Wild Game, Wine, and Words: Cecil Cherry’s Unique Take on Outdoor Storytelling

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series, the podcast that celebrates individuals and families, businesses, and organizations that seek out and promote the exploration, stewardship, conservation, access, and enjoyment of the outdoors. Cecil Cherry is our guest today. Cecil is an outdoor writer and fellow member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. He is passionate about the outdoors and pursues activities as a hunter, fisherman, and photographer. Cecil publishes first article about his first common antelope hunt for the magazine Feathers and Whiskey, and he continues to write about the Southern Outdoors, North and South Carolina history, folklore, wild game recipes, and sharing his Eastern North Carolina route on his travel. Cecil, it is so good to see you virtually here today, but I'm so glad we finally were able to hook up for this podcast episode. It's great. Thank you for having me. It's great to see you again today, Howard. Oh, yes, definitely. And for our listeners, as I just mentioned, Cecil's a member of the OWAA. He and his wife attended our annual conference. I guess it's back in August, like two months ago or a month and a half ago, in Madison, Wisconsin. And it was really great to connect with him and his wife there. Cecil, I know we have video going. We'll have this up on our YouTube channel. But what's that black thing hanging from your shoulder there?

SPEAKER_00 1:44

It's a sling. I had shoulder surgery about three days after the conference. So since we got back to North Carolina on Wednesday, August 27th, I was scheduled for surgery August 28th, and I've been recovering from shoulder surgery ever since. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Now, are you following all the doctors' orders and the and the physical therapist orders to get you back in in good shape there?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Yes, sir. I sure am. I've got a duck hunt scheduled for the week before Thanksgiving in Arkansas, and I'm doing everything I can so I can attend the duck hunt. Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Now I am curious because I mean you and I have had conversations, but we've never really gone too deep on your background and how you got into the space of writing. And I know we're also connected on Facebook, both to you and to your wife. And you've got your love of food and wine, and it's like I can hang out with these folks, but give us a little bit about your background. You can go into as much detail as you want, but just a little background about how you what you've been doing and how you got into this space of writing.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

I grew up in eastern North Carolina on a farm, we raised hogs, tobacco, soybeans, the road crops, corn. And I went to East Carolina University, graduated in 1989 with a criminal justice degree. I always was had an interest in law enforcement, and I I got hired by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, where I spent almost my entire career. I retired as a special agent in charge with the Bureau in January 1st, 2020. I was retired a whole week and got hired by an insurance company to help investigate health insurance fraud. And I've been doing that for about six and a half years. And I've always had an interest in writing. And one of my cases, one of the assignments I had was conducting environmental crimes investigations. We had a major coal-ash spill back in 2013, 2014. And I was case agent. Oh well. I've always wanted to be a writer, and I thought, if if I can do this, I should be able to parlay this kind of writing into something I really like. And that was always tucked away in the back of my mind. And I kept looking, trying to figure out, well, how do I get started? And just kept spinning my wheels.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Okay. So I'm curious, and and and and I mean this with all due respect, did your bosses, when you're writing your case reports, did they compliment you on the eloquence of your reports?

SPEAKER_00 4:42

If it passed their muster, if they if they were giving any of my reports and didn't send it back, then that was that was an attaboy. If it got sent back, then man, I disappointed somebody. We had a manual for everything. There was a procedure on how to walk in court, how to sit in court, how to talk, how to dress. So it was regimented in that way. Even how you write a an interview or a crime scene. And that I've carried over with that all these years later.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Okay. Okay. Very good. I the reason I love podcasting is I don't get red marks on my re written reports. And uh I that was like a fate worse than death to me when the when the teacher would they wouldn't just hand you back the paper with the red marks on it. And I knew what the red marks meant, but they had this habit of take the paper and they'd turn it and just kind of fold it in half in their hand. And for some reason, that always irritated me. Okay. It could have been a B plus, A minus paper, A paper for that matter, but there's something that to folding it in their hand and handing it to you. And I know they were doing it for privacy's sake, but for some reason that just really irritated me. So I don't have to worry about that as a podcaster anymore. So with your background working on the farm, living, being born and raised on the farm, had you always had this interest in the outdoor space, the hunting, the fishing, delving into photography, because I can't help but do that as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Has that always been there with you? Yes. Like most people that grew up in a rural environment, I started off with a daisy BB gun and then I graduated to a 410, single shot Stevens 410 shotgun, hunting squirrels, then that evolved into rabbits. Then I got a hand-me-down Winchester single shot old action rifle 22. And that eventually owed to a 30 out of six and deer hunting. And I always liked eating any wild game, whether it was squirrel or deer, rabbit, and just graduated from there. And of course, during the off season, being able to photograph, just getting out in the woods, turtles on a log, something as simple as that always fascinated me.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Okay. Now, in addition to the hunting, are you and your writing, are you still doing photography?

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Yes, I I try and do all my photography, unless it's logistics, just don't allow.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Okay. Okay. By the way, you do know in our OWA's annual excellence and craft contest, we do have a photography category. So if you shot something in 2026, it's eligible. So just putting that out there for you, Cecil. Yes, sir. Absolutely. So when you first wrote that article on the antelope punt for feathers and whiskey, did this relationship with them did it come about before? I guess we're trying to figure out when did you really start to so you're still working in as an insurance fraud investigator? When did the this this idea, okay? I will write this article and develop this relationship with the feathers and whiskey come about.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

I started following Feathers and Whiskey on Facebook and Instagram, and found out they were North Carolina based, also. And I I would make comments like everybody, wow, that that's a neat post, or I really like this, or just a little emoji, the heart or thumbs up. Maybe for a year. One of the co-founders is Michael Mayer, and he's one of the editors. One night he shot me a message on Instagram, hey, I'm Michael. We have a couple of mutual friends. May I give you a call? He called me and we talked for an hour and a half, two hours, maybe. And he said, Do you do you think you could write an article? I said, I think I can. What are you looking for? He said, How about something on hunting? The first thing that popped in my mind was my it was the first Antelope punt I I went on in 2012. And I said, Well, what about a North Carolinian goes, two North Carolinians go to Wyoming on an antelope hunt? He said, Can you give that to me in a couple of weeks? I said, Yeah, yeah, two weeks ought to be good. So the next night after work, I just sat down on the computer and started typing and typing, typing. My wife is phenomenal. She proofreads and edits all my work and makes it look a whole lot better than when it started. Love it. And I shot that in the Michael. I said, Look, tell me anything that you don't like or that needs to be fixed, and I'll I'll be glad to fix it. Heard back from him. He said, Look, I'm gonna post this on this date at this time. Just keep keep an eye out. And that that was kind of a while. I I really did it. I I wrote a I wrote my first article, and I stayed in touch with Michael and still stay in touch with him. And I've published a he's published a lot for me with feathers and whiskey. And we he and I've collaborated on two articles. One was on Custer's last stand. The North Carolinian was actually at the battle and got away from Custer's command on orders and wound up with Reno. He survived, came back, got out of the army, lived the rest of his life in North Carolina. And the Halifax Resolves before the Declaration of Independence, it was the Halifax Resolves was the first move to independence from England. Michael wanted to do an article on that, and he said, Hey, you said you're me in Halifax County. Can you get some photographs? I said, Heck yeah. So I I took photographs for his article and had a really, really nice collaboration. And another one of those, wow, this this is fun. I I really like doing this.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Okay, okay. So when you had that first article published, and now is well, I tell let me ask is Feathers and Whiskey is it online? Is it is it written, is a paper, or is it a combination of both?

SPEAKER_00 11:34

It's a combination of both. They still do a blog, they do quarterly digital magazines, and now they've just come gone to print. It's print on demand, and uh you can follow it on Feathers and Whiskey. They have a web page. When the new magazine comes out, if you want one or ten, just go to the link, order your magazine of magazines, and it's a really, really nice magazine, great sponsors, phenomenal writers, and a lot of writers are members of Low WAA.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Okay, very interesting. So, how did it feel when you saw that first article you know in the magazine and you saw your name there?

SPEAKER_00 12:20

It was very surreal, really humbling, very surreal. Growing up reading Feeling and Stream and Outdoor Life, thinking, man, I bet that would be fun. I wonder if when I grow up if I can do that. Well, I've grown up and I I was reading the article and I thought, but this is really good. Wow, my name's beside it. I can't one of those I gotta pinch myself moments. Yeah, even now, after after about four years, I still have to pinch myself. I I can't believe I've got this opportunity. It it's surreal. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

And how did you then end up finding or being introduced to the OWAA?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Another writer and mutual friend of ours, Edgar Castillo, who is uh hunt birds on social media, he had a a piece in Field Ethos. It was a bird hunt in the Oklahoma panhandle and and the trials and tribulations of hunting there and crossing the same territory that human smugglers, drug smugglers use. And he wrote a piece on how dangerous it could be and being on the lookout for criminal activity. Even he's a retired law enforcement officer, also. Read the article. I commented on his his Instagram, wow, I'm retired too. I had no idea it was like this. Great article. He reached out to me and said, Hey, I'd like to talk to you, but I'm going out of state. Can I call you next Saturday? I said, Yeah, sure. That I'd love to talk to you. Next Saturday came and we talked for over two hours. And he said, if you're really serious about this, you should really think about joining the Outdoor Writers Association of America. And he explained what OWAA is, the networking, the experience you get, and of course going to the conference and and having that different different classes to get educated on how to enhance your your craft.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

And I joined and uh have made a a lot of connections, a lot of friends like you. And it's been tremendous to to learn from other writers, learn from the classes, and just broaden my horizons, okay, and and continually learning. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

How has the the experience with the OWAA, how has that helped you in your subsequent writings in the outdoor space? And are you finding well? Let's just stop with that. That's the question. I do have one that comes right after, but how is this being a part of this organization? I mean, obviously, knowing knowing folks like Edgar, I remember I I interviewed Edgar when he attended his first conference. I remember we had we had met and I said, Hey, I'd love to have you on the podcast. And I remember he was a little nervous. Well, uh you'd you'd want me on your podcast, or you want to talk about my writing? And he was just, and it was at that point he was growing his confidence, and now he's like, well the rest is history. It's kind of funny to look at the breadcrumbs and from where he was to where he is. But how is this experience now with folks like Edgar, other the classes? How is your writing in the outdoor space? How is it evolving that that you're that you can see?

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Just the first thing that pops to my mind, just the style, just the way I write now as opposed to my first couple of articles. It's like looking at something you you would have written in first grade, and then you get in the tenth grade and go, oh wow, I can't believe I can't believe that even got published. Learning from other writers, what's your experience? Just submitting a pitch. Do you send the whole article or do you send a couple of paragraphs? Do you send photographs with your pitch? What do you do when you don't hear from an editor for a couple months? Do you wait a couple months or do you pull your article? What's your experience with editors on a whole? I mean, they're running a magazine, they're running a business, and I'm I'm trying to get name recognition and just get just get out there, learning to have thick skin and going to a conference and building these friendships, finding out that I'm not the Lone Ranger. If you called the five other writers, they've all had similar or the same experience. Oh, yeah, man, I didn't hear anything for X amount of time, and then it ran. And a buddy of mine called me and said, Hey, have you seen your article? Or I saw a buddy's article and reached out to him and said, Hey, this your piece just got published in the magazine or on an individual form. How you pitch, how to sell yourself, becoming a lot more confident, picking up the phone or or sending an email to an editor that does not know you. Right. Hey, this is who I am, this is what I can bring to the table. Here's my article, this is what the article's about. And I'd I'd say eight times out of ten, I get a response. And it I'm still floored again, it's that uh surreal experience. Sure. Um Roger Pingney, the outdoor writer for sporting classics, he lived on the Fusky Island. I I had a chance to meet him before he passed away, and I we became friends, and I'm friends now with some of his best friends. But again, a it's Roger Pingney. I never thought in a million years he would respond to Facebook messages. Okay, he immediately responded one day, and we got to be friends through social media, and then he invited me on a deer hunt, then a duck hunt. So just little things like that, just building those adventures, building those connections and the different people you meet. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Now I'm curious with your writing now, again, and I I recognize you have been in the outdoor space, starting from being born and raised on a farm and your love of hunting, fishing, etc. Do you find that you have a niche or a growing niche in a particular aspect of the outdoor writing? And because this is kind of going to lead to some of the some of the uh fun stuff you and your wife do when it comes to putting food on the table and enjoying a good bottle of wine. But I'm curious about is there a niche evolving for yourself?

SPEAKER_00 19:25

There is, and uh it that's a good a great question. I was trying to like Edgar. His niche is writing about open dirt hunting, right? Shotgunning, bird hunting. I want to do hunting, just hunting, hunting deer, hunting animal. A couple of magazines that I pitched for said, well, we've got enough hunting content. Can you do something else? We we'd love to we've seen your work, we'd like to run something you write, but we've got enough hunting information, hunting articles. Yeah, I can how about a recipe? How about collards and cornmeal dumplings for Christmas? Oh, yeah, would you would you send us a recipe? And it clicked. Okay, well, bird hunting's taken. We've got there's a guy that does nothing but elk hunting, but nobody's writing about recipes. I started throwing out recipes, and I've I've had a lot of wild game recipes published, and there's a new outlet, Wild Nexus. Okay, they've been phenomenal about letting me pitch different recipes we've done. And I can tell you that this wine tastes good with this meal, but I I can't get down in the nuts and bolts other than we really like Cabernet with with this one Elk State, and it's gone from there. Javier's been great, it's wildnexus.com, they've got a presence on social media also. He he's been tremendous. Okay, and I love we is is taken off from there, and that that's one of my better niches.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Yeah, and I recall reading one of your pieces as you and I were starting to get to know each other. There was a piece, I don't remember what state it was, it was probably Wyoming or Montana, and there was the whiskey. I like a good whiskey. And when I saw that piece, I'm thinking, man, I'd love to have a bottle of that whiskey. I could see myself drinking it. And then when you're when you're say out on a hunt, so to speak, and I was always curious about when you come back from the hunt and you're sitting around the campfire, you're maybe you're you're sitting on the lawn chairs around the campfire, you've got you've got your your elk steak and some nice vegetables, and you got that that that beverage, and just kind of enjoying in the moment with your friends and family, your lovely wife, if she's with you, and just enjoying being there in the moment with that. Bottle of whiskey. That's what that was something I was really that was kind of intrigues me is what people do. They go on the hunt, but what do they do after the hunt? How are they unwinding? And I thought when I saw that article, I was thinking, yeah, I bet you could have a nice meal and also enjoy the campfire, enjoy that glass of that that find whiskey.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Absolutely. Pam, I really wasn't a wine drinker until I met her. Our third date was North Carolina wineries. And she knows more about wine, and what a good winery trip would be. These are my three favorite for this trip. And we'll do a tasting, and I'll I'll say, wow, this red would go really good with this, with a deer steak or a deer roast. And that's where it started from there. Wow, this would go good with a pheasant. This would pair well with a duck. And we build the mill around, okay, we're gonna have duck poppers tonight. We'll have wild rice and maybe a salad. And what what what would taste best to us with with this? What kind of wine? And we'll we'll go back and she keeps meticulous notes, and we'll we'll pull out that bottle of wine and we we cook. And if we have a group over, if we have a little small dinner party, of course, we'll tell the war stories about I was there when the birds came in, or the elk or antelope, and just relive it. And we maybe not even talk about the hunt, but the trip out. We were on our way to Wyoming and we stopped at this really neat place in Nebraska, or we stopped we stopped and met with Edgar and his wife a couple of times and talked about the restaurants we went to and just have those memories and and relive it that way. And the Pine Bluffs Distillery is the article you're talking about. Telling people if hey don't don't fly, drive out. You miss places like Pine Bluffs Distillery, distilling. While you're there, pick up a couple of bottles and bring it back. It just adds to that adventure. You stop, stretch your legs, meet Chad Brown, who owns Pine Bluffs Distilling, and pick up some nice bourbon or gin if you like gin and tonics. It opens up conversation around the table or the campfire. Well, where'd you get this? And introduce people to that, share that adventure. I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

I would all I mean, and by the way, I have an ask right now for our show notes. I would love some of the a photo or two of the the meal you and your wife are cooking together and that bottle of wine. And and if there's even a toast of the two of you, that'd be okay too. But I just think you know it what I love about like when I when I read like Edgar's pieces or uh others who are doing the hunt, I know the at the activity of what type of gun and and the what type of shot am I using, and I have this type of clothing on and this hat on, and here's a photo of me with the game that I just caught, whatever it is. But I I rarely see the after. That's what I love about the work that you're doing, is you're providing the after. This is how we enjoyed this pheasant, this elf. I love that after story, and so I appreciate you sharing that. I would love, I want to share my screen. I've got your link tree uh page up, and we'll share that in our show notes. But I want to, you know, just kind of walk us through some of the articles that you've written, if that's okay. Yeah, absolutely. All right, so I'm gonna go with the miracle of technology. We should be seeing your page here. So Cecil Cherry, that's you. I see there's a I can't tell if that's a dare or an elk, but you're back there. Big lot, lots of antlers, big antlers there. So you're on Instagram. That is the first elk. Okay. Got Facebook, LinkedIn. So give us a little highlight of some of these articles.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Uh the North Ham, the Northampton County Dove Hunt, uh, group of us for years have gotten together and that I used to work with. We're all retired law enforcement officers now. And we go up to this farm on the North Carolina-Virginia border, and this is a feathers and whiskey piece. We meet up on a Friday afternoon, have an afternoon hunt, and then hunt Saturday morning. And Friday nights a puddle-up dinner. And after we've hunted Friday afternoon, we'll cook and have steaks or grilled chicken halves.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

And uh hang out in fellowship and tell war stories, get up the next morning, go dove hunt, and hunt to about right around lunch.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

And we we go to this little little diner. It's a one-stop light town, very rural northeastern North Carolina. And we'll have a a late breakfast, early lunch, and uh go from there. That was these are another recipe. Wow. Let me see. Yeah, that was a really good recipe.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

By the way, I probably haven't been to the Carolinas in a while. If if there's room for a tiny home after I leave Las Vegas, it's gonna be on your your back, your backyard, so I can have some of these meals. Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

Lee, we'd love to have you. One of my favorite recipes, probably the best one we've cooked yet, was Anteloke Wellington. Oh, wow. That was and that should be in the link tree.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Well, let's go back to it. Let's see.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Wild Nexus was phenomenal about posting it. Community meat center. It used to be a country store butcher shop.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

I'd go there and eat every Friday in Jacksonville, North Carolina. And the owner of Community Meat Center and I were the only ones working. Everybody else was retired. Yeah. And whatever was in season that year, if it's deer season, we ate deer for lunch. If it was fishing season, we had some kind of fish. It was wonderful food. And these guys hunted all over the world.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Oh my beer roasting. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

It was phenomenal. And Wayne Morton, who's a very dear friend of mine, he retired. I got promoted, and we still stay in touch. He he still hunts. Very avid deer, deer hunter.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Very nice. Where's the Wellington?

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Is it in here somewhere? It should be. If you'll keep scrolling. Now, does Pamela contribute to some of your writing? Or is this she's still she's predominantly putting it in? Oh, there it is. There it is.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

She helps by proofreading and editing what I'm working on, and has has been tremendous in making my work even better. Love it. I would not be the writer am without her.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

I love it. Is this I recognize the Wellington, which looks amazing, by the way. And it's like, let me just say yes, please, and we'll figure out what happens after that. Oh my god. Absolutely. This looks like roasted broccoli or cauliflower or it is roasted Brussels sprouts.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Russell sprouts.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Oh god, I love that. I love that. The um prong envelope wellington. See, so this is wonderful. And you've got the recipe here. Oh my. And I love that you had that nice photo. Oh, look at that. You are like it. Look, it's 8 or 9.39 here, and I'm getting hungry on a Friday. And I'm gonna be fasting all day until after my last piece of work today. But I'm gonna be thinking about this for a long time, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

That that was my favorite recipe so far. I I don't think I can top that. And there's the there's the wine, and and Pam does a phenomenal job picking out the wine and helping me say, yeah, this this would be a little bit better than the other wine, and it would go a little bit better with this meal.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

I love it. I love it. Well, fantastic. And there's so much more to see here. And for our listeners, we're gonna provide a backlink to Cecil's link tree, and you're gonna be able to read all these articles. And really, if if it resonated for you, or if you're uh you know editor of a magazine and you're looking for this outdoor space, the the great food, wine, this Cecil's the guy to go to. This is fantastic, Cecil. Let me tell you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm gonna go ahead and stop sharing. Fact the technology work. There we go. Now, as we kind of come towards the end of the episode, and by the way, for our listeners, the whole episode is gonna be up on our YouTube channel, so you'll be also be able to see us navigating Cecil's LinkTree as well. We'll have the links back to the Facebook and Instagram and Cecil's LinkedIn profile. Cecil, as you kind of look back on this journey as a retired law enforcement officer, you're you're still working, kind of like me. I'm still working. But as you kind of look back in your journey and really what you have been able to accomplish through this writing, what's your aha moment?

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Oh, wow. It would have to be when Michael Maynard reached out that first time. Okay, reached out cold, and it started with, hey, this is who I am. I'm Michael, may I give you a call? And then out of the clear blue, could do you think he could write an article? And I thought, what? I think I could. And I did. And I've built on that ever since. And the aha mode was wow, I I can do it. I have a lot of help. And when I say that, my wife, she proofreads and edits, she catches how one sentence that doesn't work. Try and rewrite that. Michael, taking a chance on somebody he didn't even know. All the it built up to meeting Edgar and then OWAA, and from that one article in 2022, it's almost four years ago. From four years ago to now, a lot of surreal moments that I I can't believe. Wow, I'm I'm really doing it. I've always wanted to, I didn't know how to do it. And just just one message on Instagram has led to where we are right now. There you go. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

I love it. And you have no idea where the journey is going to continue to take you and your wife, and the opportunities that are going to come your way because of this, you know, this wonderful writing. And and for our listeners to be a part of this wonderful organization, OWAA, and then meeting the the great folks there and uh being able to hang out and break bread, drink a glass of wine, or another type of adult beverage. But I mean, I I think it it means a lot. And I think that you never know where this journey is going to go. And it's you just enjoy the ride along the way. Before we do head out, what would you like to share with our listeners? It could be a book, a quote, could be something that maybe they're wanting to be on a similar journey that you had been on. What would be your insight to go that you would like to share with them?

SPEAKER_00 34:27

If you want to be a writer, research. Join groups like OWAA, start networking, just go online, go to the OWA Instagram site and see who all the members are. I've never had an issue with reaching out cold to somebody and saying, hey, this is where I am. I've written an article. May I give you a call later on, or can we email? I'd like to pick your brain. You seem to have had a lot of success in whatever area there their niche is. There are books on there. How two books on how to write. How do you do you want to get paid for writing? How do you establish my bottom line? What is your worth? Learn how to have thick skin. Some some editors are gonna say, no, you're you're not my style. You're you won't fit in this magazine. Some editors have said you won't fit here, but why don't you try over there? Everybody's been very, very helpful. We're all competitors, but we're also helping each other. You helped me out last night. Hey, change Linktree with your Facebook. Tremendous. I'm open to any kind of constructive criticism. I have a lot of moments where I say, I never would have thought of that. And I would I would say start there, start on social media, reach out to these editors, reach out to other writers and say, Hey, how did you get started? What what is your experience? What would you say for me to do? And and just start building there, go to the conferences. I've just been very, very blessed and fortunate that I've had the opportunity to build like a lot of us have, and and arrive here.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Excellent. Well, Cecil, it's been a pleasure to have you on the podcast and for you to share this journey that you have been on and how you are living, you know, you've got your work life, but you've got this other life now that is you're growing, and it's it's very clear you are passionate about the writing and the the adventure and with your wife Pamela, and just showing some good food. And what what happens after, which is what I just here offered up earlier, is what happens after the hunt? How are you enjoying the the fruits of this adventure and the great meal, a good bottle of wine, uh a good you know, a bourbon or a whiskey or whatever the libation is, and just loved hearing your story. And I'm it's it's also for me an honor to be on this journey with you and seeing you as you develop. And uh, I'm glad we have met through the Outdoor Writers Association of America and look forward to continuing on this journey because heaven knows I want to have that Wellington one day. But I digress, absolutely, I digress. But listen, thank you again for being a part of our podcast journey today. We really, really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. Um likewise, uh humbly appreciate it. Thank you so much. All right, listen, stay in a line.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

We're gonna do a quick close, and you and I can have a final chat, okay? All right, all right, folks. We've just been chatting with Cecil Cherry. He is an outdoor writer, member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. And we have just been discussing from growing up on a farm in the Carolinas to being a member of law enforcement, and also this continuing journey of love of being outdoors and hunting and fishing, photography, and actually crafting, creating these wonderful meals accompanied by a good bottle of wine. And what a pleasure it was to meet Cecil and his wife, Pamela, at our annual conference back in August in Madison. And it really just being a part of this community of writers and journalists, it's pretty special. I have to admit that. Now we're going to provide a backlink to Cecil's link tree. That'll also include a link to his Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn pages. As for us, our episode will be up on our website, outdooradventureseries.com. It'll be up on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages, Outdoor Adventure Series, and the video of this episode will be up on our YouTube channel. And of course, if you're in a car, on a bike, on a treadmill, or cleaning the house, wherever you are, you can listen to this podcast wherever you get your podcast from. Until next time, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, go out there and have a fantastic day. And we look forward to having you join us on a future episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series Podcast. Take care.