CT: Some are born with that innate, brave sense of adventure, and others acquired it from being inverted and shy – by entertaining themselves with their imagination. Which category did you fall in as a child?

CP:  I had a little bit of both. I was definitely shy as a kid, but I also wanted a life of adventure, so I read a lot—books of adventure and epic quests such as: Harriet the Spy, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I also love the outdoors, so I motived myself to get outside as much as possible

CT: What is your favorite adventure to date?

CP: It’s impossible to pick just one. Truthfully, you don’t have to go very far to have a satisfying and fulfilling adventure - usually being outside, with good friends, or just outside your comfort zone is so satisfying. I’ve heard that I have the same glow and excitement about me in result of any escapade 

CT: Everyone at some point of their lives has doubts about what they can do and how far they can go. Can you tell me about a time where that feeling was at its peak for you? And how you fought through it?

CP: I would say that paragliding and getting cloud sucked was the moment where I thought I would run out of ideas and ways to get out of it. I had to muster up the courage to push further, because if I didn’t do anything I would certainly perish in that thundercloud. That last maneuver was all I had, and I’m lucky it worked. 

CT: There are amazing instructional charts and digraphs in The Gutsy Girl. Whose idea was that? 

CP: The dry facts and ideas were mostly mine, but Wendy added her own extra talent of wittiness to it, so the effort was divided equally. Wendy usually draws her own digraphs, but because I’m the big adventurer in the family, I interacted by giving her lists and instructions on the flow charts. If I had done it alone, it wouldn’t have been as funny. 

CT: I interviewed a children’s book author, and she explained that the illustrator and author go 50/50 in how the book is made, and it’s very important that they’re both on the same page of silliness. Was it ever difficult to organize that between you two?

CP: It never was. Usually it’s not evened out so perfectly--it’s much more text and a little illustration, or a lot of illustration and a little text. We managed to break even through our brainstorms and elaborate discussions of our collaborative experiences. Wendy understood where The Gutsy Girl was going, and had the exact same goal. I wrote it all first and then handed it to her, whereas Lost Cat had been done paragraph by paragraph

CT: How did you meet Wendy?

CP: We met at a Jonathan Franzen reading; the way literary couples are supposed to meet. 

CT: The Gutsy Girl is a non-fiction memoir of your misadventures. Did you have a clear idea of where you wanted it to go? Or did it evolve as you wrote it?

It definitely evolved. I’m not one of those writers that start with a wisp of an idea for a character; I typically like to know where my story is going to go, but some things came up organically as I was writing- like the journaling, in result of great feedback from early girl readers. 

CT: How much does hope play into bravery?

CP: Hope is a wonderful thing to have! Bravery is not going to be as big a step as people think. When you’re being brave there’s a part of you that’s optimistic, that it’s going to turn out fine, and it really often does. Women and girls underestimate their abilities, but that just means there’s an assessment they need to make of their own skills. 

CT: Is there a point where bravery can be dangerous?

CP: Of course, but embracing fear is more dangerous. We should embrace bravery because when you’re not experienced, you’re not prepared with the tools to go forward on your own self. Yes, there is the possibility of injury and other dangers, but the rewards of being brave - such as confidence and self-sufficiency - are so incandescent, that it’s critical to be courageous

It’s a common misconception that an adventurer is somebody who lurches forward in every situation. It’s not true - I certainly thought that way in the past. My best thrill-seeking friends have all been cautious, and their whole goal is to minimize risk, not maximize it. What they’re looking for in adventure is a kaleidoscope of things that include exhilaration of being outside their comfort zone. They embrace being in the outdoors, having to make important decisions, knowing their own emotions, and feeling the vast range of them. To others, we look like risk-takers, but what’s going on is that we honed our skills. We understand the scenario, and we then make our decisions.

CT: Can you tell me about the little acts of bravery that you perform in every day life? 

CP:  Right now, my little act of bravery includes talking in front of a lot of people. Sometimes the daily life takes a lot more bravery than something I’m used to, like going outside and taking a paddle-board around Treasure Island. I can do those things - plunge into a thrilling adventure - but interacting with people, being kind to my partner, taking care of my animals, is – while I love doing it – more of a challenge. 

CT: How have you overcome your fears in the past, such as public speaking?

CP: It’s not so much public speaking, as it is a fear of making a mistake in front of people – and that goes back to this need to be perfect as women. I realized that flaws are not terrible things, and making a mistake is not the end of the world; it’s how you recover from them. 

CT: Have young girls, or women, written letters of their triumphs since The Gutsy Girl was published?

CP: I had this great testimonial from a friend of mine, who had given it to a friend of hers. This woman spent a week with her niece, who was going through an incredibly insecure time, reading the book, going through the exercises, and discussing “gutsiness.” I was later told that the little girl had transformed

CT: Wow! That’s great

CP: This book that gives adults the opportunity to interact with their kids in a beautifully positive way, and I hope others get the chance to take advantage of it. 

CT: What inspired you to write The Gutsy Girl?

CP: I wrote this book for girls- and of course everyone could read it, including boys - so they can be equipped to face the stresses of puberty that descend upon us as American girls: the pressures to be liked, to be pretty, and to be perfect. When girls are brought up being fearful, which most are, they are not well equipped to face down those three pressures.  Books like Lean In, even though they’re great books, are all trying to teach women to take down those pressures when it’s too late. Women can be saturated with unexamined fear, and after extensive research, I realized that it has to be dealt with in adolescence. Most boys are ahead because they’re awarded for showing signs of leadership, showing signs of communication, bravery, and girls are just rewarded for being pretty, and that means that later on we lack these important attributes. Just because you’re a girl doesn’t mean you’re inferior; it just means you should try harder

CT: What is your favorite part of the book

CP: I love the unique and fun activities! They range from finding the North Star, to confidence building exercises, to the Wonder Woman stance (which actually comes from a TED talk I got from Amy Cuddy). 

CT: You’ve mentioned Amelia Earhart as an inspiration while you were growing up. Why her?

She was the only role model I really had for women adventurers. I found, doing research for the book, that there were many women adventures that never received they credit deserved. They were not in my consciousness when I was growing up, and writing this book opened up that world of women who had done very intrepid things that have, unfortunately, been forgotten. 

CT:  In all honesty, I’m sure many girls will look up to you in the future. Not just because of The Gutsy Girl, but because you were also one of the first female firefighters in San Francisco! 

CP That would be so awesome if I was one of their role models! 

CT: Can you tell me more about that? You graduated from Stanford with a degree in communications, and then worked for Fire Department? What happened there?

CP: When I was growing up, I never wanted to be a firefighter; I never thought about it because it wasn’t even a possibility. I was hoping to become a journalist, or maybe a filmmaker casting about in my 20s. I worked as a volunteer in a radio station in Berkeley called KPSA, out of college around 1987-1988, and there were all these stories coming across my desk about the racist/sexist fire department. They were starting to hire women, and I thought it would be great to go undercover and expose the alleged, flamboyant injustices that were happening. After taking the test, I found no clear signs of sexism or racism to write about because they are not presented so blatantly - they are way more insidious which is why it’s so powerful. To my surprise, I had actually gotten in! I, then, realized what a great job it was, and how much it suited my personality - just the idea of high adventure (and getting paid for it) was amazing to me. 

CT: You seem so fearless, is there anything you’re afraid of?

CP: Oh yeah! I am not against fear, I think fear is important - I’m just pro-gutsy. Fear is something we were given as a survival mechanism, but it can dangerous when it’s your only tool. When you approach things with a bravery paradigm, the whole world opens up for you; there are all these possibilities and you’ll come to find that it’s not even that scary. 

CT: How do you keep yourself motivated?

CP: When the rewards are so clear, it’s easy. It’s important to have support, which Wendy provides since also understands the literary life as a successful illustrator. She’s an inspiration because she’s very gutsy on a personal level - quick to be vulnerable, unafraid to assess herself, in all situations, and she’s open to any form of criticism. So while I’m writing a book about being adventurously gutsy, Wendy would be able to write a book about the every day emotional perseverance and bravery. 

CT: How important is vulnerability to being brave?

CP If you’re not vulnerable, you’re not fully exploring the situation.