, for—humbly—what is my first paid article, in real dollars… potentially… because the check hasn’t been cut yet.
In order to complete the research and take photographs for the piece, I spent a few days on location. This article is about lessons learned, and mostly the mishaps, from my first climbing trip “on assignment.”
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Rumney is the mecca of sport climbing in New England, a destination crag for rock scalers within a 5-hour drive radius. Québécoise? Sure thing. New Yorkers? No problem. Bostononians? Of course.
On good weather weekends the parking lots are stacked before the first Regular cup of Dunks and “crawlah” has been washed down by BPD.
Luckily, weekdays see lighter attendance, and less people to witness my flailing with the flagellating camera around my neck.
Lesson 1: Know How Your Equipment Works
No amount of editing was going to fix the blurred images.
Sitting at home the photo previewer showed one out of focus shot after another: A close up of rock here, faded climber in the background there; Censored cliff and a verdant tree wearing a liberal application of green blush; Oh this shot of my boot and dirt is crystal!
Eventually I figured out the settings and how to target the focus. I also learned plenty of settings not to use!
Lesson 2: Get off the Ground
The most interesting shots were ones from non-traditional vantage points, like “soloing” a slab slate to grab some setting sun or tying in to a first bolt on an adjacent route in order to capture a climber up close.
The difficulty in framing climbing shots, aside from knowing how to use the camera, came down to not losing the climber in the frame. A fellow photographer I met there remarked on how easy it is for the climber to get lost, whether from the scale of the wall, the muted colors they are wearing, or from poor lighting. Getting closer and properly structuring the shot made a world of difference.
Lesson 3: Plan out the Shoot and Know What You Want to Capture
The next day my thighs felt leaden. I haven’t done much hiking lately, but in reality I scaled a few thousand feet of vertical over those days, often on steep inclines heading up and down to the different cliffs along Rattlesnake Mountain. Some areas are more than half an hour from the parking lot.
Simply traveling to each locale took a few hours of the day, and time away from photographing.
At the wall, climbers can take a surprising amount of time “hanging out” on the cliff waiting for their next burn. While I took a few of these convalescent frames, they weren’t the epitome of an action shot. Add up travel time, stop and wheeze time, photographing (waiting around) and this became an all day excursion.
I planned the types of shots I needed—action shots, lifestyle, and ambiance—and I knew generally the order with which I would go to each location. This helped keep me on target and set a route for the day.
Lesson 4: Pretend to Be Friendly and Nice so People Talk to You and Let You Take Photos of Them
Photos of big hunks of rock can be quite boring, lack scale, and generally leave one uninspired if you don’t showcase people demonstrating what’s possible (on them).
So, I had to try talking to people *groans* to see if I could photograph them while they did interesting things on these big hunks of rock. In the end this was less awkward than sitting there taking pictures and leaving without a word.
Lesson 5: Don’t Listen to Someone When They Say Not to Pay for Parking
This one is self-explanatory. Support the local park.
Lesson 6: Shooting Is One Half the Battle, Editing Makes a World of Difference
Do you need to amplify the purple longsleeve of the climber to make her pop out against the wall? Coming right up, alongside the bleaching backlighting!
The editing process, thanks to a free online program, was instructive and useful. Turns out you can do quite a bit to manipulate a pic, from tinting people’s skin color to look like the Hulk to sandpapering away all the details to leave an image akin to squinting your eyes.
On the other hand, editing made too dark pictures turn out vibrantly, and things like cropping or manipulating contrast did wonders for highlighting the subject of the image.
Lesson 7: Beats Working in a Coffee Shop, or Library, or at Home
The main challenge was wanting to climb more, which is really a difficulty I have most days.
It was only due to my herculean grit and vast reservoirs of restraint that I was able to complete the assignment relatively on time. And with that, my first paid piece and on assignment trip are officially in the books with maybe a check in the mail as my reward.
In the end, it was fun, and it was work, and I’d like to do more of it.
Photos by the author
I’m the Real Nostradamus: Predictions from My 13 Year Old Self
An envelope arrived at my folk’s home today.
The handwriting was unmistakably mine: The characters bunch up in places, rounded letters proceed along wavy edges, and finishing marks run sloppy from a lazily lifted pen. The return address said, “ECMS / Mr. Waite” (in my hand writing). Hmm. Did I write this to myself in… 8th grade?!?
I had completely forgotten if I had. What would it say? I greedily dove in.
Yes, I do remember now! The class: American History. The teacher: Mr. Waite–taller, lithe, slightly balding and for whatever reason I imagine him with a weak chin that melts into his throat. But I think that’s just an unflattering caricature I’m making up. The age: 13.
This was the year of 9/11. And if memory serves correctly, we learned about the planes colliding into the World Trade Center in that class. (The school had actually restricted information flow on the premises, turning off TVs and preventing access to computers. We only found out because fellow students were receiving text messages. Cell phones had only become a thing a few years before). That event, a framer of world views, took place three months prior to this letter writing exercise, and it clearly influenced the content. I was also clearly unimpressed with the latest homework assignment.
Well, what did I find?
It turns out I was snarky then (and I still got it!), laid on the sarcasm (ala, “All thanks to the great teachings of Mr. T-Waite, I am able to find peace and joy in school!”), and full of ambitious predictions about the future.
For the record, let it be known that I was highly accurate in my guesses, and I still have three years more to run the cycle through. Mark it, Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks, will be the richest man in the world in 2022!!
Without further adieu, I present to you, 13 year old Aaron:
(Typed letter below the pictures. Spelling mistakes, etc. copied over from the original document.)
Sec. D
12/19/01
“Rip Van Essay”
January 2nd 2002:
Dear Journal,
Today at school I had a horible day. Our teachers seem to have no sympathy for us, and they simply dumped homework onto us. They pilled it on and it’s like it might take me 20 years to complete. I will write to you later.
As he put down his pen he felt a great sense of sleepiness embrace his soul. He put his journal back to the shelf it called home, and he trudged over to his backpack. Slowly, the books were taken out and placed onto the desk.
“Math, Science, Language Arts, Spanish, and my most favorite subject American History. All thanks to the great teachings of Mr. T-Waite, I am able to find peace and joy in school!” The boy shuffled his books around and then once again arranged them, first by color, then by size, and finally weight, before even looking at the homework he had to initiate.
DOWN went the pen to the clean and fresh piece of paper. Down, further and further still. Down to the unmarked paper, and the excruciatingly long process of homework had begun. He rhythmically began to put the heading of his paper on, as it had been “drilled” into his head earlier that school year. Then, suddenly Aaron had an idea!” Wouldn’t it be great to go into the future? He pondered the question as he automatonically went through his homework.
Slowly Aaron fell asleep. At first only nodding his head every once and a while, but before long he felt it gnawing at him. He wouldn’t be able to fight it for long! At that moment, almost cliche, a commercial with the song “Go to sleep Little Baby” played, and Aaron was done. Off into Dream World for him, little did he know when he would wake up, the world as he knew it would be a thing of the past.
Dear Journal,
When I said I would write to you later, I didn’t think it would be this late! As I’ve come to discover it’s the year 2022, which came with many snickers and sneers from the people I have met. Apparently I had been sleeping the whole time, and my parents hadn’t realised for I simply spend all my time in my room anyways. As it stands I hardly know where to begin. I woke up and had a horrible need to go to the bathroom. After I finished, I looked up to the mirror, but much expecting to see a child, all I saw was hair. That was the first time I knew something was wrong.
That was pretty minor compared to some of the other things I learned. First off, I learned there was a common currency used around the world, my petty change I traded in for the New World dollar. More minor, each sink had three knobs now, one hot, one cold, and one mixed with soap already in it (I found this out the hard way). I also learned that after George W. we had a black president who took charge immediately and finished up the war on terrorism. The string of presidents were all well bread, and intelligent who managed to reverse the economic slump, but where else is there to go after you go up? I even learned a few female’s were running for the next presidency, which had been lengthened for 5 years.
While looking through the newspaper I learned some very startling news. Supposedly America had claimed many countries for itself after the war on terrorism, stating they were obviously inadequote and unable to govern themselves, so America found it their responsibility to take it by force. On a lighter note, I learned the new fashion was baggy clothes once again, after it had been leather and other cow products for a long time. I was also suprised to hear Bill Gates was now the second richest man in the world, second to the one and only man who started Starbucks coffee, where coffee is their life and ambition. You can always count on Starbucks to be there for you. I have learned more, but I have grown weary of writing. I will write to you later. He fell asleep on his journal, and had a peaceful dream.
On the Power of Self-Respect
And owning up to how we want to live
Hey everyone,
This week’s theme focuses on how we choose to operate in the world. Will we lead with self-respect, will we aspire to be a hero, will we let physical or mental or societal impediments limit us?
Plus, three internship opportunities with outdoor magazines.
Opportunities
Rock and Ice Internship
Great way to break into the industry and hang out in a super outdoorsy community.
Field Mag Internship
Field Mag is “a modern outdoor lifestyle publication for lovers of good design and the great outdoors.” They are looking for summer intern(s) to help with editorial efforts, social, and potentially marketing/advertising.
Sidetracked Magazine Internship (pending details)
Sidetracked is UK-based and features first person narrative with gorgeous photography.
What I’m Reading
On Self-Respect: Joan Didion’s 1961 Essay from the Pages of Vogue
Joan Didion is lyrical, a weaver of narrative, and offers critical insight into the human psyche.
To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves—there lies the great, the singular power of self-respect. Without it, one eventually discovers the final turn of the screw: one runs away to find oneself, and finds no one at home.
Kilian Jornet. Mountain poetry
Kilian talks about what drives him to the mountains, and what he seeks out there and within himself. Also, why it is important to strive to be heroes in the everyday:
What we should contemplate is that it shouldn’t be considered heroic but the natural thing inside all of us… They’ve shown us that the heroic should be the normal human thing to do, and in our individualistic and self-centered days, this is important and admirable.
How a one-handed champion is reinventing rock climbing
I mean, shit. She’s one-handed and climbing 5.12s.
“Hey guys, I’m missing my left arm below the elbow, so I chopped off the end of a Trango ice tool, put a screw in it, and attached it to the socket of my prosthetic. Wondering if this would be okay to climb with?”
The Desperado
“In April 2018, a blind man with one foot robbed a bank in Austin, Texas. This is a heist story—but unlike any you’ve ever read.”
Wonderful writing. Spell-binding from the opening lines. The Atavaist is a must read for storytelling.
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Out There / In Here, vol. 6
Feature photo source: Kilian Jornet
We Are What We Do
On why we create and how to get there
Hey everyone,
This week’s theme is around the role of the individual in the larger context of society, and how one can come to define themselves.
Also, one writer’s account of overnight success. Just kidding, it’s been over 8 years, and the progress has been quite gradual.
Lastly, I turned 31 this past week. You’d think there might be big epiphanies after all these years of existence. But that’s not the case. At least for me anyway.
The boundary between 30 and 31 came to pass, and nothing perceptible really happened. I was flooded with a sense of sadness upon waking, got caught up in comparisons to a vague sense of where I thought I ought to be, rollicked in joy at all the years I (hopefully) have in front of me, and grappled with day-to-day existence type shit, like where to go for lunch and “I should really respond to that email.”
Opportunities
Salmon River Writing Workshop: The Human Wilderness Experience
Brendan Leonard is one of my favorite outdoor writers as he combines humor, vulnerability, and an adventurous spirit. This workshop offers 6 days on the Salmon River, covering 90 miles and what it takes to craft a compelling story.
What I’m Reading (& Watching)
Murmurations are an aerial ballet
The mysterious flights of the Common Starling are known as a “murmuration” and it is still unknown how the thousands of birds are able to fly in such dense swarms without colliding. This is from the same director as last week’s video.
We’re Here. You Just Don’t See Us.
I am constantly working to figure out how to make you acknowledge me as American, too. I refuse to be seen as poor and powerless, and I attempt to approach each day with a boldness and vulnerability that leaves an imprint on somebody. I continue to penetrate spaces where I’m not expected to be.
What narratives have you been told? How are they shaping your perception of yourself and what is possible?
Climbing Doesn’t Change You
The backlash to one of Kathy’s earlier posts (of which this is a rebuttal piece) is surprising. Since when could you not express the outdoors/ climbing/ your passion in romantic, sentimental language?
Failure gives you depth. It gives you mental tenacity. It shatters the expectations we often feel trapped within, the expectations that our perceptions of ourselves create. Exposing our failures lets us fearlessly show the world that we are human…. Nobody walks up the mountain to the top with a smile on their face the entire time, or without shedding a few tears, a little blood.”
I realized why I had shared it in the first place: to cultivate empathy and understanding not only for myself, but for others who might have had an experience
It was then that choosing vulnerability became an act of courage.
Art Is Commensurate with the Human Spirit
Art has but one principle, one aim, — to produce an impression, a powerful impression, no matter by what means, or if it be by reversing all the canons of taste and criticism.
Why do you create art? What impression are you hoping to make?
Longform Podcast #256: David Gessner
Great interview with an intelligent, open, and self-effacing writer.
The ambition got in my way at first. Because I wanted my stuff to be great, and it froze me up. But later on it was really helpful. I’m startled by the way people don’t, you know, admit [they care] … it seems unlikely people wouldn’t want to be immortal.
19: The True Story of the Yarnell Hill Fire
Simply brilliant writing and reporting.
Claire took the band and rolled it between her fingers and thought, What if someday this is all I have left?
What if…
The Writing Life
Lessons from Eight Years of Writing an Adventure Blog
Buckle in, this might take awhile:
In my second year of pitching stories, I made $75 from one article. I moved to Denver to work at a small newspaper—but on the side, I kept pitching any outdoor publication I thought might pay. Almost all of them sent me rejections. In late 2006, John Fayhee at the Mountain Gazette liked a story I sent him enough to publish it and pay me $100. In mid-2007, I got a part-time job writing funny 100-word blogs for an outdoors website, at 15 cents a word, two to three blogs per week.
After almost six years of trying, I started getting magazine assignments, starting in early 2011 with a story I’d been pitching and had written for Climbing magazine.
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Out There / In Here, vol. 5
Feature photo source: Outside Magazine
31 for 31: The Grateful List
You’d think there would be big epiphanies after 31 years of existence. But that’s not the case. At least for me anyway.
On one hand growing older feels like a discerning scribe capturing acute particulars of a scene. They are bringing the details into ever increasing sharpness. On the other hand it’s like taking a step back from a picture you’ve been staring intently at, only to realize the painting is much larger in scope and complexity than you realized from your first, narrow vantage point. And you appreciate that the things you look at change in composition depending on just how close you are to it.
Thus the boundary between 30 and 31 came to pass, and nothing perceptible really happened. I was flooded with a sense of sadness upon waking, got caught up in comparisons to a vague sense of where I thought I ought to be, rollicked in joy at all the years I (hopefully) have in front of me, and grappled with day-to-day existence type shit, like where to go for lunch and “I should really respond to that email.”
In the end, I got to climb and play with a dog so it was a good day (as are all days where I get to climb and play with dogs).
As part and parcel of aging, I like to reflect on the past year. Rather than share lessons learned (which tend to be overly generalized in order to be relatable), here is a list of 31 things I’m grateful for (which make me feel good to think about, and might add some brightness to your day too):
- Supportive and loving family. Those that put up with your shit when you are younger, who encourage you as you grow, which are are there for you through good and bad… No idea where I’d be without them
- Healthy body that let’s me move in the world on my own volition, that let’s me express myself through motion
- The open, random, dance of the world; That you never really know where a day may lead
- Good coffee and a good book
- Moments of silence and stillness. Of feeling light, like you might float away; When weight becomes discarded and you are left simply buoyant, unburdened
- The sense of no separation that arises in rare moments, typically in nature; An electric expansiveness you don’t know whether it will ever stop, is beyond your conception of space, and which is unimportant in the moment, because. Everything.
- Lounging (and otherwise) in bed until the afternoon with someone you love. No cares but to be close, as close as you can
- Running light and free through forests, fields, city streets, across hills, along trails, in puddles, up stairs, weaving between crowds
- A big meal after a long run (usually pizza)
- Wandering, openly, absentmindedly in nature. And, walking around cities without a direction other than to follow the initial twitch of interest toward a certain place
- The way you feel engaged and tuned in to each movement on a rock face
- Poetry and art that shakes you
- Laughing so hard it hurts
- That once-in-a-while orange that is otherworldly sweet. Fresh apples off the tree, sliced. Ripe peaches that unleash torrents of nectar down your chin and hand when you bite into it. Frozen grapes that crunch and cool. Blueberries off the bush in the mountains. Has citrus ever been so tangy?
- For ocean spray spritzing away and the sound of rolling waves, especially over a pebble beach; A vacuuming crash then rainstick needles falling and spreading, all the small bits, rolling along, rocking back and forth, click click click, silence and air drawn in. Repeat
- For sun rises over water or mountain, and sunsets from a hill
- Watching dumb movies with friends and genuinely enjoying it
- Of learning self-love and compassion. I’m pretty alright after all
- Oh hands in dirt and watching plants grow. That smell of richly alive soil, fuming with a sense of time immemorial, which also happens to smell like minerals, decaying leaves, and belonging
- For animals, so many animals: Puppies (they are all puppies), kitties (same story), sheep, chickens, goofy ducks, cows, etc.
- The smell of fresh snow in a pine forest. The sound of it crunching underfoot. Similarly, the shuffling, swishing, crackling of leaves as you walk about in Autumn
- The smell of a light rain on a warm summer day, all metallic and crisp
- That look you get when you know she loves you
- Laying in piles of powder and watching the whirling flakes dance across your vision. The feeling of snow sprinkles melting on your face. For that matter, drifting away in open fields on a pillow of grass and letting the sky fill up your visual field
- The way Ollie still tinkles himself when he’s excited. The way Brin still runs away
- Giving a small gift, or thoughtful compliment, or cracking a joke just to see her smile
- Pocket-sized notebooks and a pen with ink that flows just right
- The shedding that comes with a good laugh and a good cry
- Getting up extra early for no damn reason, having the city to yourself and watching it wake up
- People, books, and music that seem to come into your life just when you need them
- That first step into a new land after a long, long ride
From a Single Cell to a Whole Lot More: Writing About Growth and Destruction
The ethics of exploration, plastic, plastic everywhere, and organic development
Hey everyone,
This week features larger narratives around life-and-death, the ethics of exploration, plastic, plastic everywhere, and the organic development of a climbing community.
There are also two pieces offering advice for pitching stories and, trying something new here, a log of my own pitches to shine some light into the process.
“Art is commensurate with the human spirit.” – Naturalist, John Burroughs
We all have a story to tell, how are you expressing your human spirit?
Opportunities
Travel writing in Croatia
Learn the fundamentals of travel writing for magazines and websites from professionals. Alex Crevar and Molly Harris are contributors to The New York Times, National Geographic Travel, and Lonely Planet magazine.
$5,000 adventure grant
GearJunkies and NordicTrack are offering one lucky winner 5 grand to pursue a bike, hike/run, climb, or paddle trip.
What I’m Reading (& Watching)
A single cell become a complete organism
From Dutch director Jan van IJken, watch the alpine newt go from a single-celled zygote into the hatched larva.
What’s plastic doing to our bodies?
Plastic was once thought of as a long-lasting, coherent substance that didn’t make much difference to the environment outside of trash pile up. Now we know it continuously breaks down into microscopic pieces, with long-term consequences.
“A growing body of evidence suggests some chemicals commonly found in many plastics are associated with everything from breast and prostate cancer, to underdeveloped genitalia and low sperm count in men, to obesity.”
On facing the unexplored and the ethics of taking another step
Where Not to Travel in 2019, or Ever.
Kate Harris is a fantastic writer, who I only came across this week. I’ve been reading a bunch of her articles (they are all great) and am eager to start her book, Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road.
“Chau’s escapade… was nothing more than a violation: he was just another person who believed that the world was his to do whatever he wanted in and with.”
Perhaps more headlines should have read: “Remote Community Faces Biological Terror Threat From U.S. Religious Extremist Killed by Local Authorities.”
How Miguel’s Pizza made the Red River Gorge
If you like climbing narratives that are not so much about climbing, this is an insightful peel-back-the-curtain style look at the history of Miguel’s Pizza, and the enigmatic man behind it all.
Miguel said, “Art becomes part of your ego… that got to me.” As Miguel recounted, the epiphany came when he drew a cartoon character lifting up the costume of an artist and getting inside. “You don’t need a costume to be a person; you just need to be yourself,” said Miguel. “I threw that outfit out and became who I am today: a pizza man.”
Photo source: The Walrus
Writing Advice
Advice from Nat Geo Editor at Large Norie Quintos
Norie offers tips on how, when and what to pitch:
“What’s the story? Why now? Where do you see it fitting in the outlet (what section or department)? And, why you? Stay pithy; aim for no more than a page.”
Also, something I’m probably under-appreciating:
“A rule of thumb: the earlier the better. A year ahead is not too early for a magazine feature story, nor a month ahead for a digital piece. And get to know the editorial cycle of your favorite outlets.”
A Freelance Writer’s Life: The Art of the Pitch
To the keen observer, you may recognize the author of this piece from the Opportunities section. Alex Crevar offers up his own tips for pitching from years of practice (and struggle).
“A writer must make an editor’s job easier. Full stop…
A salesman who hopes to earn a client knows who his client is; he knows what his client is looking for; and knows he must make the best pitch possible to sell his widget…
The simple question: why would an editor want to buy my widget over a similar widget being sold by Jane Doe?”
I take comfort in outlook #2. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Log: My Freelance Writing Journal
I’ve started keeping a training journal to track my progress towards some big mountain goals I have this year. I like the idea of opening up the process and also using a public forum for some semblance of accountability.
So I’m sharing what I did this past week for pitching stories and writing.
Pitches:
- Pitched three stories. One feature, one newsy story (see below), and one series of posts that will turn into just a one-off piece (also, see below). This is the first time I’ve pitched a feature story idea.
- One newsy story accepted for online publication in a climbing magazine. I was hoping to be able to do a longer-form interview, so I need to figure out what this will look like.
- The one-off piece came about from clarifying how I wanted to write the series with the editor. The timing is off for a series, so the editor decided to simplify and do a self-contained piece that is still timely.
- Two story ideas were rejected by an outdoor magazine and a climbing magazine (pitched weeks ago). One was about gear reviews which didn’t really fit their typical review model, so that makes sense. I didn’t get feedback on the other story.
Published:
- I write for EMS’ goEast blog, which lets me practice different styles of writing (I prefer narrative-driven, but this forces me to stretch). This week a round up of Valentine’s Day date ideas went live.
Personal Blog:
- I wrote a piece about how two different people made their way to climbing (and found love in the sport). This was meant to demonstrate how people or prompts or communities can inspire you to try something new, and where that may lead. Also, a shoutout to the AAC Live Your Dream grant.
What do you think? Is sharing a recap of pitches interesting to you?
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Out There / In Here, vol. 4
Feature photo source: Climbing Magazine
An Italian Sabbatical & On Using What You Have to Tell Stories
Also, how adventure is really a mindset
This week centers around stories from people who decided to write their own adventure story, often by dramatically shifting their life’s path. The characters overcame self-doubts, fear, and other objections to find joy and understanding. Also super helpful tips on the very first things to think about when you start writing.
Opportunities
The Italian Sabbatical
Live like a local in the small village of Grottole. Four people, three months, one authentic rural experience.
Live and Write in Thailand
The Content Castle offers free accommodation + 2 meals/ day in exchange for writing 7,500 words per week (for their marketing clients).
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What I’m Reading (& Watching)
Onwards and upwards
An uplifting video on turning 35, and all the beauty that comes with growing with family, friends, and the pursuit of what moves you.
On how to use what you have for a story
AC Shilton shares her story of transition from an endurance athlete to a farmer, and how that changed her perception of her own body.
“After giving up competitive running, cycling, and triathlon, I bought a farm in Tennessee. I didn’t know at the time how challenging—and life-affirming—growing my own food would be.”
How can you use your own struggles and redemption to tell a story?
On transporting human waste down the Colorado River and doing what you love
Sometimes it’s not about the money.
“Last year, according to a nationwide survey of incomes across the U.S., I made less money than a part-time doughnut fryer in Maryland and a hospital clown in New York.”
Fantastic writing and an excellent piece to dissect for storytelling.
How adventure is really a mindset
Tim Moss shares his week-long hitch-hiking adventure on a £100 budget.
“Too often we restrict ourselves, hold back on our dreams or rein in our aspirations with the perceived constraints of the world – time, commitments, lack of expertise or knowledge, money.”
What excuses might you be telling yourself?
Adventure travel predictions for 2019
When thinking about your places in the travel writing world, it’s helpful to understand the larger context. ATTA shared their list of trends to look for in the coming years:
“The United Nations World Tourism Organization recently reported there were 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals in 2018, a 6 percent increase over 2017, and the organization predicts there will be a 3-4 percent increase in 2019”
“In 2017, the Global Wellness Institute reported only 7 percent of all leisure travel consisted of primarily wellness-focused trips, and adventure travel operators have an opportunity to fill this niche.”
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On Writing
Former Guardian science editor, letters editor, arts editor and literary editor Tim Radford shares his tips for writing. Wide ranging insight and immediately practical.
Some highlights:
1. When you sit down to write, there is only one important person in your life. This is someone you will never meet, called a reader.
3. So the first sentence you write will be the most important sentence in your life.
10. So here is a rule. A story will only ever say one big thing.
11. Here is an observation. Don’t even start writing till you have decided what the one big thing is going to be, and then say it to yourself in just one sentence.
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The Arts
Illustration by Pete Lloyd
Say what you will, but Kerouac is one of my favorite authors. These illustrations by Pete Lloyd are fantastic.
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Out There / In Here, vol. 3
Main photo source: airbnb
Aaron Gerry 