We had the good fortune of connecting with Brian Cornell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brian, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I didn’t mean to. While hiking the Continental Divide Trail in 2018, I decided I wanted to write a book about it. Writing that book turned into editing, proofreading, designing a cover, reaching out to publishers, and eventually self-publishing which has led to its own host of tasks. I wrote the book because I had a story to share but I didn’t expect it to become a creative career. I knew I enjoyed being creative but didn’t realize this was an avenue until a few years into it.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets me apart from others is my experiences and path. It’s easy to get down and tell yourself that your ideas aren’t original or in fact nothing is original, but I learned it’s better to look at it from the other side. No one has had the life you had. You are completely original in that regard and have a unique story to tell with your unique voice.

One lesson I learned along the way is that it’s good to have goals and deadlines. Not for everything, there has to be room for play and idea farming, but when I am writing a book or script, I have to set goals for myself.

For some projects, it’s one page a day, others five or ten. As I become more experienced, the number of pages I expect a day goes up. Having this marker gives me something to work toward.

When writing “Divided”, my goal was to type five pages a day. They could be great, bad, awful, or okay, they may be cut at a later date, but I needed to write five pages every day. I could write more, I could write horribly, but I felt a lot better about my day and about my progress if I met this goal. After a few months, I finished the story, had enough for a book, and began the editing process! Writing a book is a daunting task, but if you break it up like this, day by day, it makes the whole process and idea more digestible.

It was actually thru-hiking the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) that helped me discover this goal-setting technique. The CDT is 2,500-3,000 miles long. If you think about doing all that at once, you’d go mad. But every day, you do a manageable chunk, say 15-20 miles, and after five months, you’ll be done! After the Trail, I translated this into writing, and it has helped me complete a handful of projects.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live in Missoula, Montana, so a lot would depend on the season. However, I moved to Missoula because I wanted more things to do, more events, more happenings, more options. I spent four years in a small ski resort town and it seemed the only thing people ever did was ski.

I’d take my friend on a hike (weather permitting) tp the top of Mt Jumbo or Sentinel. We’d go drink at the cheapest happy hours (Camino, Dram Shop, Cambie) and the best breweries (GILD, Kettlehouse, Draughtworks). We’d eat at the restaurant I work at; Zoo Thai. There’s live music on most nights, which I always enjoy, and on the nights there’s not, we’ll go to the Roxy Theater to catch a film. And if they play soccer, we’ll go to Sunday pick-up at the park.

Living in a larger town not only provides more options for entertainment, but it also allows you to meet a wider range of people. Though you can get caught in your circles, I particularly enjoy going out by myself and starting conversations with strangers. Some of these conversations go nowhere, some end up being small talk, but some lead to intense and deep connections, which brings me great joy. I love meeting new people and living in a city allows that experience.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’ll Shoutout the writers who inspire me to play with words: Edward Abbey, John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac, Kurt Vonnegut, J.K. Rowling, and Chuck Palahniuk. These individuals have written books that I reread and study, fiction and non.

And also Amazon for their wicked easy and useful Kindle Direct Publishing.

Website: https://terminallycurio.us

Other: Amazon Author Page – https://www.amazon.com/Brian-Cornell/e/B0848NY7TM/ref=aufs_dp_fta_dsk

Image Credits
Ginger Perez, Peter Graf

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutColorado is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.