The Moab, Arches & Canyonlands iPhone App I’ve been working on all summer was finally released on iTunes yesterday. Now that I am looking back, it was actually a pretty fun project. I learned a bit more about the history of the area and explored some areas I wouldn’t have otherwise.

In the Moab, Arches & Canyonlands iPhone Guide you will fine the ins and outs of both Arches and Canyonlands National Park including hiking trails, scenic viewpoints, and visitor center information as well as where to dine, shop, hike, and mountain bike outside the parks. All entries are categorized by region like “Dead Horse Point”, “Canyonlands” or “Colorado River” and are searchable with tags like “Family Friendly”, “Must-See” and “Free Wi-Fi.”

Writing the guide made me realize how rigid I am when I travel.  I always go to the same coffee shop in Moab – always to the Brewery after a big day on the trail for some Veggie Chile, Jalapeño Cornbread, and a Black Raven Stout.  Doing the research for the guide made me get a bit out of my travel box and I discovered that Dave’s market has a vending machine outside their store for bike tubes, the Love Muffin Cafe has a muffin with bacon in it, and the Wake & Bake has some super yummy Fish Tacos.

If you are planning a trip to the Moab area in the future, check out the guide and let me know what you think! Also check out The Best of Moab, a photo essay of my favorite spots in Moab.

I am not here to tell you how to become a better writer; I am really just soliciting advice.  I don’t know how to use commas, I have a tendency to write in the passive voice, and I am not sure if I should have used a semi-colon in the first sentence or if I should have just reworded the sentence so I didn’t have to worry about it being wrong in the first place.

Being informally trained in writing, I constantly worry about my writing style (if I have one yet) and am still freaked out that people are actually reading what I write although I am quickly getting over it.  I’ve had several articles published in both print and online publications now, but have gotten very little in terms of feedback on my writing and I am craving some.

All of my writing experience up until a year ago was of a technical nature.  I can whip up a methods section for a research study just like that, but when it comes to narrative, I am lost.  A couple of years ago I signed up for a community narrative writing class, but I was so fearful of criticism and having anyone read my work that I bailed after only one class.

Lately I’ve taken to rereading some of my favorite books and copying the most memorable passages into a notebook.  I am trying to read like a writer and figure out what it is about their way with words that keeps me reading.  I’ve also thought about signing up for that same writing class again – it seemed like it was going to be a good one.

For years I have thought about attending the Confluence Literary Festival in Moab and this year I finally signed up. I am attending a writer’s workshop with adventure travel writer, Craig Childs and can hardly contain my excitement.  I have never attended a writing workshop and have no idea what to expect, but hell I can’t think of a better way to throw myself out there.

What do you do to become a better writer? All suggestions and ideas appreciated.

[Photo courtesy of Nic McPhee]

I have been working on launching a new travel blog – HoopTrekTravel – and it has finally gone live!  I wanted a place where I could focus solely on ADVENTURE and TRAVEL and HoopTrekTravel is it.

I will keep updating Dirtbag Writer with posts on writing and whatever else I feel like talking about so if you are more interested the travel stuff you are going to want to head over there.

So head on over to HoopTrekTravel and let me know what you think!

I can’t believe it has been just over 10 months since I quit the full-time job to pursue this crazy so-called writing life.  What I can’t believe more than that is that I am almost making it.

Almost is the keyword there though.  I am really hoping to not have to get another part time job to make ends meet and am able to seriously focus on my writing.  But a whole month of travels and with very little work has left my savings in some sad shape.

But on the plus side a month of travels and very little work and Internet time has left me utterly stoked and totally refreshed.

I had planned on launching my new travel blog a month ago but I couldn’t for the life of me come up with the perfect name for it.  I was seriously obsessed with the name – it was driving me freaking mad.  And then I was writing this post and it just came to me – just like that.  Oh the stokage flowath forward!

Domain name available – sweet!  And then when I didn’t think things could get any better I glanced at my e-mail and a new message caught my eye.  An editor of a local mag approaching me with a story idea – for serious?

The world is conspiring with me tonight and I hope so for y’all too!

Truth be told, I am not a planner.   I am like the anti-planner.  I plan to not plan but then think that I am planning so I scrap the plan and go with no plan.  You follow?

Well a few days ago I committed to creating an iPhone guide for a few of Utah’s lovely National Parks.  Super excited for a project like this but totally screwed since I am getting ready to take off for nearly the entire summer.  I am heading to the Midwest for half of May and then I return to Salt Lake City for a week before heading off to Hawaii for a month via a weekend in Portland.

Long story short, I need to either learn to plan or drown.

Tomorrow or the next day I need to speed down south and hike every single trail in two national parks.  Well not every single trail… I already know these places well.  I’ve got a list of sights I need to photograph, restaurants I need to visit, and facts I need to check.  Can I do everything I need to do in 2 or 3 days without falling behind in my other projects?

This is the life that I wanted but sheesh it feels crazy to already be here and is it going to be worth it? I am soon to find out.

I think I might actually be able to start telling people that I am a writer now…  When people ask me what I do I usually just shrug my shoulders and say nothing really.

Now as it stands I have two blog posts a week to write for an area business – the Front Utah.  I have a ton of content to write for my new project with BootsnAll – TravelGearBlog, a couple posts a week to write on my Salt Lake City blog with NileGuide blog and an iPhone App due ASAP.  I was also planning on launching a new blog June 1 but I guess we will see about that.  Oh yeah and there are those 20 hours of contract work a week with the University of Utah thankfully ending June 1 and a bunch of other mini projects.

I know there are plenty of y’all out there that do ten times as much work and have children, live out of your suitcase, or have full-time jobs.  Now I am figuring out that the busy you are the more you actually accomplish and the better you manage your time.  Onward and stokeward – let’s go kick some ass!

For any of you following DirtbagWriter I have obviously abandoned my publication schedule during this last week and have well… decided to abandon it completely.  My gears have been churning and many new opportunities have risen from the dust so I’ve decided to make some big changes here.

Have you ever felt like starting over?  Well I am (sort of).  I am taking everything I’ve learned from the blogging world, Matador U, and all the peeps I’ve met over the last year and launching a whole new site dedicated to traveling the “Dirtbag” way.  I think I’ve finally narrowed in on that oh so elusive niche and am totally stoked to start a new site as well as several new projects that I will be announcing soon.

I will keep DirtbagWriter as my personal site and update it with news and updates on my writing aspirations as well as random thoughts or anything else I feel like sharing.

Stay tuned for the new site launch on June 1.

I was listening to this podcast the other day while road tripping through the desert and found myself both saddened and furious.  In Stuff You Should Know’s Will the moon save humanity?, Josh and Chuck are pondering the end of the world and discussing projects that may save humanity.

In the intro they discuss projects such as Norway’s “Doomsday” Seed Vault and the British DNA depository which supposedly can rebuild an entire ecosystem from plant, animal, and human DNA stores. They wonder, “Which ecosystem?” do we have the power to rebuild.  “Is it a desert? Cuz who really wants to rebuild that?”  Nobody, they agree.

Views From the Hidden Valley Trail - Moab, Utah

Well I would! Begin sadness…

I know this whole desert as wasteland belief is widely held but I really don’t understand how the desert got such a bum rap.  Most people that have actually been to the desert find themselves totally awestruck and surprised by both its simplicity and beauty.  The tough part seems to get people there in the first place…

Cholla Cactus and Joshua Trees in the Mojave National Preserve

I have to admit the beauty of the desert didn’t immediately take me over but more slowly captured my spirit.

I’ve since devoured the words of Edward Abbey, Terry Tempest Williams, and Katie Lee.  I longed for their gift of story telling – their ability to move people into action.  Their words have made desert virgins chuck everything to experience Desert Solitaire from the eyes of Ed.  They have inspired others to devote their being to protecting unnamed canyons and relics of cultures that came before us and moved some to risk their own freedom trying to stop quasi-legal oil and gas leases.

I tried to explain how places with names like Onion Creek, Elephant Canyon, Hatch Wash made me feel – what they stirred inside of me.  On paper I was wordless, but in spirit I was spewing flawless prose.

And so I’ve decided to giveaway the words of others. I want to share the stories that have so moved me with the hopes of changing just one person’s belief of the desert as barren and meaningless.

I will start with Edward Abbey’s classic, Desert Solitaire.  This is Abbey’s memoir of his years as a ranger at Arches National Monument (now National Park) outside of Moab, Utah.  It is a great intro to environmentalism and the growing threats of mining, the auto industry, and tourism on our fragile wilderness.  Both thought-provoking and rebel-rousing, Desert Solitaire has moved pacifists to grab the nearest monkey wrench and raise some hell.

Balanced Rock at Arches National Park

Like all free things there is a catch.  After reading the book you must either give the book to someone else and/or let me know (in just a few sentences) what you got out of the book.  Did you gain any new insights?  Did the book inspire you in anyway or do you still strongly advocate strip mining? You will then be featured in the blog and receive much fame and link love-age.

To enter simply leave a comment (perhaps some desert thoughts) before April 20, 2010 and the winner will be chosen randomly and announced April, 21, 2010.

Hiking Through Chesler Park - Needles District, Canyonlands National Park

To conclude, here are some words from Ed in Desert Solitaire:

“Strolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other places but scattered abroad in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each herb and bush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave and vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock. The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life-forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom.”

Flowering Cactus in Joshua Tree National Park

I just finished reading 4 Classic Mistakes I Made In My First Year of Blogging which led me to reflect on all the things I think I’ve done wrong with this blog.  And then I read Abbie Mood’s This Niche Business is Stressing Me Out and then I really started spiraling.

For a while I’ve been worried that my blog name is lame, but when I came up with the name I had no idea people would actually be reading this.

As the story goes, I was bored at work one day and was futzing around with things and decided to spend the $10 and buy a domain name so I could futz more freely.  At the time of blog naming, I had fantasized about this whole dirtbagging thing – I guess I was mustering up ideas for future world domination.

I wanted to be a writer and I also knew that the only way I was going to be able to leave my job and follow all my dreams was by being a total dirbag, which had pretty much been my total travel style all along.  Some people would describe dirtbagging as minimalistic or budget travel but I like to think of dirtbagging as more of a lifestyle.  So to me a dirtbag is an extreme budget traveler that is ambitious, eco-conscience, and cooperative – a major dreamer, adventurer, and conventional dissenter.  So I paired dirtbag with what I wanted to be and there you have it – dirtbag writer.

Still I wonder if dirtbag writer is super cheeseball and I wonder what I would name my blog if I were naming it now.

I wouldn’t use my name because for one: people can never spell it right so they would never be able to find it again and for two: I am too shy.  I’ve written some really personal stuff and some total babble and really haven’t been too stoked about people I know actually reading this stuff.  But then I started reading Julie Schwietert’s blog and started considering the importance of owning what I wrote and now I am wondering if I am hiding too much behind this dirtbag facade.

So I’m curious.  How did you name your blog?  Do you wish you had named it something different?  Are you totally sick of the name or are you just starting to grow into it?

I have been working as the Local Expert for Salt Lake City (and recently Park City) for NileGuide since October 2009.  Just this past week – NileGuide launched individual travel blogs for each of their destinations.

NileGuide is pretty sweet.  I often get frustrated when I visit a new city and google restaurants and get bombarded with ancient Citysearch listings and the like.  NileGuide lets you create your own guide to a city and now with the new blogs, gives you a bit more about the local happenings.

Thus far I’ve be incredibly thrilled with the experience and NileGuide seems to keep coming up with exciting new opportunities for writers.  Plus they are currently looking for web-savvy individuals for their local expert program.  See jobs at Nileguide for more info about qualifications, compensations, and how to apply.

So if you ever find yourself in Salt Lake City check out the new blog – Salt Lake City Local Flavor – for the latest info on events and restaurant recommendations.

Spring weather combined with my new obsession of reading minimalist blogs has inspired me to declutter my apartment.  Heeding the wisdom of Leo Babuta of Zen Habits I am tackling one area of me casa at a time versus my normal behavior of tearing the entire house apart, followed by a freak out and then a month long attempt of getting my house back in order.  This week, one bookshelf, a day at a time…

As I browse through the first shelf I wonder why it is so difficult to get rid of books.  I can toss out clothes as easy as I toss out the trash but there is something about books that just keeps me holding on.  I decided to attack the center shelf first and it held a surprising amount of books I had never finished.

I found it hilarious that each and every one of these books still had a bookmark in it – a bookmark from Between the Covers in Telluride, a piece of stationary from the Double Tree, another bookmark from my favorite used bookstore in the world, Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis, and a plane ticket stub – San Jose, Costa Rica to Houston.

Instead of shipping these books out the door they will now find a place in the queue on the ridiculous high stack beside my bed.

A History of Women Volume 1 – Front Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints

I bought A History of Women in the West during my Red Tent, DaVinci Code, Pope Joan phase.  It is the first book in five-volume series detailing the history of women from the ancients through the twentieth century – I had aspired to read all five.  A bookmark holds my place on page 15.  Obviously I found fiction more intriguing than the real history of women.

Guns, Germs, and Steels

I guess I am slightly bitter about my non-liberal arts education.  At the time I thought majoring in Molecular Biology was super cool (which it was sort of), but I sadly did not get to take any real electives in college.  I only had time in my schedule for the required English class and I missed out in all sorts of classes that I would find fascinating now like Anthropology, World Religions, and Middle Eastern History.  When I worked at the University I entertained the idea of going back to school and taking all the courses I missed out on (since I got half off tuition) but a friend of mine told me to read Guns, Germs, and Steel instead, which I did and got to page 95 – not bad.

A People’s History of the United States

I had wanted to read A People’s History forever since opening it up and reading the first chapter in someone’s bathroom at a party quite a few years back.  I finally picked the book up in an airport last year and got so thoroughly bummed out by chapter 4 I haven’t picked it back up.  The book tells the stories of American history from different points of view – like the view from the Native Americans, the working poor, or America’s women.  Hearing the story of Columbus from the point of view of the Arawak Indians is enough to make you want to go back to grade school and vomit all over the history texts.

A History of God

Karen Armstrong’s A History of God had totally enthralled me for the first 51 pages and then I am not really sure what happened.  I set the book down probably five years ago or so I think -  maybe distracted by all the others on my stack during my Buddhist book phase and haven’t picked it up until this moment.

Hmmm I am now curious what all these books hold.