Like most of the writers I admire, I've done a lot of different things: worked on an ambulance crew, packed boxes and driven forklifts, filled brine vats at a sauerkraut factory, played jazz trumpet as the leader of the Tom Pamperin Quintet, and spent ten years teaching writing at the high school and university level in the U.S. and overseas. Between jobs I've spent summers climbing in the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas, run a couple of whitewater rivers, and completed more than a few ultramarathons and triathlons. But these days I spend most of my time writing about sailing and boat building.

 

I studied creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and in the Master of Fine Arts program in creative nonfiction at the University of Idaho.

 

My writing has appeared in a variety of places, from newspapers like The Washington Post to professional publications like English Journal and literary magazines like The Madison Review. I've also been lucky enough to write for some of the best boating and sailing magazines around: WoodenBoat, Small Craft Advisor Magazine, Messing About in Boats, and Duckworks.com.

 

I released my first book in 2014, Jagular Goes Everywhere: (mis)Adventures in a $300 Sailboat. My next book, Chasing Ghosts in Grand Canyon, will be an account of a 24-day self-guided river trip through Grand Canyon National Park.