Storyteller | Copy Editor | Writer | Intellectual Property & Branding Professional
I’ve always been interested in the world around me; I’m naturally curious (likely to a fault). I’ve also always had a desire to contribute. This urge to contribute fuels my writing and is the reason I ski patrol in winter: to help others press “pause” on the harm they’ve already done. And this past weekend’s …
I wrote a post three years ago about resolving not to resolve. A bit cavalier but I really was desperately serious about attaining any resolutions I set. At the time, it wasn’t that I was hesitant to cast my goals into the wind for all to see, it was a fear of the inevitable inaction …
Our fiercely smart and impossibly sweet golden retriever, McGyver, lost his short battle with cancer 21 months ago. In the days leading up to his passing I left his side only when I could no longer fend off the sobs I'd been holding back. "Goldens are stoic" our vet had warned and, because of this, …
Los Angeles seems an unlikely spot responsible for rekindling my love of skiing, but it was in a tiny, temporary apartment a block south of Artesia Boulevard where I discovered Warren Miller’s buttery voice and found motivation in his unrestrained passion for winter.
It's a been almost a year since I attended the incredibly, amazing San Francisco Writers Conference and I'm still energized by the experience, the friends I made, and the work I'm doing to reach my publishing goals. While I'm not attending this year's version, I wanted to (re)share my day-after musings from last year. Feel free to …
Continue reading "Confessions of a San Francisco Writers Conference First-Timer"
Fat snowflakes swirl and fall around me in clusters. I feel like I’m moving through the center of a shaken snow globe. The effect is dizzying as I ski in the direction of my first wreck of the day (slang for an accident) towing an orange rescue toboggan behind me. In it are a backboard, …
Continue reading "My Stint as a Ski Patroller (and Thursday Night Offender)"
5 "Day-After" Reflections I just returned from my first writers conference, the four-day SFWC. As I mingled one last time in the gathering of more than 500 authors, writers, agents, editors, and publishing-types yesterday, I contrasted my pre- and post-conference self. I mean, like a memoir, the experience was transforming, and in atonement for last Wednesday's …
Continue reading "Confessions of a San Francisco Writers Conference First-Timer"
I was lucky enough to get assigned to write about real-life pet detective Annalisa Berns for this month's issue of O The Oprah Magazine. (Take a look at it here.) Ms. Berns has an enviable vocation!
Nope. Nada. Nothing. I hope to make mistakes (it means I’m trying). I intend to laugh, a lot and during awkward moments (it means I’m human). I aim to fail at every training program I start (it only motivates me more). I will not diet (it never works). And, I plan not to plan (I’m …
Five years ago we were halfway through our ski expedition on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East. In fact, we were getting dumped at the 208th kilometer on Kamchatka’s only highway – in the middle of nowhere looking for two things: Good weather and skiable slopes. (Check out the October 2008 issue of Backcountry …
Cathleen Calkins 