Welcome,
Come hike with me. Whether you’ve known me for decades, hiked with me, slept at our house (over 6,000 have!), or stumbled upon my author website and this is our first contact, Welcome - to my first newsletter. Expect backstories, insider info, excerpts from my books and articles, stories that embarrass me…or my wife Sandy.
We talk differently to each other “out there." I’ll treat you as if we were out hiking right now. Well okay, maybe less sweat and fewer blisters. And I won’t talk about peeing and pooping…[Sandy: Don’t bet on it.]
I’ve had three careers. I was a summer camp director for four years - that won’t surprise those who know me. I had a 25-year legal career - let’s get that out in the open. What kind of attorney was I? I was a kind lawyer. It was a challenge.
On the day I retired ten years ago the most important event was this: It was my first deadline for Backpacker magazine.
I am a writer. My book Journeys North came out August 1st as Mountaineers Books lead book. My articles and two coffee table books were great, but this is the book. It's a memoir about our 2007 PCT hike, but it’s an ensemble tale about my wife Sandy and me and two much younger couples.
2019 National Geographic Adventurer of the year Heather Anderson: “Journeys North kept me up late at night. An incredible read!” New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof: “Read this great forthcoming book by Barney Scout Mann. It made me long for the trail.” Order Journeys North here.
Journeys North is a 40-year dream came true. Are you even 40 years old? In 1980, I hung up my law license to write the next Great American Novel. I was 28. For three years, my wife and I scrimped and I wrote. Our one furniture purchase was a table and chairs for $20 from the railroad damaged freight store. The novel I finished had interest from New York, “We want to see your next.” Two editors from a major publisher wrote two single-spaced pages of changes. Maybe I did write something worthy. But then we had our firstborn, Sean. When he was eight months old, with no book contract yet, I felt I had to move on.
One dream formed during that time. Someday I wanted to walk through an airport and see someone reading my book. Now, will you be that person I see in the airport? Will it happen?
Since leaving law, I’ve published more than forty articles and two successful coffee table books. But all the while, for more than ten years, I worked on this book, what would become Journeys North. Imagine being 28 and getting your big break as a writer.
Now imagine getting your big chance at age 68. Am I excited? You bet. But inside me there is also that 28-year-old. And I confess - he’s a bit scared.
Thanks for reading this far. And those 6,000-plus that slept at our house? That story is in the next 'Hike with Scout'. As well as the Journeys North Introduction.
So, excuse me, time to grab a trowel, toilet paper and hand sanitizer and head into the woods ….
Scout
Barney Scout Mann
Order Journeys North: Amazon
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P.S. I write to move, to make you laugh, cry and feel better about yourself. Never to annoy. So, at any time just unsubscribe, or let me know you’d prefer not to get any more emails.
