Write Us

Suggest A Story

Our stories come from friends, from friends of friends, and from you: our community. We know that you know amazing humans. If you have a compelling idea for a guest or a story lead, please give us a shout!

You can use the submission form below or email us. It’s helpful if you can:

  • Write a short synopsis of your story idea
  • Provide relevant links or contact info (email, IG handle, website, etc.)
  • If you would like to submit a Short, please see below.

Write a Short

Submissions are now open closed. We will open them again in October 2024.

The Shorts are conversational style essays that explore the stories and themes of life (think friendship, change, healing, ridiculous encounters) through the lens of the outdoors. They are written by you. Together, we turn your essay into a 10-15 minute long episode on The Dirtbag Diaries.

We typically receive over 100 submissions and select 10 essays. We work with each writer to develop their story into an audio experience, which includes several rounds of edits and revisions, as well as recording the Short. Submit your essay today.

Please read through the guidelines to help us say, “Yes!” to your essay.

  • Story should include an experience (preferably outdoors), and a takeaway about how that experience shifted your perspective or gave you new insight. The tone might be seriousfunnycontemplativeheartfelt, or likely, it’s a mix.
  • Your story needs a beginning, middle and end.
  • Think about the take away from your piece.
  • We like details. Stories should show, not tell. More “wind raked over the lake, creating frothy ripples,” less “the lake was pretty.” Plus it helps activate the writing voice.
  • We prefer pieces written in the past-tense and in chronological order to create a better listening experience.
  • Bonus material (video): Anecdote + Reflection = Story
  • Ideal length: 2,000 words. We will not accept submissions over 2,500 words.

We are encourage essay submissions from diverse perspectives, especially those from historically underrepresented groups in the outdoors. We offer compensation for each selected essay.

Examples:

We can’t wait to hear from you!

Submissions for Episodes

We are interested in stories where people move beyond their comfort zone, whether intentional or not, and can tell us why it mattered. We focus on stories that are rooted in the outdoors, though it doesn’t have to be about or take place in the outdoors. Feature episodes have a narrative arc or plot- with a beginning, middle and end– that are told from the first person perspective. These stories begin with detailed interviews and our team shapes them into 30-40 minute episodes.

Have a story you think would make a great feature episode for the Diaries? Please write a pitch in a few paragraphs. Incorporating the following into your pitch is helpful:

  • Main character and plot or synopsis of the story.
  • Why do you think this story would make a great Dirtbag Diaries episode?
  • Is this a story you want us to consider or one you want to produce?
    • If you’d like to produce the piece, please tell us about your experience with audio production and include a link to at least one work sample.

Examples:

  • “Flip of A Coin” shares the story of a couple who got caught in a terrifying snowstorm while on a ski trip in Alaska
  • Mr Hodgesshares the story of a school teacher who took a group of 22 students on the bike trip of a lifetime in 1975. 
  • Better Than I Found Itshares the story of one local’s experience during the 2018-19 government shutdown and how he took personal responsibility to preserve Joshua Tree National Park.

We are a small team, dedicated to making a great show. We read every email and suggestion we receive, and try to respond, but unfortunately we cannot reply to everyone. Thank you for understanding.