By Carl Giavanti
Becky Garrison is a satirist, journalist and author. Since moving to the Pacific Northwest in 2014, she has been covering the PNW craft culture, including food, beer, wine, spirits and cider, along with infrequent pieces about cannabis/CBD and psychedelics. Becky Garrison’s wine writing credits include work for Cidercraft, The Grapevine Magazine, Northwest Travel & Life, Paste Magazine, SIP Magazine and Spirituality & Health. Her eight published books include Distilled in Washington: A History (The History Press; March 18, 2024). In addition, she’s explored the regional festival scene and the rise of secular spiritual communities. Follow her travels via Instagram @Becky_Garrison or Facebook @BeckyGarrisonWriter.
How did you come to writing in general, and to wine writing specifically?
Some of my earliest childhood memories are sitting with my dad at his IBM electric typewriter dictating stories that he’d type up for me. I’ve always journaled and doodled, though I didn’t call myself a writer until I sold my first story in 1994 to The Wittenburg Door, the nation’s oldest religious satire magazine.
Two years later, I caught the fly-fishing bug. Upon my first foray to a fly shop, I realized I could not indulge in my passion on a religious satirist’s salary. Hence, I needed to find a way to “finance my fun.” So I began penning pieces on fly-fishing and soft outdoor sports for a range of fly-fishing magazines and travel outlets, along with my first national byline in The New York Times. (This gig soon ended as the Executive Editor at the time was into fly-fishing and insisted on being the sole expert there.)
In 2005, my first book, Red and Blue God: Black and Blue Church,launched with a bang thanks to a starred review in Publishers Weekly. That was soon followed by satirical and some serious works geared mostly toward the “Christian” market with an occasional gig for more secular religious outlets such as The Guardian.
Along the way, I continued to “fund my fun” by penning travel articles — though, over time, I shifted more towards coverage of spiritual and historical travel with the occasional outdoor travel piece. My travels landed me in the Pacific Northwest in 2008, where I began exploring the Celtic spirituality informed by the natural beauty of this region.
By the time I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2014, I sensed the Christian market collapsing with the remaining outlets either too partisan or non-paying for my taste. Along those lines, travel writing was moving away from editorial towards advertorial. After one too many affiliate clicks were inserted into my articles without my consent or payment, I realized it was time to move on.
I treasured the editor/writer relationship and knew my best work came from such collaborations. But I realized I had to find some specialty niches so I could thrive in a publishing world increasingly driven by clicks, not content.
I began shifting my focus towards covering the PNW craft culture from a consumer and industry perspective, along with covering the emerging cannabis tourism boom (which has now crashed and burned), the regional festival scene and the rise of more secular yet spiritual communities.
Currently, I call Troutdale, Ore., home though I do spend some time in Washington state (especially Seattle) promoting Distilled in Washington.
How has the publishing landscape changed and where do you see it going forward?
In a nutshell, when people ask me about becoming a writer, I ask them this key question: “Is your goal to become a writer or to write so you can fund a particular lifestyle?” If it’s the former, then write. By developing a writing practice, I gravitated towards those themes that truly spoke to my soul. As far as how to survive as a freelance writer, my late improv teacher Gary Austin, founder of the LA-based improv troupe The Groundlings, gave me some valuable advice that continues to serve me to this day:
“Do the work. That’s all you can control. You can’t control if you’re hired for a particular gig. But if you keep doing the work, then you can walk out knowing you did the best you could. And keep working. The more you work, the more you will improve.”
This mindset helps me considerably in coping with the highs and lows that come with being a writer in an ever imploding publishing industry. For example, in early September I got an email informing me that Paste Magazine was closing down its Food & Drink section (though fortunately my articles are still archived on site). Later that day, I got a Google alert that Edible Seattle posted my first article with future articles in the works.
But if your goal is to explore ways to get paid to play, I say go the content creator/influencer route. This is the direction where the money in travel, food & drink and lifestyle verticals is heading these days. The overall consensus among my writer peers seems to be that AI has emerged as the driving force behind the bulk of generic marketing content — especially in the travel, food & drink, and lifestyle verticals. No wonder everything sounds the same. Rinse, recycle, repeat. Boring. Next.
Moving forward, I’m choosing to focus on finding those unique stories that AI can’t tell because they haven’t been discovered yet. That said, I share Karen MacNeil’s sentiment that we may be at the end of wine writing as a financially viable career for those looking to enter the profession.
What are your primary story interests?
At the 2024 Travel & Words Conference, I told the PNW DMOs and CVBs during our sessions that I want to know why my readers should travel to their destination when they can easily have the item(s) shipped to them at home. In terms of wine writing, I savor those opportunities when, in Celt-like fashion, I can almost feel this world touch into the next as I take in not just the wine but the sense of place, as well as the people behind the bottle.
I don’t want to just sip the wine but savor the story. And not some Hollywood hyped-up Aviation-fueled PR spin. I love to be cherished by Chardonnay, seduced by Syrah, picked up by Pinot …. OK time to cool down a bit. But wine indeed infuses my soul beyond my bones when I can fully embrace the grape instead of having wine just handed to me with a quirky pour.
Moving forward, I’m particularly interested in exploring the spirituality of wine, sustainability in the winery and vineyard, and how brewpubs and tasting rooms fulfill the need for human communion that was once performed by the institutional church.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
As my late father was a sociology professor and an Episcopal priest, I call myself a pre-natal Episcopalian (do the science and the ecclesiology). This background led me to pursue an MDiv/MSW from Yale Divinity School/Columbia University School of Social Work, where I unexpectedly landed as a religious satirist and storyteller.
What’s the best story you have written?
This piece I did for Paste before it shuttered its Food & Drink section brought together my background covering wine and religion into a delightful piece illuminating how Moe Momtazi connects Pinot Noir with his Persian culture, as he continues to help his fellow immigrants who work in the Willamette Valley vineyards.
What advantages are there in working directly with winery publicists?
I greatly appreciate those publicists who understand the difference between editorial (writers) and advertorial/marketing (influencers and content creators) and can help educate their clients about the difference.
If you take days off, how do you spend them?
I tend to take a Jack Kerouac approach to my work, whereby everything I do feels like experiential research. So I don’t divide my time into work versus leisure but rather see each day as an opportunity for exploration. Even when I’m at home working, I can still travel in my mind by observing the subtle changes happening around me, Ralph Waldo Emerson-style.
What’s your cure for a wine hangover?
First off, I focus on drinking craft not crapola. (This is why I turn down requests for DEI focused stories as if I let DEI metrics and not the wine dictate my coverage, there’s a few establishments I’d have to include even though their products are subpar. Along those lines, I find my best reporting happens when I move beyond the carefully curated social media posts and press releases and ask “Who is not at the table?”) Second, here’s a piece I penned for Paste Magazine noting myriad ways one can navigate large-scale alcohol festivals successfully.
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Carl Giavanti
Carl Giavanti is a winery publicist in his 16th year of consulting. Carl has been in business marketing and public relations for over 30 years; his background in tech, marketing and project management informs his role as a publicist and wine writer. Clients are or have been in Willamette Valley, Napa Valley, and Columbia Valley carlgiavanticonsulting.com He also writes for several wine and travel publications linktr.ee/carlgiavanti
