Irene Panke Hopkins' essays have appeared in anthologies, magazine articles, newspaper columns, blogs and newsletters. She is working on a memoir about the years she spent cruising with her family through the Pacific Northwest Coast's Inside Passage.
MY STORY
I was born in New York City, grew up in the suburbs, and went to college in rural upstate New York. Post college, I moved back to the city and worked in a variety of fields trying to find my path. All of my jobs involved writing and I found that my interest in creative, personal writing grew over time. After slugging it out in New York, I eventually hit a dead end in my life, both personally and professionally. I needed a change. I moved to Seattle, planning to recharge my batteries and eventually return home reinvigorated.
That plan changed quickly! Just over a year later, I was married with a baby daughter. To help support my growing family, I spent the next couple of decades working for the Volunteer Services Department at the University of Washington Medical Center, writing their newsletter and running support programs for cancer patients.
When inspiration dawned, I wrote. I wrote essays, I kept journals, I took writing classes. One day on the way to work, an idea for a book came fully formed in my head and I had to pull over, scramble through the glove compartment for something – anything – to write on and get it down. But I never took any of it to the next step. Until, one day, sick of my tired excuses I thought, “What are you waiting for?”
I began submitting my writing and it didn’t take long to realize I was on the right path. I became a regular columnist for a local paper after writing several guest columns. I found gigs as a newsletter writer and editor, including three years writing for the University of Washington’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies. An essay I wrote was included in an anthology about raising teenagers. I was ecstatic because my essay would forever live beside the work of writers I greatly admired. I loved the entire process from writing to copy-editing to book touring.
Outside of work, my life has been an eclectic mix of adventures. I traveled the Pacific Northwest's Inside Passage by boat with my family for decades of summers. After selling our family home, we lived on a sailboat for 12 years at a marina in Seattle. During those years, we also lived part time in Panama, where I ran an Airbnb. Most recently we built a house in Port Townsend, Washington, where we now reside. It's been a wonderful ride! And there is still more to come.
I am currently working on a memoir encompassing the nearly 30 summers we spent cruising the Pacific Northwest Coast on a series of small boats. For a sneak preview, check out my Substack page.
Stay tuned as the book takes shape!
