Writing. Editing. Ideas.

Hi, I’m Maria. I am a Seattle writer, guidebook author and essayist. I particularly like writing profiles, and stories about animals, travel and the outdoors. I am a very experienced interviewer, and people say I’m a good listener.

I have written on Vaux’s Swifts for Smithsonian.com, ocean acidification for Slate, a beloved fishing pier for Crosscut, visiting Vashon Island for Journey Magazine, orcas for Seattle Magazine, Glacier Bay moose for Sierra Magazine, Washington travel for the Seattle Times, city tree carbon credits for CityLab and on many other topics for publications including Newsweek.com, Sunset Magazine, Salon, Ampersand, and elsewhere.

I have also written stories, web copy, white papers and other materials for clients such as The Breast Cancer & Chemicals Policy Project, REI Co-op’s internal communications, the Institute for Systems Biology and my local community garden.

I am the co-author of Nature in the City: Seattle (Mountaineers Books), which the Seattle Times called “a treasure map to the city’s wild and not-so-wild places,”  and Outside Magazine’s Urban Adventure: Seattle (W.W. Norton & Co.).

I enjoy editing for a few clients, and ghostwriting for a few more.

Some Awards:

2014 Society of Professional Journalists NW Excellence Award First Place in Magazine Editorial and Commentary for the Seattle Magazine feature “Star Blight” on sea star wasting disease.

2012 Society of Professional Journalists NW Excellence Award First Place in Magazine Environmental Affairs for the Seattle Magazine feature “The Mysterious Death of Orca L112” on the causes of resident orca population declines.

Outside work I read, walk, hike, parent, travel, garden, cherish friends, and try to practice my rusty French. I live with my family in Seattle.

If you need a writer for a project, I’d love to talk to you about it. Contact: mariaidolan at gmail dot com.