In an hour this site goes live and with it my blog. In front of me, in an application called Word Press, a great white space yawns. The empty page. Yesterday I watched an interview with writer Jon Krakauer on You Tube (he’s on a train with Sean Penn in Alaska, posted below) in which he said that he does not enjoy writing. “I just can’t get those f#^&ing first words on the page” he says. I’ve heard many writers describe the empty page as terrifying, as their worst nightmare.

For me it’s different. The first page is an endless field of untracked powder, a limitless expanse of opportunity. My first words, like your first turns in powder, are seldom any good. They’re just a way to build up rhythm, to get the muscles moving, to find the speed and the float to let go and allow something inside, something that doesn’t think but rather feels, take over. That’s when the good turns and the good writing can start. And if what I lay down sucks, well, there’s always the wind or another storm to fill in my tracks, or the delete key.

The sheer volume of the Internet also tends to snow under even the best of work. So, that’s what I’ll dig out for you on this blog. On it I’ll post work by outdoor writers and photographers and filmmakers who are laying down fresh lines that deserve to be re-recognized, and remembered. In between the outstanding work of others I’ll also keep a running dialogue of my own adventures in the worlds of words and film and mountains.

Please feel free to comment at any time. You can also contact me directly and privately at williamakerig@theedgeofnever.com. While I reserve the right to post a response to your emails on my blog, I will never reveal your identity on the blog without your permission.

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