laureli ivanoff

A funny thing no one seems to talk about when writing for magazines is timing. For a piece that publishes in July, the story is written months ahead of time. Editors need time for editing, writers need time for rewrites, and the art department needs time finding photos and laying out the stories. I’m sure there’s more, but other than writing I’ve never worked for a magazine, so I don’t know,

The July/August issue of Outside Magazine was “THE AWE ISSUE.” Immediately after I learned of the theme, I thought of my interaction with a teeny tiny being on the tidal flats while picking aqpiit. Anticipating we’d be picking aqpiit when the magazine would publish, I knew the content could work. What I didn’t know was that, months later, the very day the piece “While Foraging in Alaska, We Found a Delightful Surprise” published online, Timm, Henning, and I would drive Dad’s boat to the very same spot to check for our first taste of aqpik.

We didn’t find one ripe aqpik that day, but we did find some sourdock, enough for a quart cooked to freeze to eat later, and we showed Henning the tiny plant that sparked awe.

You can read the piece here.