Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Craig Childs. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Craig, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?

I rarely stop writing in one form or another, gathering material or scribbling on paper, so I’m not sure what a vacation is. The nature of what I write about often has me on journeys in wild places, which could be considered vacation except for all the writing that happens. I am on Southwestern rivers most springs and falls, usually hired as a guide, a natural and human history scholar or evening storyteller. I hear that one should take a break from work, do something entirely different, but this is where my material comes from so work and play are inseparable.

Craig, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a writer and an explorer, not necessarily in that order. They both feed each other. I’ve published more than a dozen books with large New York presses, Random House and Little, Brown, and small, brilliant publishers Like Torrey House Press in Utah. I am also a stage performer, storyteller, traveling ragtag sleeping on couches, on the ground, wherever I end up. For a couple decades of my life I spent more nights outdoors than indoors. What happens out there turns into story and if I can thread the needle properly, these end up published. I started with odd jobs, a small town newspaper reporter in the mountains of Colorado, guiding on muddy desert rivers, and eventually what I wrote began finding footholds. Now, at the tail end of my 50s, I write full time, which I’ve been doing for a few decades. I’ve taught for universities, but always drifted back into the jobless life of a freelance writer.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I am here to walk the tightrope between the modern human world and the world that we evolved in, the one made of sticks and stones, sky and earth. It’s awkward as hell sometimes, never quite sure where my allegiance lies, meeting with my editor in New York City and as soon as we’re plotting long ventures in places far beyond the built human environment.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Creativity is both rewarding and crushing. At times I am squeezing every last drop onto the page, gritting my teeth to get it done. Rewarding is when it flows, when I’ve been able to find a bit of truth and explore its ins and outs.

Image Credits
Daiva Chesonis