Category Archives: freelance writing business

These Travel Writing Blogs Are Worth Keeping

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Cleaning out my blog inbox as I do periodically I keep only the stuff that I’d pass on via Twitter, Facebook, or here at ArchitectureTravelWriter. As many of my readers are travel writers and most of the others simply enjoy travel reading, I thought I’d share some of the good travel writing blogs I’ve found out there on the Interwebs.

 

TravelWriting2.com might help you connect with your next travel magazine editor or book publisher.

 

Travel Writing 2.0     This is actually a book and blog by Tim Leffel, a veteran travel writer who has dispatched articles from five continents and written multiple books. The blog contains brief and informative posts; crisp, clean, and mature writing; and finally, there aren’t self-serving sales pitches all over the place. Read interviews with many travel writers who are making their travel-to-write dreams work. Find out what travel editors want.

Check out this Q&A with Laurie Gough. She’s published 20 stories in literary travel books before becoming a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail, The Los Angles Times, Salon.com, and others.

 

Curl up to your iPad & read Kate Crawford’s “Elephant Driving 101“

 

Best Travel Writing    This blog comes from Travelers’ Tales, a book publisher which hosts the Solas Awards, highly reputable annual contests, and posts from it are of winners and those published by TT. Most writers I know from SheWrites yearn to win a TT contests and be published in one of its books. One of my favorite authors, Faith Adiele, has published there.

Posts are irregular but plentiful and offer a variety of literary voices and types of travel adventures, from the intellectual to the physical. There are stories about how we all end up liking someone despite the fact we know they’re going to rob us, such as Marcia DeSanctis’ “Masha”. There are stories about what it’s life to defy death by mountain biking down the world’s most dangerous road, found in Bolivia. There are stories about wearing hijab in Mumbai, only to be feared as a potential terrorists– no, wait. My piece hasn’t been granted an award… yet.

This is a great book-like blog– sans photos and other distractions– for avid readers and mental travelers. Without requiring or expecting the participation most blogs do, the posts contain story each. That’s long enough for your daily ablutions, though what lingers from them is more desirable.

 

 

Writer Abroad is one travel writing blog I’ve read periodically for several months. Penned by American writer Chantal Panozzo, who lives in Switzerland, it does have a lot of salesy speak. Sometimes, though, it’s just a relief to read someone else’s echo of your own writer-living-abroad experiences. For instance, ‘As an American, I feel like a slacker. And I hate this “if I’m not busy then I’m not worthy” thing that still haunts me, even five years after being abroad. So I’m trying to embrace my European status instead. Key word, trying.
‘A European would feel fine about my accomplishments this summer. After all, many small stores and restaurants in Switzerland close completely in July and August. I think as creative people (and especially as Americans), we can learn from this.’

Those of you who can commit to a longer reading experience, check out her recommendations for books about life abroad.

This blog doesn’t always get it right. I took a guest blogger to task earlier this year for seemingly trying to terrify readers about losing or having stuff stolen abroad. But she provides tips for writers who wish to stay in touch with writing communities and to get published in various arenas.

 

Check out my post on podcasts for writers.

Writers Abroad Convene on SheWrites

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Participants in this month’s National Travel Writers Month have a goal to submit, submit, and submit. But what if we don’t know all that many places to submit our work to? One place I’m submitting to comes from a recommendation from SheWrites Global Writers group moderator Tracy Slater made a few months ago. She told me about a contest through Travelers Tales, a publisher of several books that may possibly of interest to many of you too.

In our monthly global writers chat (8 PM EST, Tuesday, 10 Jan.), this is the kind of thing we talk about. We share information about travel writing anthologies, magazines, web sites, and contests. We discuss the peculiarities of submitting to particular places. We exchange editorial contacts. Or, as happened to me in last week’s Submission Mission chat, we might even find someone to critique our cover letters.

No matter what kind of writer we are, we all have things in common. No matter where we live, we all have things to share and we all seek information that fellow members share. That information flows more expeditiously in our monthly Global Writers chat. By sharing information in our casual chats we get where we want to be faster than we would by searching through hundreds of SheWrites profiles or web sites, stacks of Poets & Writers or pages of Writers Market.

Save yourselves countless hours. Attend the chat. My previous SheWrites featured blog post listed some of our upcoming conversational topics. Here are some more we’ll be discussing:

  • Most useful tips/resources for publicizing our work as global or travel writers
  • Ideas for building an intellectual/writers community around you when you live in or write about a culture whose native language is not the one in which you write.
  • Tips for building relationships in the travel writing community (with editors, other writers, PR firms, tourism boards)
  • Tips for breaking into print publications on paid assignments.

We might also cheer each other through NaTraWriMo and talk about our experiences with Travelers Tales. Bring your own tales and topics to the chat at 8 PM EST, Tuesday, 10 Jan..

 

Join the SheWrites Global Writers Chat

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The plan was to return to Peru after six weeks in the US. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I’ll apparently be here for double that time. It’s killing me. I long to be around friends I’ve made there in Peru, to be back in travel mode. Most of all, I miss the writing schedule established during the six months spent in Lima last year. Living with your newly retired father who doesn’t at all understand your writerly wackiness does not an easy writing schedule make.

 

Fortunately there’s SheWrites. Here we global writers share our writing yays and woes, especially with events such as next week’s Global Writers chat (8 PM EST, Tuesday, 10 Jan.). The first chat I participated in, in outstanding Anna Leahy‘s Submission Mission group, blew me away. The hour flew. After which I wondered, “What the H just happened? When can I have more?”

The conversation never lulled. We had much to share, much to ask each other, much to commiserate about, much to celebrate. From that we all extended our literary tentacles, sharing invaluable information on the submission process.

In my 15 years of professional writing, only twice have other writers extended a helping hand. Why is that? Here at SheWrites, especially in these chats, the information gleaned helps us advance our abilities more rapidly than we alone can do. These chats are the difference between swimming in the kiddie pool and jumping off the high dive. They are a game card that allows us to  advance enough spaces to handily win. How…liberating…it is to have a group of people–friends– who know your  plight, who know your scheduling and inspiration challenges, who know your needs, and who all have information to readily share.

SheWrites give me, for instance, the courage and confidence necessary to approach writers whose success and skills far surpass and therefore intimate me. SheWrites has helped me garner exceptional critique friends, increase productivity, write better, get a reviewing gig, and discover literary publications which may have otherwise eluded me.

 

In the spirit of paying it forward, I’m hosting this month’s SheWrites Global Writers group chat. It’s an honor to stand in our gracious host Tracy Slater, who’s got a super busy career. My hope is that many women experience the relief and glean rewards as I do with each SheWrites chat I do. I hope that you take a nugget from it that helps you move exponentially closer to your career goals.

 

Consider some of the things we’ll be discussing at 8 PM EST on Tuesday, 10 January.

  • It’s unlikely we can subscribe to every publication we’d consider publishing in, especially given foreign subscription rates and length/iffy postal delivery in our respective countries. How do you keep up with your hopeful or favorite publications, especially those only in print form?
  • Which web sites and/or social forums (outside of SheWrites) help you connect with fellow writers? (Such as LitReactor, NewPages, MediaBistro.)
  • How do you keep up your writing flow whilst traveling?
  • Are you participating in NaTraWriMo? Have you participated in other monthly challenges? What are the benefits or drawbacks of NaTraWriMo? Have you experienced success with these writers challenges?

These chats remind me that being stuck in the States isn’t the worst thing that’s happened to me. After all, my fellow traveling writers know what it’s like to be forced to put your wanderlust in neutral. We know what it’s like to miss our writers groups back home.

Eventually I’ll be back writing in Peru. Until then, and after, I’m thankful for SheWrites.