Greer Wylder has run dozens of marathons.
Besides the obvious fitness benefits, she finds that running sometimes helps the proverbial light bulb burst on in her head.
It was on a run in January 2020 that Wylder, a longtime Orange County lifestyle writer who lives in Costa Mesa, had that “aha” moment.
“I do a lot of social media for myself and nonprofits, and it’s all ephemeral,” Wylder said. “Everything I do disappears. I have a friend who’s an artist, and at least she can say, ‘I painted that painting.’ I just thought to myself that I had to write a book. It was time.”
Wylder, the founder of the popular Greer’s OC website and newsletter and a former longtime Daily Pilot columnist, knew who she wanted to focus on.
Namely, some of Orange County’s finest.
Wylder recently released her first book, “Born in OC: The Artists, Entrepreneurs and Visionaries of Orange County, California.”
The book has blurbs and interview transcripts with a variety of county natives who Wylder feels share a common theme of being inspirational and adding value to the county.
Greer Wylder grew up on Lido Island and graduated from Newport Harbor High School.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
Subjects include Steve Van Doren of Vans, Megan Klink of Susan G. Komen, prolific author Dean Koontz, chef and restauranteur Zov Karamardian and many more.
“Every person in this book, you can be inspired by,” Wylder said. “I’d love for young adults to read this book and think, ‘Maybe I can do something like that.’
“I don’t want to diss the [Real Housewives of Orange County], because it’s a part of our culture or a way people know about Orange County, but I think there’s a whole other side of Orange County that is so impressive. It’s not all drama and all of that. I like the stories of these people who are doing amazing things through their careers, through philanthropy, and also employing so many people.”
Wylder conducted the interviews herself, many of them on Zoom during the pandemic. She had an editor in New York, Laura Ross, who helped her whittle down conversations that sometimes lasted for hours.
The book is immensely personal for Wylder. She took many of the profile pictures in the book herself and one of her four sons, Matthew Lobdell, designed the cover. Bella Swart, a former mentee of Wylder at her alma mater of Newport Harbor High School, also helped her during the initial research stage in back in 2020.
Wylder said she likes arts people. Mark Hilbert, who established the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University along with his wife, Janet, and Anton Segerstrom were a couple of more of her favorite interviews.
“Born in OC: The Artists, Entrepreneurs, and Visionaries of Orange County” is Greer Wylder’s first book.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
“Writing a book, I found out, is a huge labor of love,” said Wylder, who married Paul Nordlund earlier this year. “You have to make a lot of sacrifices. I couldn’t spend time with my husband, do things with my family. I also work, so it was a lot of weekends, late night kind of stuff.”
One of her good friends, Newport Beach native Joseph McGinty Nichol, is also featured in the book. Known professionally as McG, he was recently in the news as his River Jetty Restaurant Group became the operator of the renovated Lido Theater.
Wylder will be holding a book signing for “Born in OC” at Lido Theater on Dec. 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. Guests are asked to RSVP to greerwylder@gmail.com.
There will also be an author talk and book signing on Jan. 9 from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Donald Duncan Library in Costa Mesa, with more appearances to come.
McG, who was an executive producer on the television show “The O.C.,” said he was happy to be featured in Wylder’s book.
“I think it’s an eclectic bunch, and it illuminates the impact that Orange County has had the world over,” he said. “In the 1970s and ’80s, Orange County was a collection of planned communities, where we thought there would be nothing artistic to contribute to the world. Now, I think with skateboard, surfboard, snowboard culture, the music scene, I think Orange County has gone on to touch the world over. I mean, you see kids with Hurley T-shirts on and Volcom T-shirts on in Switzerland. What’s that all about?”
He added that people trust Wylder, which makes her interviews sparkle.
Steve Van Doren, center, poses with pro surfer Tanner Gudauskas at the Newport Beach Film Festival in 2021. Van Doren, the innovative son of Vans co-founder Paul Van Doren, is one of 50 from Orange County profiled in Greer Wylder’s new book.
(James Carbone)
Originally from Reno, Nev., Wylder is nevertheless a local who grew up on Lido Island before attending Newport Harbor, Orange Coast College and Long Beach State.
She said the initial reception of the book has been good, with some saying they will be giving it as a holiday stocking stuffer. She self-published “Born in OC” through Archway Publishing.
Greer’s OC has 112,000 unique monthly visitors to the website and 7,000 daily subscribers, she said, but the book has given her a new avenue to feature those who make a difference.
What’s next? Well, she turns 60 next March, and on that day she said she’ll be running the Los Angeles Marathon with one of her sons.
“I’m not stoked on it all,” she said of her upcoming landmark birthday, “but what are the alternatives?”
Maybe the 26.2-mile jaunt around the City of Angels will spark more creativity in Wylder.
For now, she’s blessed to keep writing about a community she loves.
“A lot of the book focuses on Orange County and how it has changed, or why they choose to live here,” she said. “The weather, the beauty of Orange County, the beaches, the arts, it’s incredible.”
Greer Wylder is a former Daily Pilot columnist who has been writing about Orange County culture for more than 30 years.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)