6 adventure-related updates

Kia ora, We’ve passed the halfway mark: for us in the southern hemisphere, winter solstice happened on Sunday. Longer (but colder) days ahead! Hoorah! I’m keeping it short this week with six adventure-related updates about books, movies, and gear.  Got any links you want to share with me? Reply and send them my way! Cheers,DeborahContinue reading “6 adventure-related updates”

There are already so many memoirs about walking this trail – is there space for mine?

I recently saw someone ask this question online: “There are already so many memoirs about walking Te Araroa. Is there even space for mine?”

YES! There is space for your story! It doesn’t matter if you’re writing about Te Araroa or the Pacific Crest Trail or the Camino de Santiago or any other popular trail. There is space for your story.

Writing a book one moment after another

Kia ora,  Writing a book is hard! Do you know how many chapters that is? How many pages? How many words? It’s hours and hours of thinking and staring and typing, and thinking some more, and getting distracted and typing… But you don’t have to write it all at once. You don’t even have toContinue reading “Writing a book one moment after another”

That time I suggested an author add a … tasteful? … joke to his story

Kia ora, That tasteful joke in the subject line. It was actually a dick joke. But I didn’t want to say it that obviously in case the spam gods banished my email. But yes, I once suggested an author add a dick joke to his story. This author had a particular writing style – self-deprecating,Continue reading “That time I suggested an author add a … tasteful? … joke to his story”

A fresh idea for dealing with a writing rut

Kia ora, Yesterday I spent the morning staring at a blank doc trying to figure out how to get a blog idea out. I had the topic, and I knew what I wanted to say, but … the thoughts were not connecting with the fingers on the keyboard. Feel familiar? I’m sure you’ve had yourContinue reading “A fresh idea for dealing with a writing rut”

Editing lingo: What is a pass and what is a round?

If you’re talking to an editor about getting your manuscript edited, you’ll likely hear us talk about how many rounds of editing we provide and how many passes of your manuscript we’ll do.  They’re not the same thing, so knowing the difference will help you understand what you’re getting for your money.  What is aContinue reading “Editing lingo: What is a pass and what is a round?”

What do you love doing the most?

Kia ora, Last weekend I put on my tramping boots and went for a loooong walk. I didn’t really need my boots, but wearing them made the walk feel more like an adventure. Plus there were cow pats everywhere. I go for a short walk most lunchtimes, and I do a circuit of the BotanicContinue reading “What do you love doing the most?”

Word choices matter

Kia ora, I read an excellent article on The Spinoff last week: Why the word ‘tribe’ makes some Māori uneasy. It’s a great read, and I think even if you’re not from New Zealand, you’ll still find it interesting and valuable. It got me thinking about how word choice matters so much. You’ve heard meContinue reading “Word choices matter”

Type 2 fun

Kia ora, Do you know about the fun scale? It’s a way of categorising experiences based on how easy to hard the experience was. Type 2 fun and type 3 fun are what a lot of armchair adventurers enjoy reading about. Trips they’d never go on themselves, but they still want to read about othersContinue reading “Type 2 fun”