Today is winter solstice, the first “official” day of winter. (Although, it’s very much been Jack Frost here for months, as evidenced by the snow cover since mid-October and several days of below zero temps already. But I digress.) Solstice in Alaska also distinguishes the extreme variance of seasonal daylight. Winter solstice marks the shortest…
My trail memoir, Between Each Step, released 11/15/20, which means today it turns 1 month old! And because my book is now our bootstrapped side business, we’ve been busy bees during this first month. Justin has been a serious rock star partner—he has played the simultaneous role of secretary, office manager, sales manager, accountant, shipping…
Currently living/working: We are still wintering in Alaska, and November was a freakin busy month with writing deadlines, book madness and finishing up Leave No Trace. So we spent a lot of time hibernating in our cabin hunched over our laptops. Backpacker Magazine: We submitted just about 100 items for the holiday gift guides, all…
My publisher was very clear on a few pieces of advices, one being: “Do not try to figure out the Amazon algorithm. You will go down a rabbit hole within a rabbit hole within a rabbit hole.” You all know Internet rabbit holes. One minute you are searching for “marketing tips for new authors” and…
Update: I’m still not comfortable with self marketing. I still can’t get my elevator pitch down. Justin is still a hammer making one suggestion after another for marketing my book. And my book is ranked above Obama’s memoir released this week. KIDDING ABOUT THAT LAST PART! (Can you tell I’m feeling punchy because Between Each…
Let me tell you something you probably didn’t know. Publishing does not equal a feeling of relief, nor is it a “get rich quick” scheme. Publishing actually equals insomnia & eczema. Being a writer might involve the hard work of writing. But being an author is a different beast altogether. I’ve written Between Each Step,…
Currently living/working in: We are happily in Alaska, where winter is in full swing. Work is busy! And by work, I mean the multiple projects/jobs we are juggling. In fact, I feel like this deserves a list-type snapshot with some of the bigger, more pressing deadlines (actually helps me see the big picture too!) Backpacker…
Remember a few days ago when I announced I am a PUBLISHED AUTHOR?? Here’s the thing. Between Each Step has been SEVERAL years in the making, from the time we hiked, to the time I started writing the manuscript, to the time it hit your bookshelf (that’s me happily assuming you’ve pre-ordered it …). Bottom…
On Feb. 5, 2016, I announced on the blog that I was getting serious about book writing. The post was part-reflective, part-goal-making, but I fully recognized that the process would be glacially slow and I ended the post by saying: “Wish me luck. Maybe I’ll have a book written by 2020.” Oddly enough, we are…
I believe most people think we have a view of Denali from our cabin. Sadly, no. We have a view of beautiful mountains that are part of the Alaska Range, but not “The Great One” or “The High One” (the Athabascan translations of Denali) As a comparison, our surrounding mountains in Healy reach between 4,000-6,000…
Currently living/working in: We are well passed the halfway point of our Leave No Trace contract—still from Alaska. The full schedule continues. We finished up in-person programming at the campgrounds in Denali National Park and did some cleanups in September before the snow covers any summer trash! For October, we’ll be focusing more on online…
Here’s one of the many truths about Alaska living: the standards for fresh fruits and veggies are quite low, availability can ebb and flow, and “in-season” produce doesn’t really exist in Alaska. #alaskaproblems Often, the shelves of store-bought produce are empty, and I guess I kind of expected that. When we do come upon stocked…
We’ve all been pretty grounded lately and sticking to local areas, but in the largest state in the US (Texas can fit in Alaska 2.5 times), “staying local” is really a misnomer! So when Justin & I were coming up with a mini-trip to put in the books for this summer, we opted to drive…
Currently living/working in: We’re two months into our Leave No Trace contract—still from Alaska. It’s been a surprisingly full schedule even though we are not traveling around like we normally would be! We weren’t sure what kind of in-person programming we could do, but since Denali National Park is open, we’ve been filling in lots…
We live about 15 minutes from the entrance of Denali National Park, which means we are lucky to have endless acres of a playground for hiking. I did a roundup about the “front country” hikes a few years ago in this blog post and we love all of them! But there are SO many awesome…
Currently living/working in: We’re one month into our Leave No Trace job—from Alaska—and all is going well. Besides lots of meetings and trainings to get up to speed, we’ve mainly been working on content projects, including 3 blog posts, 1 Instagram Live Video (follow @Leavenotracecenter on Instagram if you aren’t already!), and our first webinar…
As we mentioned, the previous owners left us a perfectly functional cabin, but as with anything, you tend to want to make it your own. It’s also worth noting, we forgot what it’s like to own property again. We figured purchasing a cabin without running water would simplify the to do list, especially compared with…
Being back on a specific work schedule sure does eat up a lot of time! I’m afraid this blog is feeling the brunt of it … so to help me feel less guilty, I’m inundating you with less words, more pictures. In all the places we’ve lived, we always wanted a wildlife camera. Who doesn’t…
Currently living/working in: We started Leave No Trace work 6/29! It’s all based from Alaska and online for now, but it takes some adjusting to be back on a specific schedule. Knowing this was coming, we spent most of June tying up quite a few freelance content projects, including a secret project that hopefully I…
I’ve always stated spring is my least favorite season, if I had to rank them. With that being said, I absolutely enjoy the growth and change spring presents, particularly the bursts of wildflowers popping up. Growing up in suburban New Jersey, our wildflowers included dandelions. We also had lilacs and touch-me-nots (I think that’s the…