Meghan J. Ward - outdoor, travel and adventure writer
working with words in the heart of the Canadian Rockies
A number of years ago I attended an outdoor writing conference in Boulder, Colorado, hosted by Women’s Adventure Magazine. This conference was my first real exposure to this magazine, and ever since I’ve had it on my radar to contribute to it at some point. Recently, I connected with their online editor, Susan, and am excited to announce that I will be blogging from time to time for Women’s Adventure Magazine. You can read my first post here!
About once a month a friend or colleague will ask me the very same question: “I have been wanting to take my writing to the next stage. How did you get started in freelance writing?”. Sometimes I’m tempted to say, “Just start.” How do you train for a marathon or big climb? You start running, you start climbing. But I know it isn’t that straight-forward. There are definitely some pointers I wish I had known when I started out – things I had to discover on my own in a fairly long, drawn-out process that continues to this day. So, I often let these curious writers treat me to coffee and I download my knowledge. After some time, though, these conversations became repetitive, and time-consuming for both parties, so I decided to write this article.
In my latest piece for the website, Get Your Iron, Girl: Preventing Deficiency, I didn’t delve into my own personal story, but it is what ultimately inspired the piece. A few winters ago, I was really struggling with low energy. I would head out ski touring and feel unusually wiped. Each stride was a struggle for weeks on end and I began to feel really discouraged. I finally went to the doctor and discovered my iron levels were rock-bottom. This is a really common issue, especially amongst women, and I decided to do a little bit of digging. So I called on my friend, holistic nutritionist Samantha Peris, of nu roots nutrition, and put together an interview.
I am excited to announce that after keeping Mountains in Motion: The Canadian Rockies in the shadows for festival screenings over the last 6 months, the film is now available online for all to view! Thanks to everyone who made this film possible, and to the various festivals that have helped us bring the film to the big screen. I welcome you to view the film below and find out more about this film project here.
Back in April 2011, my husband, Paul Zizka, and I set off on a 5-day ski touring journey in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island. A year and a half later, the story of our trip (my words, his photos) appeared in the November/December 2012 issue of IMPACT MAGAZINE! You can read the article in their digital issue or pick up a copy in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria and Red Deer.
Back in November 2011, I posted an update from Pokhara, Nepal, about the trailer release for a film I was working on called Mountains in Motion: The Canadian Rockies. For a year and a half I had the pleasure of working alongside my husband (and photographer), Paul Zizka, “creative genius,” Doug Urquhart, and an inspiring team of artists and contributors to create a 13 minute time-lapse film.
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