Introducing...

...that Secret Thing I've been working on since September, and which I finally get to brag about:

This year, I have had the fortunate privilege of working as project editor on two special editions of National Geographic. Like many adventurous, book-loving kids before me, I long dreamed of working for Nat Geo. And now I can say that, after months of late nights and hard work, that vision is a dream realized.

I'm very proud of the finished product, created and crafted by a wonderful editorial team from whom I learned so much. It is a compilation of 100 of the world's most beautiful places, from the tourmaline waters of the Great Barrier Reef and the jagged cliffs of Ireland to the sun-drenched walls of the Grand Canyon and the glistening ice sheets of Antarctica. This book is an inspiration for avid travelers, and makes a wonderful present for kids with wanderlust or adults with an affinity for beautiful photos. They  are available at bookstores and most newsstands and retailers (I've found them at Barnes & Noble, CVS, and many grocery stores). You can also purchase one here.

Absense, and Wisdom

It appears as if I fell into a black hole from late June through to early September. I guess I did, in a way, but there were a lot of things going on in there. It was more of a Wonderlandesque rabbit hole than just a black one. Here are some of the more important items:

1. I moved into a new house in the city. I made the move during that weird summer storm that knocked out everyone's power; tumultuous weather seems to like to crop up when I'm making major life changes (at least it wasn't a flood this time...). I'm currently sitting at my new desk, surrounded by open windows, enjoying the sound of church bells and gospel wafting over from the church on the corner.

Mackie: the best dog in the history of the world.

2. I said goodbye to a beloved pet, Mack. Mom got him from the pound when I was maybe sixteen. I remember the day Mom brought him home. He was so excited to be out of the kennel that he spent the entire afternoon wearing a circle into our backyard. As with all good things, he could be a little high maintenance, but he was incredibly loyal and loving. When you looked into his eyes, you saw a human inside him. He was just one of those special dogs that felt more like family than anything else. When I moved back from Australia, our walks together through the woods was the only thing I derived any real pleasure from. He used to run ahead and look over his shoulder, smiling, wanting me to run with him. I miss him every day.

3. I had some incredible and unexpected adventures in new places. I spent a lot of time outdoors and in awe of the world. Here are some of those places:

4. I started a new job that continues to challenge and inspire me. I feel pretty privileged to be a teacher. And that I get to make vocabulary crowns. And that my students actually wear them.

5. I wrote the first draft of my third book - in four months. Yikes!

***

I recently had a few days off to celebrate Rosh Shoshanna. While I'm not Jewish, I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on all of the things that've happened this year. To think about the things I've learned, and the things I'm looking forward to. It was nice to take a breath and appreciate how far I've come. Here are some pieces of random wisdom that popped up during my reflections:

1. Don't feel guilty about taking time out for yourself. There will always be something you need to do - work, school, bills, whatever. Enjoying an afternoon doing something you love can be just as important as getting 'stuff' done. Sometimes even more so.
2. Using buttermilk in baked goods is always a good idea. It makes them fluffier and less likely to be dry.
3. Travel, travel, travel. Even if it's just a state away. Even if it's only an hour away.
4. When you're feeling uninspired, go outside. When you're feeling frustrated, go outside. Being outside and moving makes everything a little clearer.
5. It's good to have a hobby that's yours and that you can do no matter where you are or what's going on. Writing is that thing for me; doing it always makes me feel grounded within myself, and that's a valuable thing to carry with you.

6. Slow down long enough to crunch those shriveled leaves on your sidewalk, to take a picture of the sunrise before getting in your car, to smell your coffee as it's poured. Otherwise life is just a series of moments rushing by, rather than a series of memories.

7. Try putting cinnamon in your coffee. Try putting Aleppo pepper in...everything.
8. Take the time to write people thank you cards. Not just the big thank you's, but the little ones. Thank people for being encouraging, or for doing the deeds that usually go unnoticed and unremarked upon. You wouldn't believe what an impact it can have.
9. Never miss the opportunity to go for a swim in natural bodies of water - regardless of whether you brought a bathing suit.
10. Unplug yourself from time to time. Step away from your iPhone and listen to the rhythm of the world as it breathes.

Currently writing to: Mumford & Sons - "I Will Wait"

April Photo Collection: Tripping Through The South

I recently went on a stellar road trip through the South. Besides slaking my general thirst for travel, it allowed me to flirt with my ever-growing love of the South. When I was a kid, I moved from D.C. to Northern Virginia. When friends would tease me about the fact that I was now Southern, I would grow very grave and maudlin. "I am NOT A Southerner," I'd say. As if being Southern were akin to having shingles. I don't know what that was about; now, I like the South a lot. I like that it has retained so much local flavor and cultural heritage. I like that people say hello to strangers instead of assuming they want to mug you.

Here are some trip highlights, photo montage style.

The view over our first morning's coffee in Atlanta, Georgia.

Spanish moss in one of Savannah, Georgia's many squares. I love this stuff!

A fantastically crowded second-hand bookstore in Savannah. Hello, lover. 

Tori and I discovering sweet tea vodka in Charleston, SC (and looking a little bit devilish)

Outside our B&B in Charleston. The whole city smelled like this Confederate jasmine, which was, in a word, glorious.

Sitting in our garden patio on our second morning in Charleston. 

Our boat ride through the amazing Cypress Gardens, SC. For five bucks you get to paddle yourself around a stunning swamp and wave to the alligators!

This swampy smelled quite nice. The water's black because of all the tanins, but when you stuck your hand in it, it was actually quite clear. 

Something happens to me when I am behind my camera. I decide that whatever I'm  shooting isn't actually a threat to me. So despite Tori's protests about toothy grins and that whole "don't bait the gators" rule, I convinced her to paddle up to it. We started out this close...

...and ended up this close. Actually, this is as close as we got before I dropped my camera and we ran into its log. Now I know what an angry, hissing gator looks like. Whoops.

YALLFest 2011

I recently had the opportunity to hop down south and go to YALLFest: the first annual Young Adult book event held in Charleston, SC. I got to stay and hang out with my fabulous critique partner, Ryan Graudin, who posted a lovely recap of this amazing festival. I got to meet (and by meet, I mean skulk near) some of my favorite YA authors: Carrie Ryan, Michelle Hodkin, and many more. Alas, a certain literary crush of mine with lumberjack chic wasn't able to come to the festival, so I wasn't able to woo him as I'd planned. Next time?

I brought back a lot from my weekend in Charleston: new authors to read, books to rave about, and a healthy dose of writerly inspiration. Oh yeah - some pictures, too.

Brisbane to Tas: the Epic Journey

I've been a terrible blogger. That's because I've been off adventuring in Tasmania and High Country Victoria for the past few weeks. We decided it would be fun and intrepid of us to drive from Brisbane down to Melbourne and take a ferry to Tasmania, camping all the way. And it was. It was a great opportunity to see the Australian landscape, but it involved an obscene amount of time in the car, which I wiled away by pointing Paul's iPhone at things (including one of the coolest wilderness events I've ever seen close up).

If this doesn't make you want to road trip with me, well... I just don't know about you.

Climbing and Campfires

I hated walking when I was a kid. You either ran there, or you didn't go at all. But I'm a big fan of walking now. Which is what I did this past weekend: I camped out and walked my way up Mount Warning.

Mount Warning is a two-hour drive into New South Wales. And as we discovered, there was a lot to see along our way. We kept seeing signs for a 'land bridge' that lured us to two different spots. One was a park with no land bridge-like things but a very pretty creek.

The other was the actual land bridge with a foaming waterfall raining through it.

And this is what I love about Australia: there was hardly anyone there. It was so easy to grab pictures without having to ask overweight guys in sweat-stained Hawaiian shirts to please move over a smidgen. Not that I don't love those guys: I just don't need a copy of their sweaty pits to keep for all eternity.

We camped out in the middle of a field, built a fire, ate sausages, and listened to our neighbors two tents over trying to play the harmonica. The weather was glorious and there were no bugs, which was nice, since they generally seem to have a thing for my flesh.

And then we got up semi-early and climbed the slightly ominous-looking. Mount Warning.

I know it doesn't look all that impressive, but that's just my photographic inability to capture the depth of this mountain behind the trees. Looking at it from the parking lot, it looked like the climb was going to be quite literally straight up. Captain Cook named it Mount Warning because it was so pointy and distinguishable from all the peaks around it that it was impossible to miss. But we sweated our way up it anyway, through through cool rainforest draped with spongy moss fingers and giant spouts of grass straight out of Honey I Shrunk The Kids. The last gasp was a craggy climb so steep that we had to use a fixed chain. Just when I thought my legs were going to call it a day two things happened: first, an unfit and very cranky-sounding woman came screeching down the maintain past us. She was a completely hysterical, swearing mess (much like I was on Mount Tibrogargan, aka the mountain that conquered me). And I couldn't help but laugh because... well, she wasn't in any danger, and I guess I'm just a little mean that way. Second, we were told that an eighty-year-old lady was enjoying her birthday at the summit. So it didn't take much longer for us to make it to the top.

Campfires, rainforests, and an excuse to eat salami and cheese sandwiches... this is the stuff like should be made of.

On The Bright Side

So, Australia isn't all flowers and chirping birds. Lately, it's also cyclones and floods and mosquitos the size of my fist. It's also unemployment and other unfortunate pitfalls (but that's another story). But, on the bright side, it's still got its charms. I've gotten to sample several of them since I got back from my Christmas vacation.

I went on a day trip to Double Island Point, hiking up to the lighthouse for magnificant views like these:

I've spent two fantastic weekends camping on the beach. The first was on Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. After a wind-blown night in which our inexpert tarp-tying left us very cold and very wet, we finally got the hang of the campsite set-up and enjoyed some pretty prolific stars. We even saw a giant sea turtle scuttling along the beach (with English tourists trying to take pictures of themselves high-fiving it... poor turtle). It rained almost the entire time, which did not leave a lot of room for good picture-taking. But the rain quit long enough for me to take these:

The view from in front of our campsite.

Wading down crystal-clear Eli Creek during a very brief break in the clouds.

The Maheno wreck at high tide.

And then there was our weekend on Stradbroke Island just off the coast of Brisbane. The weather was perfect. We took our beers down to the beach and caught two nights' worth of amazing sunsets. We played a little coconut shot-put in the sand, and on our way back to our campsite, we saw a lady kangaroo chewing on some dinner grass.

Editorial Domination: Book 1

The month of October will see my name in commercial print for the very first time. Here's a quick peek at the Queensland Food & Wine Touring Atlas, the product that I got to cut my editorial teeth on. Check it out:

And, just because I'm a nerd like that:

I came to Hema when this book was being laid up by design, so much of my contribution was that of a proofreading/fact checking nature. I learned a lot of editorial lessons while doing this.

1. Consistency is key: knowledge of house style is pretty crucial in creating a readable product that jumps out at a reader in the right way. So my strong feelings concerning issues such as 'and vs &' and whether or not long numbers should have commas in them have all FINALLY been validated.

2. Never leave multiple book proofs lying scattered willy nilly on your desk: you will get SUPER confused about what changes have been made and which haven't. And a confused editor is not a happy editor.

3. Chocolate is truly the best work incentive.

4. Editing a book with lots of little pictures and maps is a great way to develop chronic neck cramps, but it's all worth it when you have the final product sitting on top of your desk.