I grew up in St. Louis, attended college in California and have lived in New York City for twenty years. My stories have appeared in Esquire, GQ, Outside, Runner’s World, Backpacker, The New York Times and other publications, and my seventh book (I’m the co-author) was published June 5, 2012. It hit number 7 on the New York Times bestseller list and was named by Amazon as one of the 100 best books of 2012. Reviewing my memoir, Lost on Treasure Island, a book reviewer from the Wall Street Journal wrote in 2011 that I had fashioned “one of the more ignominious careers in magazine lore.” A Los Angeles Times columnist called me “a toxic cad…” Everyone’s a critic.