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.

At this point I feel like I do more planning than stuff.  I should have included a category for my blog, “On Writing”, “On the Road”, “On Living”, and “On Planning.” But with the calendar rolling over to March (Birthday Month!), recent 50-degree temps in Salt Lake, and the reappearance of my ole flip-flops has gotten me utterly stoked for the coming months where all this planning is going to be turning into some serious action.

This winter has been pretty chill – a trip home to Wisconsin and trips to Montana and Colorado.  I’ve mostly spent the last few months building up my cash stash, embracing local “travel”  (which, I will touch on soon), and planning, planning, planning.  I have also gotten my Nordic skis out on a lot of trail, been training for my first ultramarathon (#4 on my life list and just 4 weeks away – yikes), and spending a bit of time at the climbing gym where the pull-up still alludes me (#16 on the life list).

I do find it funny how these last few months of writing away and dabbling in location independent work – I’ve been pretty much stagnant.  Well soon that is all about to change…

Joshua Trees in the Mojave

April – Nevada/California Desert Trip

In early April I am heading to Joshua Tree National Park to meet up with some fellow Matadorians, JoAnna and Abbie.  I am then going to head to the Mojave Preserve, the ghost town of Rhyolite near Death Valley, meet up with some peeps in Bishop CA, and then hit up a bunch of hot springs and strange desert oddities in my beloved Nevada.

April-May – Somewhere Else

I am toying with the idea of using my frequent flyer miles for a few weeks in Guatemala this spring but can’t yet decided if I should maybe save them for a big Argentina/Chile trip in the fall.  I also need to make it home (Wisconsin) sometime this spring…

May – New Mexico Trip

Work my way down to New Mexico through the deserts of Southern Utah and Southwestern Colorado to attend a meditation retreat in Chaco Canyon.

June–July – Hawaii

My BF’s friend lives on Hilo and is getting married June 26, so we decided to make a huge trip out of it.  We will spend four weeks touring the Big Island and Kauai hopefully scoring a permit for the Na Pali Coast Trail.

The Na Pali Coast - Photo: Pandora_60

July-August – Lander

Free Camping at Lander City Park

Call me crazy that I am more stoked for a month in small town Wyoming than I am for Hawaii, but Lander – I can hardly wait.  In a piece I wrote for Matador Trips, I called Lander the “dirtbag friendliest city in the Western U.S.”  It has been my absolute dream to set up camp in Lander for more than just a weekend – I have been mapping out our camp spot in my head all winter.  We will spend the days climbing at Wild Iris and Sinks Canyon, possibly take a backpack trip into the Wind Rivers, and spend some quality time at the Lander Bar.  The idea of the stars (yet again) as the roof over my head makes me so totally stoked.

From Lander, we will stop by the Tetons for a re-match with Teewinot before returning home to Salt Lake City with an empty wallet and plenty of uncertainty.

Hiking Down Teewinot After a Failed Summit

What are your plans for the spring and summer?

So starting to freak a bit – the financials are depleting at a rapid pace.  I guess it is time for some sort of financial intervention.

Good thing just the other day I heard an interview with Michelle Singletary about her book The Power to Prosper: 21 Days to Financial Freedom and I am now 10 days into her prescribed financial fast. Her rules: only buy necessities (that means no going out to eat, no stopping for coffee, no clothing, no nothing), use only cash for purchases (that means not even being able to use he debit card), and refrain from any sort of shopping (no browsing catalogs or online window shopping).

Her whole idea is that the fast sort of rewires your brain for spending.  Even if you are super frugal, you are still probably spending more money than you realize.  And that is totally the truth for me, I had thought I was the queen of thrift but now I am not so sure.  These past 10 latte-free days have been more of a challenge that I had thought… drinking water at the bar after a day on the slopes, telling the girls I can’t meet them at the wine bar, and missing one of my fave bands – oh poor me.

But it has been fun too – I hosted a Sunday brunch instead of going out (I just asked someone else to bring the champagne…), watched Nova episodes on Hulu instead of paying for a RedBox, and enjoyed my walks to the store (because after paying for gas with cash you will never want to drive again).

Damn – if I had learned to be this frugal years ago when I was actually making money I would be a kajillionaire by now.

So you all with your high paying jobs and full-time freelancer dreams – try the fast, make some changes, put away even more cash, and quit the job even faster (with way more smarts than me).  Let me know how you do!

Photo Courtesy of the US Government

The results of my time audit are in and well they are exactly as I had feared – I am a horrendous time waster. Although I don’t piss away hours at the TV or on the phone, I spend several hours in front of the computer willing beautiful prose to spontaneously compose while I stare enviously at other people’s work and I get distracted by every thought that pops into my head – oooh what was the name of that book I wanted to check out, I should see if they have it at the library or I wonder what the weather is going to be like tomorrow or I better check the laundry or I wonder if the mail is here yet – ughhh.

For, four days I kept track of what I was doing in 15-minute increments. In doing so, my awareness heightened for any time I was distracted and landed off task. I started keeping a tally sheet near my desk and every time I took a short break, checked my email, grabbed a snack, checked the weather, and answered the phone (basically anything that threw me off task even for seconds) – I got a tally mark. Within hours I had filled up the sheet and totally discovered my problem, a borderline addiction to distractions.  Here are some ways I am going to work at minimizing all those distractions:

7 Ways to Minimize Distractions as a Freelance Writer

1. Clearly identify goals at the start of the day. Many of you have suggested clearly identifying your daily, weekly, and even monthly goals. Weekly goals include some biggies such as find a new writing market or send out 3 new queries whereas the daily goals are the smaller more manageable ones like finish that blog post or do the background research for that article.

2. Plan to work at your most productive times. The Time Audit also made me aware of my most productive times. I already knew that I am totally worthless from about 2-5pm, so I shouldn’t expect to accomplish something big during those hours. The afternoon (for me) is a great time to catch up on reading, twittering, work searches, and emails or is a fabulous time to head to the gym or just take a nap.

3. Turn off the phone, email pop-ups, and instant messaging program.

4. Close all Internet browsers that are not relevant to the task at hand.

5. Say good-bye to multi-tasking. I always thought the ability to multi-task was a good thing, but it just doesn’t seem to work for freelancing. For me, attempting several tasks at once only results in several unfinished tasks.

6. Change up the workspace. Unfortunately my bitty cheap-o apartment has no room for a separate office space and I am not upgrading anytime soon. I’ve found that I get more accomplished during 2 hours at the coffee shop or library as I do for the entire day at home.

7. Relax. Remind yourself regularly of why you are writing and the amazing life you are working towards. If I can just keep myself on task – maybe I will never need to see the inside of the cube again.

Helpful Freelance Writing Time Management Resources:

How to Stay on Track with Your Freelance Writing Business

Discipline and Persistence = Freelance Writing Success

Managing Performance Anxiety: 5 Tips for Freelancers

I am about ready to take a dart to the world map that is sitting over my desk.  The list of places I would like to visit is growing larger by the minute and I can’t honestly decide where to go.  I never imagined myself in the following situation: no real job or commitments or anywhere I really need to be, plenty of money in the bank in a fund specifically labeled TRAVEL, and so much STOKE – I can’t believe my head hasn’t totally exploded.

I’ve decided to enjoy these winter months skiing and writing away in Salt Lake City.   But come April I am out of here.  I have been scouring the web, you all’s blogs, and guidebooks for ideas on where to go.  Sometimes I feel that I get too overwhelmed by the world’s offerings that I never end up going anywhere.

One of my favorite bloggers, Nomad Needles, offers the following advice (along with much other totally inspiring advice) on her blog:

Make Your Plan. Or Plans – Write down all the different scenarios you envision. This is where you set yourself free and brainstorm all the ideas that flutter through your head.

Here are some of the many ideas churning through my head.  I want to travel but I also want to do something positive in the process whether it is volunteering with an environmental group or teaching or learning some fabulous new skill.  I am open to suggestions so leave a comment if you have any great volunturism trip ideas.

Seasonal Job at a National Park – Last year when I was wanderlusting from the confines of the cube I saw a job call for Interpretative Rangers at Mesa Verde National Park.  Oooh if I did this I would not only learn a ton and most likely have a blast but I would get to cross that sucker off my life list – #82 To Work in a National Park.

Europe – Travel all over the rural European countryside.  Do a bit of rock climbing and running up mountains and stuff.  Get an awesome WWOOF-ing gig and squash grapes with my toes.

Crazy-Ass Desert Trip – It is pretty apparent that I am thoroughly desert obsessed and the spring is the best time to visit.  There are still so many deserts in the Southwest that I have not thoroughly explored and I have never even been to the Sonoran and the Chihuahuan.  I could travel for months and months on the uber cheap – paying for not much more than rice, beans, and gas and hopefully wind up somewhere in Mexico.

NOLS Course – I have always wondered how people become “guides.”  How sweet would it be to somehow get paid for leading people into the lands that you so absolutely love.  During a trip to Lander, Wyoming last summer, every single bearded hippy type guy in the Lander Bar was talking about NOLS.  I had heard of NOLS but didn’t really know what it was.  Now I know it stands for National Outdoor Leadership School and that it is one of the largest wilderness education schools in the country and that it is based out of Lander.  I was intrigued.  Turns out they have this instructor course that consists of 6 intensive weeks in the backcountry and you learn all these guiding, teaching, and wilderness skills.  And it sounds amazing but sooooo expensive.

Random Archeological Gig or Conservation Type Job – When I first moved to Salt Lake City it was to do an Americorps program with the Red Cross.  I taught HIV prevention courses like how to clean needles and handed out condoms and (chap stick) during the 2002 Winter Olympics.  I did some cool stuff and leaned some crazy ass shit but the program basically blew.  I spent too much time in the cube and not enough time in the field, a pattern that would repeat itself for the next 8 years.  Now I just want to get dirty, I recently found this organization called the Great Basin Institute and they have some Americorps positions starting in the spring with such titles as Desert Tortoise Field Technician and Restoration Team Member – how awesome does that sound?

Intensive Spanish Learning – Head to Central American and immerse myself in Spanish and find an awesome volunteer gig.

I have been working on my life list for a while but was motivated to post it after reading A Life Well Lived: Developing a Personal Manifesto and downing half a bottle of red.  There is something about red wine that fuels internal reflection followed by copious amounts of tears.

I have recently made some huge life changes and I admit am having a bit of difficulty with all this new found freedom.  I feel a bit scattered, unfocused, and distracted.  Working on my own manifesto can perhaps help me commit more firmly to creating that creative life I so desire.  I really like the idea of crossing out items as I go.  I think creating a personal manifesto will remind me of all the reasons I chose this path in the first place.  For ideas on how to create your own personal manifesto see Gwen Bell’s inspiring piece on How to Create Your Personal Manifesto.

Here are 100+ things I would like to do before well – leaving this life:

Knit a beanie – Tap dance – Spin fire – Run an ultramarthon – Get braces – Learn Spanish – Perform with a bluegrass band – Adopt a homeless pup – Go on a meditation retreat – Get married – Live in a cabin without electricity – Have a bookshelf with a ladder on it – Make dandelion wine – Have a garden- Learn how to can vegetables – Do a pull up – Write a song – Learn how to Irish dance – Bake a pie – Be my own best friend – Write a book – Don’t revert to cubicle life – Take violin lessons – Volunteer on an organic farm – Be able to take 2 steps on a slack line – Buy a hula hoop – Finish the Artist’s Way – Highlight my hair – Go on a 3-month long road trip – Be a camp host – Volunteer at an orphanage – Walk barefoot in a French vineyard – Visit New York City – Get a Master’s Degree in something fun – Cycle through Scotland – Deep water solo – Do a multi-pitch route – Run a road marathon – Attend Burning Man – Paraglide – Hike through Patagonia – Visit a Tibetan Monastary – Author a Lonely Planet guidebook – Lounge on beaches in the Dominican Republic – Hike the Na Pali Coast Trail – Drink a Guinness in an Irish Pub – Work at a National Park – Live somewhere where in the winter you have to ski to your door – Tell a story on This American Life – Volunteer a weekend at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary – Cross a border in a smuggler’s truck – Read all of The People’s History of the United States – Backpack a 200+mile trail – Lead 5.11 – Live in another country for at least 6 months – Eat noodles in Thailand – Ski in New Zealand – Rock Climb in Potrero Chico – Be in Mexico on el Dia de los Muertos – Visit Salvador Dali’s museum – Trek to Machu Picchu – Hike France’s 100-mile GR20 trail – Spend a weekend in Portland – Visit Michael Heizer’s Earthworks in Nevada – Visit Frida’s home in Mexico City – Have my very own cappuccino machine – Have a job that betters people’s lives – Run through a cornfield – Have a hammock in the backyard – Sip cocktails on a porch swing when I am 70 – Watch ever episode of the Muppets – Give birth – Drive to Alaska – See the giant Redwoods – Raft down the Salmon River – Go on an archeological dig – Do an adventure race – Throw my parents an anniversary bash – Get a hot stone massage

Welcome to Dirtbag Writer.  For those of you who are new here, I am yet another cubicle fleeing freelance travel writing yearner.  I hope to document my journey, gory and unattractive details and all, from comfortably employed to wandering, self-employed, semi-successful nomad.  With just days left of employment I am finally starting to feel the reality of my decisions settling in.  While trying to avoid a full-scale freak out – I am making lists instead.  Here are my goals for the first 3-months of full-time writing bliss:

(1) Magazine Internship

Get experience working in the magazine field and hopefully make some super valuable connections. Try to avoid paying rent for as long as possible in uber-expensive Colorado mountain town.

(2) Matador U

I just signed up to participate in Matador Network’s travel writing program.  Matador U is a 12-week course delivered online that teaches the techniques of travel writing and the technical and organizational aspects of the field.

The course fee did set me back $225 (regularly $350) but I thought it would be a worthwhile investment.  I feel like I need the structure to keep me motivated for these first few months.  I also like the idea that ‘students’ get access to a market leads board and forums where you can get feedback on your work.  The course fee comes with a 3-week money guarantee – so basically if I am not learning anything new and resourceful in the first few weeks I can get my money back no questions asked.  I am just about to delve into lesson one and will definitely review the course as I go.

(3) 3-4 blog posts a week for 2 blogs

It has been a bit difficult to update 2 blogs 3-4 times a week while working full-time, trying to teach myself the basics of HTML and WordPress design, and scheduling enough leisure time to keep me happy.  I look forward to spending time refining and narrowing the focus of Dirtbagger Guide and contributing frequently to this blog.

(4) One query letter a week

I think submitting one query letter a week is a reasonable goal.  I have a lot to learn about writing attention-grabbing pitch letters.

(5) Make $200/week

According to Six Figure Freelancing, it is helpful to set financial goals.  $200/week actually sounds like a pretty lofty goal but I do think it is attainable.  If I am able to reach that I will be able to pay all my bills (except for rent in uber-expensive mountain town) and keep from draining my savings in the first 3-months.

(6) Travel Starts at Home

Supposedly you don’t have to be a round-the-world traveler in order to be a travel writer.  Start researching local publications for potential contributions and brainstorm article ideas.

(7) Random

• Attend a Writing Conference – Women’s Adventure Creative Conference
• Live Crazy Cheaply – Budget Budget Budget
• Learn Spanish – Rosetta Stone?
• Read Read Read

Welcome to Dirtbag Writer!  Dirtbag dreamer may have been a more adequate name for this blog – definitely more of a dreamer than a writer at this point. Goals are definitely not unique to me – give up the grind of the 9-5 for a more creative, artistic existence – quit my job, live the dream, yada yada. The desire to create, inspire, and share is growing stronger every moment. That desire to stop and listen to the stories, to create pieces that inspire, and to get out and explore rather than read about the lives of those doing it.

Why am I writing this blog?

I really wonder if the world needs another ‘I quit my job to be a writer’ type website.  The web is packed with sites of people chronicling their journey from corporate existence to a wandering, vagabonding, self-made digital nomad.   But in searching the net for advice, how-to guides, and job leads – I became completely overwhelmed.  It seems like everyone is a “writer” these days but I am not really sure how all these people are doing it.  Where are they publishing?  Are they making enough money to live off of or are they relying on savings or trust funds?  Are they taking on part-time work to foot their bills?  How do you get gigs without a wonderfully filled portfolio?  How do you bust into the travel guide market?  What about health insurance?  Stress!

I want to take the freelance writer’s blog to the next level and detail the total process including but not limited to the following:

• Where to start.
• Writing query letters (perhaps even share some samples).
• Internship or Graduate School? How to get experience.
• Writing conferences, networking, and marketing the self.
• How to find paid writing gigs.
• How to make some cash while waiting for the freelancing to take off (probably waiting tables).
• Supreme-o cheap-o living beta – simplify, simplify, simplify…
• All the dreams, fears, loneliness, and ‘why did I give up a stability and a paycheck?’ freak-outs.

The Plan

On September 1, 2009 I am leaving a pretty darned good job (amazing benefits, dental insurance, retirement, etc.) and heading off to Colorado for 3 months to begin an internship (unpaid) to hopefully learn the ins and outs of magazine publishing.  I am going to dedicate myself to writing full-time – something I have been dabbling in for a few years now.  I have been contemplating quitting the job for awhile now so I have saved up some cash and seriously minimized my expenses.  The next few months will require me to live fairly simply – I am not talking about giving up a night at the bar but more like living in my tent and subsisting off of beans and rice for a bit… all in the name of some dream.

It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by.  How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment?  For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone.  That is where the writer scores over his fellows:  he catches the changes of his mind on the hop.

~Vita Sackville-West