Edited by Lori Appling in Bethany Beach, DE
"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent."
-- Calvin Coolidge
TODAY:
- If Not Paris, Then Chicago
- Four Feature Articles… A Dozen Smaller Ones… and a Monthly Travel Column: An Interview with Brian Norris and His Advice for New Travel Writers
- Don't Get Caught Using These Cliches
- A Summer of Travel, Free
- This Week's Featured Travel Publication: Insideout Travel Magazine
- More Opportunities and Resources for Writers
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Hi Gang,
This will be my last stateside issue for a couple of weeks. Saturday I'm off to Paris to start preparing for our upcoming workshop.
I was last there in August, when the locals had lined the Seine with 3,000 tons of sand, 300 lounge chairs, 240 umbrellas, 40 hammocks, and several hundred live palm trees to create their own Paris beach.
This trip the weather won't be nearly so balmy. But spring has arrived, I understand. The chestnut trees have started to bloom, and the cafes have begun to crowd. I can't wait to get back. Adrian Leeds, the Director of International Living's Paris office and a restaurant critic has been kind enough to offer our workshop attendees (and me included) a free copy of her restaurant guide for the Bastille area, where we'll be staying. I can't wait to start eating well. If you'll be joining me in Paris... bring your appetite.
If you weren't able to find the time to come for the Paris program, I encourage you, instead, to meet me and my colleagues in Chicago this June 17-20. (Sign on before May 15, and you save, by the way: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/workshop/bb)
Our students always rave about these programs, and the eager ones usually land by-lines within a month of returning home.
Barbara Bode took our Paris program and sold two pieces she wrote during it to In Touch, an upscale membership magazine for women… now she writes a regular column for that publication. A recent transplant from Washington to Malta, Barbara also sold a story about her new home to Transitions Abroad. Then, in the market for a refresher course -- and some fun -- Barbara joined our Travel Writer cruise down Mexico's Pacific coast. While on board, she wrote a piece about swimming with dolphins and has since sold it to another women's publication.
You'll find more student success stories at: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/workshop/bb
Speaking of success stories, check out Brian Norris' interview below. Brian has some great advice for travel writers -- novice or experienced. You may, in fact, have already seen his work. He's written dozens of short "postcard" pieces for International Living and even a few feature articles.
I'll let him tell you how he did it below.
I'm also including a little note John Forde sent me on clichés.
And… as always, don't forget to keep me up-to-speed on your travel-writing success. If you have a story to share, send me a quick note at lori@thetravelwriterslife.com.
Until next week (when I plan to write from a comfortable perch in a Parisian cafe)…
Lori
Director, AWAI's Travel Writer Program
P.S. Know a friend or two who'd enjoy the freedom and independence of a writer's life? They, too, can sign up to receive this free e-letter weekly at: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/eletter
FOUR FEATURE ARTICLES… A DOZEN SMALLER ONES… A MONTHLY TRAVEL COLUMN… AND BRIAN NORRIS' ADVICE FOR NEW TRAVEL WRITERS Interview by Lori Appling in Bethany Beach, DE:
LA: Before we get started why don't you tell us a little about yourself?
BRIAN: I’m a native-born Australian and I’ve always had the wanderlust. For most of my adult life, I’ve lived, worked and traveled in every state in Australia. My wife and I have also traveled extensively throughout southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Jobs? I’ve had a few! In fact, you name it and I’ve probably had a crack at it. To name a few, a stint in the Air Force, radar technician, contract cleaner, fiberglass canoe constructor, earth scraper driver… even "drowned" a four wheel drive, while fording the Jardine River, in the remote wilds of northern Queensland.
I have a solid background in advertising, marketing and promotions and have worked in a number of top advertising agencies. Nearly 20 years ago, I was one of the pioneers of desktop publishing in Australia and I’ve been doing that ever since.
LA: What attracted you to Travel Writing?
BRIAN: We’d been living in Darwin, the steamy hot capital of Australia’s Northern Territory for 15 sweaty years. It was time to move on, and we thought seriously about living somewhere overseas. While researching the possibilities, I stumbled across Escape from America magazine on the Internet, which made mention of International Living… the travel and lifestyle flagship of Agora Publishing. I followed the link and discovered an incredible treasure trove of information. Then I noticed that there was very little mention of Australia in International Living, but they encouraged readers to write "postcards" and articles for possible publication and payment.
I started sending in short (200 words or so) "postcards" about Darwin and Australia in general, then followed up with more on some southeast Asian destinations. Some were published, but most weren’t. So I figured I needed some professional guidance… it’s incredibly hard to judge your own writing objectively. It was about then that I stumbled over the Ultimate Travel Writer's Course on the IL website and signed up.
LA: You recently wrote me and said that you've had some success getting published overseas. Can you tell us a little bit more about that and how you got started?
BRIAN: To clarify, I should state that I haven’t cracked the big time… the top-shelf glossies like Conde Nast or Travel + Leisure… yet. But I haven’t given up and since applying the writing fundamentals from the Ultimate Travel Writer's Course, I have had dozens of postcards and four feature articles published in IL. Plus several in e-zines such as Australian Homepage and The Traveler (I think Tom, the American editor, quite likes my laconic Aussie sense of humor).
Because of the tyranny of distance, I always approach editors via email and keep my pitch short and to the point. These are busy people and simply will not spend ages rummaging through tons of coal on the off chance that a diamond may be lurking therein!
My email title is always either "Writer’s Query" or "Story Idea". That way, the editor knows exactly what I’m about immediately. And whether it’s a rejection or an acceptance, I nearly always get a reply, so I know that at least somebody has seen it.
My story ideas can pop out of anywhere. Nowadays whenever I read, watch TV or just travel around, I see things with totally different eyes. I’m always looking for ideas. Before I approach an editor, I do two things. I beg, borrow, steal (or even buy) a copy of the publication, and if they have a website, I go there looking for writer’s guidelines.
LA: You also mentioned that you now write a local column for tourism ventures in Australia. How did you land this assignment?
BRIAN: Two years ago…
[continued below]
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What's more, they wrote an article for Steamboat Magazine, a high-end coffee-table publication based in Steamboat Springs, CO that comes out twice a year. And they were paid for their work. Here's more: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/workshop/bb
BRIAN: …we escaped from Darwin to a small town on the central Queensland coast, called Yeppoon. Funny name (origin unknown) for a sun-drenched piece of paradise, with balmy days, cool nights with diamond bright stars you can almost reach out and touch and a totally laid back lifestyle. Queensland’s fourth largest city, Rockhampton, is only about half an hour’s drive away.
Yeppoon is just being discovered by the rest of Australia and slowly being developed as the next tourism "hotspot". I figured that if I couldn’t stop the development, I might as well join it.
So I wrote a feature article on the lifestyle and the incredibly affordable housing here. IL published it; I showed the article to the local Tourist Bureau and floated the idea of a regular newspaper column about local tourism ventures. But with a difference… a behind-the-scenes look at the people and the way the operation evolved from just a dream to reality.
They loved it and gave me the contact details for the editor of the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin. I asked him if I could send him an outline of the idea -- he agreed, liked it and suggested I write a couple of samples and a schedule of proposed articles, which I did. After several months of to-ing and fro-ing, it’s now up-and-running as a Saturday feature.
A number of times I nearly gave up when I didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. But I learnt something of immense value… patience. This is normally quite foreign to my nature. The editor recently sent me an email congratulating me on my quiet persistence without aggression.
LA: In your email you credited your success to AWAI's written travel writer program. What specifically do you think helped you so much?
BRIAN: Some people need to work in a highly structured manner… not me. I’m a binge writer. When the mood takes me I can belt out thousands of words per day. Some days I don’t write anything.
I treat the course as a handbook, dipping into any part, whenever I need to. It contains all the fundamentals for good expressive writing and debunks all the school-essay rules which stifle readability. A "good read" sells itself to editors. That’s what helped me the most.
LA: What advice would you give to new students who haven't yet had an article published?
BRIAN: In real estate it’s location, location, location. In writing it’s persistence, persistence, persistence. But don’t confuse persistence with pest-ilence. As I’ve said before, editors are very busy people. Hundreds of manuscripts land in their office each week. If they don’t respond in a day or a week or a month, don’t hassle them.
A case in point. I’ve sent several items to Islands magazine, including a short quirky postcard about Australia’s toilet map… a searchable directory on the Internet showing the location of every free public toilet in the country. It’s sponsored by the National Incontinence Management Committee (stop laughing, I’m serious!!). Time went by and I heard nothing. After four months I got an email thanking me for my submission and yes, they’d like to buy it. It should be appearing in an issue this year.
Start small, look in your own backyard for items of interest. Write about things you know or have experienced. Find small publications that encourage freelancers. Even if they can’t pay, do it anyway. It’s all good practice and you’ll get "clips" and usually your by-line published.
And learn how to deal with rejection. The most frustrating thing I find is the lack of feedback, apart from the standard “doesn’t suit our needs at this time”. But I can understand it. They just don’t have the time to spoon feed every novice freelancer who darkens their desktop. Just accept that you got it wrong; move on and try again.
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WARNING: DON'T GET CAUGHT USING THESE CLICHÉS A Quick Tip by Freelance Writer, John Forde in Paris, France
A Brit named John Lister did a study.
He asked 5,000 people from 70 different countries to name the clichés they hated more than any other.
According to the study, "at the end of the day," was at the top of the list. Followed by "at this moment in time," the use of "like" in conversation, and "with all due respect."
Now -- with all due respect -- at this moment in time and even at the end of the day, I'm not really, like, bothered by these as much as Mr. Lister.
But his point is well taken.
Clichés are lazy thinking. Once, they sounded smart. Now they're just weak substitutes for real ideas. And readers (or listeners) are not fooled.
Here are some of the other words and phrases Lister listed as dangerous: "24/7," "absolutely," "ballpark figure," "bear with me," "between a rock and a hard place," "I hear what you're saying," "in terms of," and "it's not brain surgery," and "it's not rocket science."
(On those last two, I prefer "It's not rocket surgery" myself... but HATE it when people tack on the word "myself.")
Why such study into clichés? It's all part of Lister's "Plain English Campaign," founded in 1979 to simplify the way people write and speak.
Make your life and your message simpler by mastering the art of Plain Speak:
[The above excerpt comes from John's e-letter -- The Copywriter's Roundtable. You can sign up by visiting: www.jackforde.com. John works primarily as a copywriter and writes travel on the side (must be those travel writing perks). He began his copywriting career training under Bill Bonner and Michael Masterson. In the eight years since, he has written several million-dollar controls, many of which have been translated and successfully mailed to the French, German, and online markets. He has also served as Senior Copywriter and Group Publisher for Agora Publishing, and has trained apprentice copywriters in London, Paris, Bonn, Florida and Baltimore. He now lives and works in Paris. You can meet him in Paris (or Chicago) this year by visiting: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/workshop/bb]
THIS WEEK'S FEATURED TRAVEL PUBLICATION: Insideout Travel Magazine
Insideout Travel Magazine is a bimonthly publication geared to the independent traveler. They cover a wide variety travel angels from destinations to health to tips to languages. Send you detailed query to editor@insideoutmag.com, but first check out their guidelines at http://www.insideoutmag.com/contribute.htm
OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES FOR WRITERS:
- The difference between great success and mediocrity is so often a matter of the small things... just a little extra here... a little more there. If you’re falling short of achieving your most important personal goals, get more details about the Early to Rise Goal Setting Check-up Program at: http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/700SDDGC/W700E132/
- You could make $100,000 a Year as a Graphic Designer -- Best of all, there's no daily commute... no boss breathing down your neck…and you don’t even have to be able to draw a straight line (the computer does everything for you). In fact, what used to be a very complicated profession can now be done on a standard computer -- even if you have little or no “artistic” ability at all. Lori H. makes a six-figure income while raising three children at home! And…if you decide this career suits you. We might even give you your first job. Here's how Lori did it: http://www.thedesignerslife.com/lh/tw4
- CAN YOU WRITE A SIMPLE LETTER? If you answer yes, you could be in big demand, earning big money, writing just a few hours a day from anywhere in the world you choose to be. Here's how you can learn the secrets of this little-known, lucrative business: http://www.thewriterslife.com/bb/tw4
- If you have what it takes to write a powerful "report" that sells vitamins or alternative health therapies you could make very good money in a specialty field that desperately needs you…that will give you as much work as you can handle…and that routinely pays $8,000 and up – with royalties – for each piece you write? Find out more: http://www.thewriterslife.com/health/tw4
- For These Proprietors, Success Means Grossing $1 Million a Year… Last December, Michael Masterson lead a small group of ambitious AWAI students through a pilot program designed to turn them into savvy direct-response entrepreneurs. The goal? To gross $1 million or more a year. It’s working. And now the program is open to all AWAI students. Visit: http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/700SCBMO/W700E130 for details.
The Write Way to Travel is a FREE weekly newsletter from the American Writers & Artists Institute, available to AWAI students and friends.
© 2004 American Writers & Artists Institute
To ADVERTISE in The Write Way to Travel or to send comments, news, research, or story ideas, e-mail Lori Appling at lappling@awaionline.com.
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