A Writer. His Wife. A Remote Outpost in Colorado. Lots of Snow. Even More Darkness.

Written By Peter Moore

I’M NOT A SELF-DRAMATIZER.

For instance, I rarely imagine myself as the protagonist of classic novels. I have never walked a lonely road to Yarmouth, like David Copperfield. Nor have I had a cage of rats strapped to my face, like Winston Smith in 1984. And I have never once driven around France in a sports car with a mind toward seducing the locals, like Phillip Dean in A Sport and a Pastime.

OK, sometimes it is tempting.

In fact, my recent New Year’s Eve jaunt into the remote, snowy, lonely, spooky, dark mountains of Colorado did have obvious similarities to Stephen King’s The Shining.

For instance:

Our lodgings in Estes Park, Colorado, were solitary. And the weather sucked!

You had to be there. Or not.

We had some trouble locating our room. Hey, it was simple mistake.

You know that, in the novel The Shining, Stephen King identified the room as #217. No wonder we were confused!

The views were less than ideal. I know there are mountains out there. Somewhere.

Nevermore? Wait fifteen minutes.

Fortunately, I’d brought a little work along to keep me busy. My wife didn’t share my enthusiasm for my latest project, however.

She won the argument, naturally.

We had a visit from local urchins. That part was like a Dickens novel. Sort of.

I’d prefer a visit from Tweedledum and Tweedledee, actually.

Despite all that, we were able to chill. Let it go!

A-maze-ing.

May your new year shine on with visions of hope and joy.

Actually, it’s getting brighter every day.

“That’s your job in this hard world, to keep your love alive and see that you get on, no matter what.” — Stephen King, The Shining

Peter Moore

PETER MOORE Writer/Editor/Illustrator/Wiseguy

3x NYT bestselling author...multiple National Magazine Award winner as writer and editor...2x interviewer of Barack Obama...chilled with Matt Damon in India for a week, for a Men’s Health cover story...NPR animator and commentator…cartoonist/columnist for the Colorado Sun

Peter Moore is an editor, writer, illustrator, animator, co-author, radio host, TV and podcast guest, speaker, editorial consultant, and journalism lecturer. He currently works as a columnist/cartoonist for The Colorado Sun and a commentator/animator for NPR. Peter recently completed gigs as interim editor of BACKPACKER magazine; launch editor for NatuRX, a cannabis/health magazine; and a two-decade run at Men’s Health magazine, where he topped out as VP/Editor. He has written or ghosted three New York Times bestsellers. He publishes twice weekly at petermoore.substack.com; his 8,000 subscribers open his emails to the tune of 20,000 reads per month.

In August 2008, Peter joined then-Senator Barack Obama on his

campaign plane for a cover story for the November issue of Men’s Health; the issue was on newsstands when Senator Obama became President-elect Obama. Almost exactly a year later, he interviewed President Obama in the Oval Office for a cover story in the October 2009 issue of Men’s Health. The following week he interviewed Michelle Obama for Women's Health.

Peter has written major features for Men’s Health, Prevention, Parade, and Backpacker, and AARP: The Magazine; between them they boast about 30 million readers. Following his own heart-health scare, Peter wrote “A Tale of Three Hearts,” which garnered Men’s Health’s first National Magazine Award. In April 2010, after his first year as editor of Men’s Health, the magazine won the NMA for General Excellence, in competition with The New Yorker, among other magazines. The January 2014 issue contained his account of a trip to India with Matt Damon, to visit villages impacted by Damon’s activist group water.org.

Moore has made 1000+ appearances on television, podcasts, and radio programs, discussing travel, career development, cartooning and drawing, second careers, humor as stress relief, relationships, and other stuff he makes up as he goes along. He has been interviewed on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and CBS This Morning, as well as NPR, CNN, and MSNBC. He was the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show Men’s Health Live, heard in 52 markets; it had a million listeners per week. He now works as a commentator/animator for Front Range NPR and a columnist/cartoonist for the Colorado Sun.

Prior to joining Men’s Health, Peter served as articles editor for Playboy. A graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, he lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his wife. He is an avid mountain climber, backpacker, skier, basketball player, bicyclist, yogi, international traveler, illustrator, and cook. And he can juggle.

https://petermoore.substack.com
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