Kia ora,
It’s taken a couple of weeks, but I finally feel like I’m finding my 2026 rhythm. How about you?
Thank you for being here with me for another year of adventures and adventure writing!
Over the holidays I mulled over a few ideas for how I can better help you get into the writing groove and refine your storytelling. One of those ideas builds on a blog post from last year: Six ways to bring your readers along for the ride.
I’m thinking of a two-in-one kind of thing: video plus a short ebook. And I want it to have lots of examples from published books so you can see how these ideas look in real life.
I’ve got the bones down and I’ll keep you updated as I chip away at it.
Another idea that’s still in the nebulous cloud phase is a guide for taking your travel journal and turning it into a book. A lot of my favourite travel narratives started life as notes in a journal, and chances are you keep a journal when you travel too. But turning that journal into a book isn’t as straightforward as typing it up and hitting publish.
So far all I’ve got for this idea is a bunch of bullet points and sentences that trail off into a series of question marks. But good ideas take time, so I’m not going to rush it.
You’re the writer, so I’m wondering if you have any ideas for me? What’s gnawing away at your writing brain? Is it getting the ideas out in the first place? Refining what you already have? Getting caught up in the grammar weeds? Not sure if your idea is even working?
Your adventures are the reason I have my editing business, so reply and let me know what ideas you have. One sentence is fine!
Happy writing!
Deborah
📚 What I’m reading
Help me choose my next read. Reply with which book you think I should start:
The Place of Tides, by James Rebanks. From the blurb:
One afternoon many years ago, James Rebanks met an old woman on a remote Norwegian island. She lived and worked alone on a tiny rocky outcrop, caring for wild Eider ducks and gathering their down. Hers was a centuries-old trade that had once made men and women rich but had long been in decline. Still, somehow, she seemed to be hanging on.
Back at home, Rebanks couldn’t stop thinking about the woman on the rocks. She was fierce and otherworldly—and yet strangely familiar. Years passed. Then, one day, he wrote her a letter, asking if he could return. Bring work clothes, she replied, and good boots, and come quickly: her health was failing. And so he travelled to the edge of the Arctic to witness her last season on the island.
This is the story of that season. It is the story of a unique and ancient landscape, and of the woman who brought it back to life. It traces the pattern of her work from the rough, isolated toil of bitter winter to the elation of the endless summer light, when the birds leave behind their precious down for gathering, like feathered gold.
Slowly, Rebanks begins to understand that this woman and her world are not what he had previously thought. What began as a journey of escape becomes an extraordinary lesson in self-knowledge and forgiveness.
A Will and a Way – On Foot Across France, by Jennifer Andrewes. From the blurb:
Overwhelmed by career, motherhood, and daily life, Jennifer Andrewes took a leap – literally – and realised mid-air that anything is possible with the right mindset.
And so, after being diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s, she was inspired to walk off her symptoms. Soon afterwards she set out on an 1800 km pilgrimage across France, seeking healing, clarity, and joy.
Through muddy trails and mountain passes, her journey is one of courage, camaraderie and self-discovery. Walk with her for an authentic Camino experience – and uncover the power of walking to transform your life.
📅 Availability
Currently booking manuscripts from February.
✍️ Ways to work with me
Read the Base Camp Writing blog
Check out my self-publishing guides
🏔️ Did a fellow adventurer forward this edition of Write the Adventure to you? Sign up to get my writing insights straight to your inbox every week.
Discover more from Deborah Shaw Adventure Editing
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Deborah Shaw Adventure Editing 