Tomorrow evening (November 18, 2025) I'll be a guest on the YouTube channel Outside Comfort Zone, talking with Jared Champion about the book More than Hope: Lessons from the Colorado Trail, which Jared compiled and edited and in which my essay "Eight Kinds of Joy on the Colorado Trail" appears. We'll also chat about writing, art, and adventures. If you want to join us, you can tune in here at 7:30 p.m. eastern time. Hope to see you there!

Have you discovered the Shepherd book recommendation site yet? There you can find curated lists of books recommended by authors in an astonishing range of categories: mystery novels with a strong sense of place; books about women who went on adventures and changed their lives; detective novels that keep you laughing. If there's a very specific kind of book you love to read, there is probably a list on the site to match! I was invited to put together a list of books that shared something in common with my book, Uphill Both Ways, and I came up with the category of "the best books about women in the wild." It was fun and challenging to narrow it down to five books--I ended up choosing four that have been pivotal in my development as a reader, a writer, and a person, plus one that I only read recently but which I think will prove to be equally life-changing. You can check out my list and why I chose each of the books here.

Thanks to the efforts of a good friend, Uphill Both Ways is now available in a large print edition, which you can order directly from the publisher, Center Point Large Print. It's really fun to see my words in such big letters!