Outside and looking in: a memoir

Outside and Looking In is a creative writing project in the form of a complete memoir. It is 1990 and the narrator, twenty-one, has come to Yosemite National Park for an entry-level job and a chance to escape her problems. Within the party culture of the park, she meets and falls in love with an enigmatic and hard-drinking climbing bum named Ray. Restless and frustrated by her menial job and stagnant lifestyle, the narrator leaves the park with Ray in search of an alternative to working for a living. The couple dwell in a tent in the California desert before making their way to British Columbia, Canada. Meanwhile, the relationship sours and then grows increasingly volatile as each fails to live up to the other's expectations. After pitching their tent in a squatters' campground, the couple work sporadically and then manage to buy a tiny sailboat. They fix up the sailboat and move aboard, embarking on a nomadic life in the waters of British Columbia's coast and Gulf Islands. Over the next two years, the frustration of both characters builds: they can't get along but can't give up the relationship. In early spring 1996, while spending the night at a remote anchorage, they drink too much and Ray accidentally drowns. Devastated, the narrator returns to the United States. There, she must face her problems head-on before she can find happiness. 1. Memoir 2. Outdoors 3. Sailing 4. Rock climbing 5. Adventure 6. Yosemite 7. Canad