Before Memory Changes It
Rusty Pickett never began keeping journals for anyone else to read. He wrote because memory has a way of shortening the hard climbs, softening the mistakes, and changing a journey into a better story than the one a fellow actually lived.
Rusty Pickett Never Told Me What Year It Was
When I first started writing Rusty Pickett, I never assigned him a year. The journal simply needed to feel old. Then I began noticing how seemingly innocent details—a water filter, trail mix, a sleeping pad—quietly anchored him in a much more modern world. Join me behind the scenes as I share how a careful edit moved Rusty back to around 1895–1905, one object and one word at a time.
The Book That Became Many Journals
A Wild Guide began as the field journal of a single wilderness journey. Then Rusty Pickett needed mountains, deserts, forests, rivers, and more room to live each adventure honestly. Here is why one proposed guide became a collection of complete field journals.
The Campfire That Inspired a Scene
A childhood camping trip taught me that adventure does not always begin with experience. Sometimes it begins when someone says yes. Decades later, one small campfire lesson from that night found its way into Journeys Of The Crew.
Learning to Notice
We spend so much time looking that we often forget to notice. Sometimes the smallest details hold the biggest stories, if we simply slow down long enough to see them.