Outdoor Women's Alliance
I met Genevieve Hathaway several months ago, and I was immediately her biggest fan. She’s a travel photographer with a passion for archaeology, and her work takes her all over the world. We met for the first time at the climbing gym, and after an hour of pulling on plastic we were having a wonderful heart-to-heart about what it’s like to be a creative freelancer. We’ve gotten together since then to trade stories about the mountains, and I feel lucky to count her as a friend.
Genevieve is a regular contributor to the Outdoor Women’s Alliance (OWA), which is a nonprofit that encourages and educates adventurous, outdoorsy women. I love their mission statement, so when Genevieve asked about an interview, I jumped at the chance.
This is an excerpt from the longer interview, which is posted here.
GH: What advice do you have for women who want to write?
CA: Start writing. Don’t ask for permission. Don’t make excuses. Don’t spend your time making a Pinterest board of adorable offices and desks and chairs and writing nooks. Just sit down with a pencil and a notebook and start writing. Be concrete. Schedule an hour a week (or an hour a day) to sit down, turn off your cell phone, and be with your writing. If it’s important to you, you’ll make time. Writing is an incredible vocation, because there is no barrier to entry. The moment you start writing, you are a writer.
If you’re interested in publishing your work, the next step is to make yourself a part of the literary community. Go to readings by authors you admire. Write to the editor of your favorite blog and ask if you can get involved. Volunteer with literary journals. Whatever it is, get involved. It’s incredible how far you can get just by showing up and offering to help, and a lot of writers get their start by situating themselves wisely.
If you’re trying to develop a portfolio, keep in mind that the easiest places to pitch are special interest publications. If you’re a yoga teacher, consider pitching some yoga blogs. If you like to canoe, pitching boating magazines. If you live in a community with a local newspaper, write about what’s going on in your neighborhood. Everybody is an expert on something — find your niche and pursue it. Figure out what sets your heart on fire, and tell your story from that place. Writing professionally is damn hard work, but it is possible.
Most importantly: keep reading. Make a list of magazines you’d like to write for and subscribe to them, then read every issue from cover to cover. And read with a discriminating eye: What is the writer doing that works for you? Are there techniques that you could emulate? Are there things you’d do differently? I can’t state this strongly enough: if you are serious about writing, you must constantly be reading the kind of work you hope to create.
GH: What has been your biggest challenge?
CA: There are always challenges, but I definitely with what Sheldon Kerr calls the impostor syndrome. Put simply, it’s the feeling that I’m not qualified to be doing what I’m doing, and that sooner or later somebody is going to find out that I’m faking it.
That’s bullshit, of course. I’ve worked my ass off to be where I am, and I’m incredibly aware of my own limitations. I get constructive feedback all the time, and writing has taught me to take objective criticism in stride. But the struggle with self-doubt is something I see in a lot of kick-ass friends. We don’t want to be seen as prideful or smug or overly proud, so we brush off compliments. We attribute our success to anything other than hard work. The impostor syndrome is universal, but I do think there’s a correlation between gender and confidence — especially when it comes to women in the outdoors. I’ve sent this article to every woman I know.
This is a huge issue, obviously, and I’m taking steps to address it in my own life. If somebody recognizes something I’ve done, I’m re-training myself to smile, maintain eye contact, and say thank you. I’m challenging myself in big ways, and I’m owning my successes and my failures. I’m celebrating the incredible women around me. I’m reminding myself that the energy I put out will be reflected back to me.
Big thanks to Genevieve and the Outdoor Women’s Alliance! Read the full interview here.