RALEIGH -- T. Edward Nickens never wanted to write about his life's hobby, but it's not like he's complaining.
But Nickens, whose writings regularly appear in Field & Stream magazine, has found a niche and the result is his first book, "The Total Outdoorsman Manual," which was released May 3.
Nickens, a Raleigh resident who was raised in High Point, flipped burgers on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill for a few years while writing a local outdoors column for a few smaller newspapers after he graduated from North Carolina in 1983.
He began writing for magazines within a few years and delved into travel writing, but he mostly stayed away from outdoors publications.
"I didn't want to write about hunting and fishing," he said in between assignments in his office in the basement of his Raleigh home Monday. "I didn't want my hobby to be my work. ... I didn't want to work when I was having fun."
But in 2003, some editors he worked for made him an offer he couldn't refuse when they took the reins of Field & Stream magazine. They were looking for long-form narrative storytelling.
"It was really hard to turn down that kind of opportunity," Nickens said.
His first big adventure trip was to Labrador with three Raleigh friends who worked for the Great Outdoor Provision Co., which will host a book signing at 7 p.m. Monday at Kings, 14 W. Martin St. in downtown Raleigh.
"It had been eight days of everything you wanted and some things you didn't want," Nickens said of the trip, which was the first of many assignments into remote parts of the world, where the objective was to float rivers that hadn't been floated and were the setting for great fishing and hunting adventures.
From then on, Nickens had his niche at Field & Stream. (He also is a regular contributor to Audubon magazine and writes for several other national periodicals). His assignments can range from two days to 10 days, and many take him to remote parts of the world that most outdoors enthusiasts can only dream about.
"I'm lucky to live a lifestyle that I can't afford," he said.
But it's not all fun and games. Many of the bigger projects require weeks of research beforehand, and then require weeks of working over his laptop afterward.
The trips are not free rides, either. He is constantly taking notes, and he keeps a digital recorder around his neck for dictation.
"It's work," he said. "People laugh when I say that. ... You're always thinking about the story. Does this fit into the story? Does it change the story?
"And then the real work starts when I get home. I love to write. But it's not always fun. Writing is wrestling - sometimes you have to beat it out."
The experience, on top of a lifetime of outdoors knowledge, led to Nickens' starting an annual May feature in Field & Stream in 2008 called "50 Skills to Hunt Better, Fish Smarter and Master the Outdoors."
The articles were really the genesis for the book, his first, which includes five essays he wrote for the book and 374 tips on hunting, camping, fishing and survival, of which about 80 percent was written by Nickens. Also included are excerpts from stories published in the magazine over the years.
"We had to go outside my area of expertise to get things like steelheading in the Pacific Northwest," Nickens said.
Nickens had discussed the idea for the book with a Field & Stream editor for several years and finally got a call this past August saying the book was a go, with the caveat that they had a three-month window to get the book together.
"It consumed me last fall," said Nickens, who also had several other big assignments that were due at the same time. "It was rough, but it was worth it."
Nickens' wife, Julie, who works in The News & Observer's Display Advertising Department, kidded her husband.
"She likes to point out my kids (Mackie, 14, and Jack, 12) get a mention in the first essay and she has to wait until tip No. 336," he said.
But those are the things that can happen when you mix work, family and fun into a career.
This summer, he'll take the family on a camping trip out west and not have to lift a pen, even if he has to shoulder a loaded pack.
"It seems like no matter what I do, I have to pack gear bags," he said.
