I just finished up my second article for The Journal of Wildlife Photography, which I was thrilled about.

My second 3000 plus word article.

It is stressful but in a good way.

The reason it is stressful is because I want to tell a good story; I am hoping the reader takes something from it and is entertained at the same time.

That is always my hope when I write, but you never know.

It could be a total lemon, as I am sure I have written many lemons throughout my career.

Thinking about that got me to looking back at my role as a storyteller.

I have been writing and sharing stories for years; on paper, in newsletters, in my journal, and my blog.

I began writing in a journal right out of high school, and I started a blog back in 2005 on our old website.

Sadly I took down that website to divert the old traffic to our new website, and in doing so, all those years of blogging disappeared.

I am sure if I wanted to, I could find them floating in cyberspace, drifting endlessly among millions of other web pages.

All of them lost with nowhere to go.

Thankfully, I still have those pages and writings saved on a hard drive, so they are there for me whenever I want to look back to read my thoughts from those long-lost days.

I do enjoy writing.

I enjoy getting lost in a story, or taking a reader on a journey.

Sharing ideas and worlds and moments, I love that about writing.

As a kid, all my favorite books were from writers who would take me with them to farway places; exotic lands, exotic animals, exotic people.

I wanted to be there, I wanted to see that animal, to breathe in the air, to feel the wind.

Those escapes are what helped to turn me into the person I am today.

I do hope that when you read my blogs and stories, you feel the same way, That I have taken you on a journey.

I know not all my stories have because sometimes they are just rants that I need to get off my mind.

But hopefully, more often than not, I take you on a ride, somewhere… anywhere.

Thanks for reading.