Making time for the outdoors | Pinnacle Newsletter #8
#8 Making time for the outdoors
It's a short and simple newsletter today, because I've had a hectic week and I find myself at the end of the day without much time left, but I do have a few thoughts to share.
The tragedy of the outdoor writer/editor is that so much of our job is spent chained to a desk, dredging through emails, making lists, hammering out words, nudging sliders in Lightroom. Stuff, in other words, that has little directly to do with the outdoors – that place where our work of true and lasting value is created.
It's so easy to fall into the trap of chasing the next deadline, checking all the items off that list, nailing that next commission... and losing sight of the source.
This can be applied to many jobs, of course, but I think it's a particularly relevant discussion for outdoor writers. We need to make time to be outdoors – to fuel our desk work, to blow away the cobwebs, to be alive. I won't tell you to #getoutside or turn your outdoor passion into a list-ticking exercise, but I will tell you to make time – not find it, because busy people rarely find time lying around – for the things that really matter.
I've had an enforced absence from the mountains this winter. The last time I stood on a hill was October, and two attempts at heading north since have failed due to family crises. I've tried to keep the fires burning with regular lowland walks in the Lincolnshire countryside, but I'm aching for mountains and a night under the stars in some high and lonely place.
This weekend, I'm going for it. My to-do list is not clear by any means, but it's clear enough. The weather forecast is looking better than I could have hoped for.
Time to head north…
Recently published
Alpine Scotland: tips for making the most of the late season (a listicle I wrote for TGO this week – you might be able to sense how much I'm missing those mountains!)
Book review: The Ascent of John Tyndall by Roland Jackson (an important and engaging mountaineering biography)
One-minute mountain: Pillar (the latest in my series of pint-size introductions to British mountains)
Links of interest
Newfoundland International Appalachian Trail (Inaki's blog is a fantastic resource for lightweight backpacking, and his tale of a section hike on the Newfoundland section of the IAT is particularly excellent)
Tackling the other kind of writer's block (some great tips here)
How to budget for your adventure
From my commonplace book
Without wildlife, landscape is merely background.
- Karen Lloyd, The Blackbird Diaries
Until next time,
Alex
www.alexroddie.com