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About Me

Brad Wetzler is an author, journalist, podcaster, and book writing coach specializing in nonfiction and memoir. He writes books (and articles) and hosts a podcast about adventure, healing, emotional wellness, and faith & spirituality. His memoir, “Into the Soul of the World,” was published in 2023.

About Me

Brad Wetzler

Hello. I’m glad you’re here.

I’m Brad Wetzler. I’m the author of the new memoir Into the Soul of the World: My Journey to Healing (Hachette Go, 2023), and I’m your award-winning editor and memoir writing coach. I will help you write and publish your memoir or nonfiction book.

Who am I, and why should you choose me to be your memoir or nonfiction book writing coach?

I believe I have more experience than anybody in the writing coaching business? I’ve coached hundreds of authors to write and publish their books. But my experience runs deeper than that. I’ve also been writing and editing professionally at the highest levels of publishing since 1990, when I was 24. Over the past 30 years, I’ve written two books published by major traditional publishers and penned hundreds of articles and essays for top publications such as the New York Times, Newsweek, GQ, Wired, National Geographic, Travel + Leisure, and Outside, where I was a senior editor for six years and contributing editor for 17 years.

My work has been anthologized by the Best American Travel Writing series and other anthologies. I have a masters’ degree in journalism from prestigious Northwestern University.

I invite you to join my free Substack newsletter, The Adventure. It’s about braving these tough times together while maintaining wonder and curiosity. And when I’m NOT writing, editing, or coaching, I record a podcast, study and teach yoga, and travel domestically and abroad. Some of the publications I’ve written for include:
 
    • The New YorkTimes (Magazine, Book Review, Op-Ed page, and Travel section)
    • Newsweek 
    • GQ 
    • Forbes 
    • Wired 
    • National Geographic 
    • Yoga Journal
    • Men’s Journal 
    • Travel + Leisure 
    • Outside and 
    • George, among others.
Here are some highlights from my 30-year writing, editing, and publishing career.
• From 1990 to 1997 I worked as an editor at Outside magazine, where I worked with some of the finest journalists and nonfiction writers. While on staff, the magazine won three consecutive National Magazine Award for General Excellence.
Brad Wetzler in india

From 1997 through 1999, I served as contributing editor at John F. Kennedy’s George magazine.

•In 2001, I became a contributing editor of National Geographic Adventure magazine.
•From 2001 to 2004 I penned Outside’s monthly “Wild File” column.
•In 2003-4, I served as assistant professor of English at the College of Santa Fe.
•In 2005, I published Real Mosquitoes Don’t Eat Meat (W.W. Norton), a collection of my Wild File columns.
• From 2014 to 2016, I was the head of the nonfiction and memoir department of Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s The Book Project.
•Since 2016, I have worked as a memoir writing coach helping more than a hundred new writers become published authors.
•In 2018, I published an essay called “How Yoga Transformed Me after Depression” in Yoga Journal.
•In 2023, I published my memoir, Into the Soul of the World: My Journey to Healing with Hachette Go, a Big Five traditional publisher.
 
Assignments have taken me around the world, including to Russia, Palestine, Israel, Greenland, Brazil’s Amazon, Indonesia, India, Scandinavia, Turkey, Greece, the Canadian Arctic, Jamaica, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and the wildest corners of the United States. My adventures include interviews with politicians, presidential candidates, and professional athletes, along with unique experiences like living with hobos in the Czech Republic and breaking bread with cult leaders in Jerusalem. My encounters extend into space exploration, as I’ve written about Russian and American space programs and shared vodka shots with cosmonauts. My journeys have led him to tail explorers along the coast of Greenland.
 
 
Words That Transcend Boundaries
My writing has achieved recognition through inclusion in 
anthologies like Best American Travel Writing and Outside 25: The Best of Outside Magazine’s First 25 Years. My writing encompasses various topics, including travel, adventure, wellness, yoga, personal growth, and spirituality.
Beyond my writing, I am a certified yoga teacher who infuses mindfulness into my coaching. Rooted in yogic ideals of honesty, respect, and kindness, I empower aspiring writers to unleash their potential, resulting in more robust and graceful prose.
 
A Journey From Editor to Writer
My career began with an editorial role at Outside magazine, where he collaborated with renowned nonfiction writers like Jon Krakauer, Mike Paterniti, Daniel Coyle, and Hampton Sides. In 1997, I transitioned from an editor to a writer, embarking on a global journey encompassing adventure, exploration, business, politics, the environment, sports, yoga, and wellness. My articles and essays have been published by prestigious publications such as The New York Times, Newsweek, GQ, Forbes, Wired, National Geographic, Yoga Journal, Men’s Journal, Travel + Leisure, Outside, and George.
 
The Path to Self-Discovery
Entering midlife, I found solace in yoga, rekindling his practice from the early 1990s. Yoga guided me inward, leading to certification as a yoga teacher and sparking an exploration of psychology, spirituality, meditation, and yoga in my writing.
 
I offer online yoga classes and delivers inspiring talks on the transformative power of yoga and mindfulness practices. You can contact me to book a private yoga lesson or engage him as a speaker.
 
Empathy for Your Journey
My deep empathy for his clients’ journeys in life fuels my work as a memoir coach. I understand the roadblocks you may face when trying to bring your memoir to fruition. My commitment to your success is genuine and unwavering, and I’m here to guide you every step of the way.
 
Your Memoir Journey Awaits
I offer a comprehensive coaching mentorship program to help you turn your memoir dreams into reality. This program is designed for those who have longed to share their stories but are grappling with isolation, fear, or self-doubt.
 
Reserve Your Spot Today
Don’t let doubt, procrastination, or uncertainty hold you back. Join me on this journey and turn your memoir dreams into reality. Your story matters, and the world is waiting to hear it.
Your memoir awaits—let’s bring it to life together. 
Click on the blue link below to book your free 30-minute introductory coaching session.

Advance Praise for Brad Wetzler's

INTO THE SOUL OF THE WORLD: My Journey to Healing

In the age of toxic masculinity and “mansplaining;” in a country in which most violent crimes are committed by men, Brad Wetzler’s Into the Soul of the World offers a powerful, profound, and deeply personal road map for actively cultivating a different kind of manhood. As a young journalist in the 90s, Wetzler had it all: an amazing, enviable job as a travel and adventure journalist that sent him all over the world on assignments; a home in beautiful Santa Fe; a loving marriage. At the height of magazine journalism, Wetzler’s passport was littered with stamps, and he edited and wrote features for high-profile magazines like the New York Times, George, National Geographic, and many others. He commissioned Jon Krakauer’s piece about the lost climbers of Mt. Everest that later became the international bestselling book and hit movie, Into Thin Air.

But then the demons and trauma from his childhood caught up with him, and he sunk into a depression that increasing amounts of prescription drugs could not solve, and soon found himself divorced, essentially house-bound, and physically unhealthy.

He hit rock bottom when a friend – who was on a similar cocktail of medications — died by suicide. Into the Soul of the World traces his road to recovery, from a checkpoint in Palestine to the cave of a 100-year-old yogi in India. He kicks the drugs, finds yoga, moves to Colorado, and learns — through the love of friends, animals, and a hard-won spiritual awakening that can’t be put into any particular dogmatic box — to be a man that is not celebrated often enough. A man of wisdom, kindness, insight, tenderness, and sensitivity.

Through energetic and lively prose, Wetzler takes us inside the heart and mind of a man who refuses to conform to society’s restrictive notion of manhood, and instead presents a new path for men to walk. This is not an easy path, Wetzler is clear, but we’ve never needed it more.”

– Emily Rapp Black

author of The Still Point of the Turning World and Sanctuary.

–Mark Adams Author of Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000 mile journey around
the Last Great American Frontier.

I've followed Brad Wetzler's travels around the globe with envy and admiration for more than two decades. From what I've read, Into the Soul of the World promises to be his most fascinating journey yet.

–Daniel Coyle Author of The Talent Code, Lance Armstrong's War, Hardball,
and others.

Brad Wetzler is one of the best adventure writers I know. Now he's taking us on one of the biggest adventures of all -- a journey into the deepest reaches of his own life -- and I could not be more eager to see where it leads.

–Hampton Sides Author of Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, Hellhound on His Trail, and others

As a far-flung journalist and celebrated editor, Brad Wetzler has led the very definition of an adventurous life, but in Into the Soul of the World he'll give an unflinching account of his interior adventures. Wetzler’s soulful quest, by turns anguished and transcendent, will resonate with readers around the world who struggle to find purpose and a sense of the holy in the ambient jitter of the digital age.

Watch Brad's YouTube Interviews with Writers, Poets, and Editors

Conversations with important and emerging American voices

As avid readers of his immensely popular Outside magazine column can attest, Brad Wetzler is a man equally at home with the inane, the profane, and the arcane. Equipped with an omnidirectional curiosity and a sly sense of humor, in “Real Mosquitoes Don’t Eat Meat,” Brad Wetzler reaffirms a truth we all understood as kids–that when it comes to the natural world, there is no such thing as a ‘dumb question.’

Hampton Sides

Author of Ghost Soldiers and Americana
and Outside Magazine Editor-at-Large

Brad Wetzler is an author and memoir writing coach. Make this the year you complete your memoir. Download the free "How to Tell a Great Story" e-book and schedule a free 30-minute consultation today.

Get Your FREE eBook

Live A Great Story and Get My Free "How to Tell A Great Story" eBook

Brad Wetzler is an author and memoir writing coach. Make this the year you complete your memoir. Download the free "How to Tell a Great Story" e-book and schedule a free 30-minute consultation today.

Get Your FREE eBook

Live A Great Story and Get My Free "How to Tell A Great Story" eBook