Friday, May 04, 2007

I'm very excited to announce that Positive Thinking Magazine did a lovely feature about my skipping dream in their May/June issue. They even sent a professional photographer out to take a photo of me skipping with my New World Library coworkers! We had such a fun time and the picture really captures it.

The article is pretty accurate, except I never actually had a book DEAL...I just had a literary agent that was trying to help me secure one..

It started simply enough: One night in 1997, Kim Corbin was out on the town with friends when someone suggested they all start skipping. "I immediately got the idea that I was going to start a huge national skipping movement and get the whole country to start skipping for recreation," says Kim.

In 1999, she launched the website iskip.com and began organizing public skipping events near her home in San Francisco. The events drew hundreds of participants as well as national media coverage and an offer for a book deal. "I quit my job and took on the role of Head Skipper," she says.

Kim traveled around the country to spread the word about skipping. "As adults, we're conditioned to conform and worry about what other people think," she says. "When you skip, you get in touch with the side of yourself that doesn't care abotu all that."

Groups formed in other cities, and the members seemed to agree with Kim's idea that "skipping is a way for people to connect in a happy way, to feel like kids again." But after a while, Kim started feeling too much like a kid. Being Head Skipper didn't pay much, and her finances slipped. Then the book deal fell through. "I got carried away," she admits, "I put all my eggs in one basket, and things didn't pan out like I thought they would."

Kim learned to balance passion with responsiblity, finding that she could make a living and still living joyfully. Now she works as a publicist for a publisher and organizes large skipping events just a few times a year. She still skips daily and recommends it as a workout for both body and soul. "Skipping is a way to connect with myself," Kim says. "I remind myself that life has its hills and valleys and eventually you come out on the other side."

No comments: