It’s incredibly hard to believe that 15 years have passed since I published my first book, “Dogwild & Board: Stories, Interviews & Musings from a Surf Journalist.”
At the time I decided to write the book, I was opening up my own surf shop, a boutique on the corner of Fillmore and Union Streets in San Francisco, Calif. called San Francisco Surf Company. I had recently finished a 10 year career working in the sports radio industry, and had transitioned to multimedia journalism.
The parent company of the radio station I worked for, KNBR, was Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff, known as much for its rich history of pottery as it was for being a media conglomerate owning over 30 FM and AM radio stations in the U.S. Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff generously offered its employees a private stock option plan for all employees who worked for the company a minimum of five years; a relic of days when companies traditionally felt a moral obligation of providing long-term financial stability and security to its employees.
When I left KNBR, I had been enjoying relative success as a journalist and media personality covering action sports. While at KNBR, I hosted a weekend radio show called “The Extreme Scene,” which featured some incredibly high profile guests in the sports, arts and entertaining industries. With my background and connections in the media and action sports, I invested my stock option payout into the surf shop, where a new studio for The Extreme Scene was also built.
We would have in-studio guests coming in ranging from actors like Duane “The Rock” Johnson, Edward Norton and Johnny Knoxville; musicians including Jack Johnson, Ben Harper and G. Love; and the most prominent action sports athletes in the industry, including Kelly Slater, Tony Hawk and Shaun White regularly joining the program for extensive long-form interviews that preceded what’s now customary in the modern podcast format.
Between having an extensive compilation of fascinating interviews with high-profile guests that simply needed transcribing for a new audience to read instead of listen to them, and a lust for adventure coupled with gaining experience covering the niche topic of dogs and travel, I knew I had a lot of interesting content for a book.
So I started writing. And eventually, Dogwild & Board was published.
I’m grateful to be invited into the Authors’ Lounge. If there’s a lesson I may impart, it’s this: Your writing can always improve. My graduate studies at San Diego State University helped drastically improve my writing and research skills, leading to the Society of Professional Journalists honoring me in 2015 with an Online Reporting Award for an investigative report published by The Huffington Post focused on a humanitarian crises in Tijuana, Mexico.
Thanks to the Authors’ Lounge for the recognition of my book, Dogwild & Board: Stories, Interviews & Musings from a Surf Journalist.
