I am in the trenches of a writer’s life editing my book, sending queries to literary agents, applying for part time writing jobs, and sending out pitch after pitch to magazines, blogs, and newspapers.
The theme of my life right now is rejections and radio silence. Most lit agents don’t even send rejections anymore, they simply don’t respond. When they do, they usually say they have too many submissions to consider mine at the time. I’m throwing out pitches about the data center proposal in Page, Arizona. Many say no, it’s too small of a town, we don’t cover that region, or I just get plain ole ghosted.
Don’t confuse this for complaining, it is the reality of being a writer. The recipe is this: dozens of rejections for one publication. I’d probably guess I’m at a 20:1 no to yes ratio right now.
So I continue on plugging away for that one yes. In between writing and working for that one win, I go paddling.
While cooking dinner a few nights ago I told my partner Jaden, “I need some good news in my inbox soon.”
Being the loving man that he is, he told me to check my email. And there it was! An email (from him) titled “Good News.”
I laughed, shook my head, rolled my eyes, and ate some curry.
The next day, I woke up to another email, with the subject line in all capital letters and two exclamation points. It read: GOOD NEWS!! Grand Staircase Plan Remains in Place!
I squealed. I yelled Jaden’s name. He turned his book down in his lap while I read the email aloud to him.
In March, Jaden and I signed a letter to Congress asking them not to overturn the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Plan using the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
Utah Senator Lee and Representative Maloy attempted to use the CRA to disapprove the monument management plan, which was created by tribal nations, local businesses, scientists, the public, researchers and ranchers. In other words: the experts. Their plan to use the CRA would make it so that no other similar management plan would be allowed to be put in place either. To learn more about this, SUWA wrote a lot about it here.
We signed the letter as new business owners of Pronghorn Expeditions, a hiking and vehicle tour company in Page, Arizona.
But we hesitated to sign.
We wondered if my writing (and shit talking) about the data center development in Page, Arizona would get Pronghorn bad press.
We wondered if we were getting ourselves in hot water signing a letter with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a non-profit for wilderness preservation. An organization we love, but have heard the names that others in these rural regions have called SUWA advocates. Eco-terroists. Environmentalists in cahoots with Al-Qaeda.
Yes, really. That’s truly the rumblings we hear in Utah and Arizona small towns. We questioned if aligning ourselves with SUWA had the potential to turn away a certain sect of customers.
In the end we decided protecting public lands is more important than any reputation. We reasoned that we wouldn’t have customers to worry about if the land was exploited, depleted, unprotected, sold, or opened to gas and oil mining.
We signed the letter to Congress. I sent in a video along with other business owners whose livelihoods depend on the monument. I wrote a blog post about it.
Because at the end of my life, I don’t want to look back and say, “I lived a good life, I didn’t piss a single person off.”
I want to be able to say, “I did something for Earth.”
I want to leave this world knowing that the people left behind will be able to seek solace in the same wilderness areas that I did. That they’ll still have a place to go where they can see the Milky Way, swim in uncontaminated water, and wonder about ancient civilizations that left behind pottery and granaries deep in elusive canyons.
I can sleep soundly knowing that I spoke up for preservation. That I used my writing skills to advocate for the protection of 1,400 years old pinyon-juniper pine trees as well as rare and endangered bees and birds that I’ll likely never meet.
So in between waiting for responses, indulging the book editing process, and all the rejections- I got one win. One big, fantastic win.
A win for public lands is a win for all of us.
In the last three years, I’ve guided kayaking and hiking tours in Page, Arizona around Lake Powell and in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Most of our tourists are international. Last week I guided a kayak tour with 10 people and 7 countries represented: Portugal, Thailand, China, England, Australia, France, and Belgium. The other three people traveled from Massachusetts and Michigan. This is pretty common.
It always blows me away when people find this remote region. A group of Chinese tourists told me once, “Everyone in my country knows Page, America.”
I laughed because most people in my hometown of Virginia don’t know where I live. Hell, most people who grew up in Phoenix (only 4 hours south) have never been here.
It amazes me that people come from all over the world to see the red rock, slot canyons, and vast expanses of wilderness in the Southwest.
As United States citizens, we have a great responsibility to be good caretakers of this land. We get the honor of protecting these treasured landscapes for the whole world to enjoy. Some of the most beautiful places on Earth happen to be in our backyard.
This win reminded me that collaboration works. And conservation works. When laws are put in place to limit development, nature thrives. The human spirit thrives.
Collective action works. Voting and meeting with our public officials works. Writing letters, picking up the phone, and making your voice heard works. Sometimes.
Today, we celebrate. We exhale.
And I remember why I write: to leave the world better than I found it. To piss off the right people. To give back to the landscapes that give so much to us.
Public lands remain under attack, including the Grand Staircase, Bears Ears, and Red Rock Wilderness. We remain vigilant. With this win, we gather up the strength to continue speaking up for our public lands. Stay up to date about all things southwest by following the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
And if you’ve got some letter writing will power left in you, go ahead and send them a thank you note for all their conservation efforts.
Beth Henshaw 