I first encountered professional writers in my editing duties as the Editorial and Creative Consultant for The Family Therapy Networker magazine in Washington, D.C. Rich Simon, editor of this magazine and its successor, The Psychotherapy Networker, was a mentor and a friend who encouraged me to hone my own writing skills and eventually published my scribblings as Networker features. In particular, I remember researching and penning an article about homeless families in the 1980s. Unfortunately, many of the problems existing at that time are even more urgent today.

Later, I would recount a selection of my wilderness adventures in an article entitled, “Seeking the Silence”. Before leaving the Networker after forty-some years, I contributed a musing entitled “The Freedom Machine,” which was published in the “Family Matters” section of the magazine. Click here to read this article.

Upon leaving the Networker, I decided it was time to complete my reflections on my solo wilderness canoe expeditions. Thus was born the memoir Solo: Venturing Alone in the Northern Wilds and a companion volume entitled Solo: The Photographs. Excepts of the former and a complete viewing of the latter are presented here. A portion of this book, “Canoeing the Kenai” is featured in the Summer 2021, Volume 3 issue of the Deep Wild Journal, an exciting collection of writings from authors relating their backcountry experiences the world over. Click  here to learn more.

I will occasionally be posting a few of my non-published autobiographical sketches, some in progress and some complete, for your consideration. I welcome your comments.

A project I am especially fond of is an ongoing collaboration featuring my daughter Laurel Anderson, an oft-published poet, as well as a distinguished professor of botany-microbiology at Ohio Wesleyan University. Laurie’s poetry will appear alongside my photos. To see the results of this collaboration thus far, click here.

Finally, as I noted on the home page of Dick Anderson Photography, my solo trips to the deep wilderness, now fifteen to twenty-five years removed, are especially meaningful to me, because they made me aware first hand of the effects of our warming climate.

Unfortunately, the warning signs I witnessed during those trips now demand our urgent attention. Many of us have come to understand what we were not adequately aware of then—that much of our environmental degradation is human-caused. That is why I encourage you to investigate, join and contribute generously to those organizations that are working effectively to protect our lands, both in the wild and in our own neighborhoods. (Click here to see a list of just a few of these organizations.)

Again, thanks for visiting Dick Anderson Writing, and happy reading!