Welcome to the archive of wayward writings, mostly curated from my newsletter.

I originally wrote the following post in late 2014/early 2015 for my old blog, Roadside Fires. Or was it Lifting Weights at Midnight? So much in my life has changed, it's practically unrecognizable except for the running theme against perfectionism and toward taking risks for the sake of listening to our deepest needs and instincts to be great in the process of being bad.

After that 2002 trip down the Pacific Coast , I lay on the couch outside our house for weeks. I watched the traffic go by along West...

Reading – and Writing – the Stories that Shape Us “If you didn’t have your bike, we could squeeze you in,” the United Airlines agent gave...

As writers, we have the power to change the thoughts of our readers. It's important to not make a mess of things while we're in there.

A slideshow to showcase how to find what should stay and what should be cut from our story.

A volunteer shift for a women+ bike race has me pegged... under my bike A moody sky set the scene the night before the race. I headed up...

At its best, a stinker gives you good information on how to make your message heard. Maybe you need more precise language; perhaps you allowed yourself to go on a sidequest in your own story and lost the thread (Psst, I'm teaching a workshop on how to avoid this and still have fun!); or maybe you need to find your target audience. On my old desk at Adventure Cycling, I had a post-it note that said, "Try being brave maybe." To be brave means to risk the stinkers, to make somet

Are You Hearing Your Voice or the Voice You've Been Trained to Use? The best feedback I received from a participant at last year's Pedal...

As fellow writers, I'm sure you each understand the bliss in getting into the flow, and agony of getting flushed from it by stress, distractions, or a secret third thing. But I wouldn't be a successful writer and editor if I didn't find workarounds. One of the reasons I host my retreats in the most beautiful landscapes I know is because it can help break through those blockages. Movement and creativity go hand-in-hand for me and for many others, and nature can be our greatest

Three simple considerations for stronger storytelling, plus some melted plastic

Nine years ago, almost to the day, I huffed up Red Meadow Pass with two friends and we were so swarmed by mosquitoes we ran for shelter and I left my phone and our matches out in the rain. This past weekend, I tried again with two other friends. Again on my Salsa Fargo I bought back in 2015 to ride on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in 2016. Again, mosquitoes. Here's a summation of my travels this year, and my diary entry from 2016.

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