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This is How it Feels to Choke
As a competitive athlete, I choked for 10 years—a decade of failure—before learning the mental skills essential to perform under pressure.
Feb 24
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Kim Cross
20
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Interview with a Biographer
Brendan O'Meara shares tips for researching reconstructed scenes and getting in the head of a character who’s no longer around to be interviewed
Feb 15
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Kim Cross
4
1
The Kendrick Lamar Test: When and how to use an expository aside
A few examples of expository asides with tips on when and how to use them. My litmus test? The 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Feb 7
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Kim Cross
19
10
4
The First Celebrity Face of Nike
How a biographer reconstructed dramatic scenes and got in the head of running legend Steve Prefontaine.
Feb 3
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Kim Cross
10
3
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Emily Sohn on process and structure
For her award-winning narrative, "The Catch," journalist Emily Sohn profiled Virginia Kraft, who hunted with kings, drank with Hemingway, and wrote for…
Dec 31, 2025
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Kim Cross
7
Deals: The Softest (And Toughest) Merino Wool
The perfect base layer, merino wool wicks away sweat, retains heat even when wet, and fights odor. But finding one that's durable (and not scratchy…
Dec 1, 2025
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Kim Cross
4
5
The most important outdoor sports journalist I'd never heard of
A little note to (and from) the boy's club of outdoor adventure longform
Nov 30, 2025
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Kim Cross
9
5
1
How to Pack for Alaska
Here's my full packing list for a two-week trip to Alaska for commercial sockeye fishing, sports fishing for king salmon, and reporting two features
Oct 26, 2025
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Kim Cross
5
How a Book Becomes a Hollywood Movie
Glenn Stout, author of Young Woman and the Sea, shares the process behind researching and writing the book—and how it became a Hollywood movie.
Oct 19, 2025
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Kim Cross
3
The English Channel
Meet a swimmer who crossed the English Channel and an author who wrote about the first woman ever to swim it—and saw his book made into a Hollywood…
Oct 12, 2025
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Kim Cross
7
2
Welcome to The Waterproof Notebook
A newsletter for lovers of outdoor adventure, immersion reporting, and narrative craft
Sep 1, 2025
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Kim Cross
22
1
1
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