Ten months ago, I wrote this pretentious somewhat overwrought blurb for the book that I was going to write. Ten months later, I have a draft with some reasonable heft, and nine chapters. So here goes.

The first assignment of this little writing group I joined was to write an author bio and the blurb for our book. The author bio wasn’t that hard because I’ve had to do that from time to time for the jobby job.

Author Bio, yo.

Alyson Indrunas is an Executive Director at Lumen Learning, an educational technology company based in Portland, Oregon. She holds an M.A. in English Studies and an M.Ed. from Western Washington University. Her scholarly interests are in educational technology, professional development, open education, instructional design, and leadership. When she’s not traveling to speak about affordable courseware, she volunteers to inspire girls and women to get into mountain bike and cyclocross racing. She lives in Bellingham, Washington.

Okay, none of that shizz has really change except for the travel part. I mean, before we started using phrases like “social distancing” and “vectors” on a daily basis, I had already stopped travelling for a living. In fact, before the economy broke and life as we know it, I was going to celebrate the joy of not travelling for work for the first time in over a decade. Everything else is the same. Although the bike advocacy is also paused. And I don’t really live in Bellingham since I don’t leave my ski chalet because I’m sheltering in place. But you know what I mean.

What about the blurb? Hee hee. So cute. Here it is!

Using the framework of a backpacker’s Ten Essentials, Alyson Indrunas explores the inner-landscape of self-discovery in this coming-of-age memoir. She discovered back-packing and hiking as a young adult, and found herself on the trail. Readers who are interested in the joys of backpacking will learn from her life’s mistakes on and off the trail. Using the advice of the Mountaineer’s Ten Essentials, she crafts a story about being a self-contained unit on the trail while trying to live without a map. Written for both avid backpackers and memoir fans alike, Don’t Tell Your Grandmother You’re Living In The Woods: A Memoir guides readers cairn-by-cairn through one woman’s self-discovery of finding her purpose.

Okay, so the only thing that’s different is the title. I’m not sure what the title is, but it’s not the one I made up in my blurbage. The assignment was to also address where your book might sell and who your audience might be, and let me tell you, I am just not sure.

Today I’m going with the title: What The Shoulders Can Bear: A Backpacker’s Memoir and I published chapter one on Medium.

I don’t want to start another blog, and I don’t want to post it here. I joined Medium for some MOOC-like thing awhile back, so I decided to fire it back up. Why not? It’s kind of a weird (wait for it) medium because almost every article starts with a number or the word How. Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover. How I Learn To Love The Bomb, etc. Ten Ways To Ask Yourself: Am I An Alcoholic? How To Be More Productive On A Dog Walk. That kind of thing. (LOL!) But I do love the cleanness of it. I changed the ol’ mugshot and the author bio, and it’s on. Woohoo!

So check it out if you like. Let me know what you think. What sucks? What did I miss? Where are the holes in the story? What left you wanting more? What did you like?

I’m sure there are edits–both conceptual and technical–that I still need to make, and I’m not 100% sure if there is an arc with the appropriate tension, but I loved writing this story. I loved revising it. Everything about the process, I loved. Including clicking publish here.

I’ll publish Chapter 2 next Saturday. Or as time feels right now, five years from today.

I wish you health and happiness, readers. Stay home and get creative. It helps.