Author: Dan White

Thank you so much for your messages of support. My wife Amy Ettinger died at home last month. In the months before her death she reached readers all over the world with her Washington Post story, “I’m Dying at 49: Here’s Why I Have No Regrets.” You can now read this story without a paywall by clicking on the Sunday Long Read edition edited by my friend Bronwen Dickey. Thanks again, and if you wish to reach me, the best way is to just email me at dwhitescruz@yahoo.com – you’re always welcome to leave a comment on my website but I don’t always see them because I get so much junk mail in the comments threads that legit messages often get lost in the junk pile. In love and gratitude to all of you — Dan

There may be a paywall if you read the story on Outside, but if you find yourself ‘up against the wall,” try reading it on Yahoo News.

Thanks, everyone, for the great response to this story, and for sharing your own stories with me — all necessary steps to roll back stigma and encourage others to get the help they need! Best wishes to everyone — Dan Read the story here:

Read the story here

Here is my new personal essay about the implications of hiking in the days of the ever-present smartphone, told from the perspective of someone who remembers when calling out from the backcountry was impossible.

Thank you to Five Dials and Hermione Thompson for bringing out this interview to a whole new audience. It was a tremendous honor to interview Toni Morrison and talk about her with Angela Davis. Read the story here.

This winter, Jonathan Franzen invited me to his Santa Cruz home where we talked about the consuming process of bringing characters to life. We also talked about his abandonment of satire, why he got sick of New York, how aging and life in the Central Coast changed his outlook, and while he still loathes social media. Here is my interview with him, which appears in the latest edition of Catamaran lit magazine. Make sure to go out and get a hard copy at your local indie bookstore, or send in to subscribe!

Hello, everyone. There is still room left for the online seminars I am teaching with my wife Amy Ettinger, author of Sweet Spot. We’ll be talking about structuring personal essays and memoirs. Here you will find a comprehensive list of my new classes, which will take place June 12 and 13, (online personal essay and memoir classes), July 25-29 (in-person teaching at Catamaran lit. conference in Santa Cruz) and August 7, 14, 21, and 28 (online memoir workshop and craft class) On June 12, Amy and I will teach a class about the personal essay from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. PDT. There are many ways to tell the same story. The choices can be overwhelming for writers. We’ll discuss how to structure an essay, from anecdotal ledes to circular essays to braided narratives. Writers will learn a variety of ways to turn their experiences into narratives that editors will…