Edited by Lori Appling in Bethany Beach, DE.
"Personally, I am very fond of strawberries and cream; but I find that for some strange reason fish prefer worms. So when I go fishing, I don’t think about what I want. I think about what they want. I don’t bait the hook with strawberries and cream. Rather, I dangle a worm or a grasshopper in front of the fish and say: 'Wouldn’t you like to have that?' " -- Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People
TODAY:
- Uncovering the Best Story Ideas: Three Keys to Writing Articles Editors Want
- 39 (Funny) Tips to Improve Your Writing
- Guarantee a Million-dollar Future for Your Child
- This Week's Featured Travel Publication: Above & Beyond
- More Opportunities and Resources for Writers
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Dear Reader,
Put yourself in an editor's shoes for a minute if you will…
Say you're the editor of International Living, a newsletter publication devoted to living, traveling, retiring, and investing overseas (http://www.internationalliving.com).
You're looking for articles to fill an upcoming issue. You skim quickly through the stories in your inbox, culling and making notes --
* The best place to get a view from the Eiffel Tower -- 600 words. The view from the second platform of the Eiffel Tower could arguably be better (and is certainly cheaper) than going all the way up to the third level. Here's how you can tell which floor is right for you by considering the weather conditions and your physical abilities.
ED NOTE: Send rejection letter -- Not a terrible tidbit of intelligence, but certainly not worthy of 600 words.
* When in Rome it's best to stay at the Holiday Inn. The rooms are clean, you have your own private toilet and the staff is pretty friendly. The food they serve downstairs isn't that great but you're next to several great restaurants so you can just dine there. The only thing I don't recommend you do is fly in on Roma Airlines because they lost our bags and treated my husband very rudely.
ED NOTE: Send rejection letter -- This recommendation is too generic for my readership. They are savvy, well-traveled people. They are more interested in a good-value finds off-the-beaten-track.
* See all Europe has to offer in just one day. A day in Las Vegas will have you climbing the Eiffel Tower, cruising the Venice canals and you can even experience a little Egyptian fare by staying at the Luxor.
ED NOTE: Send rejection letter -- We only publish articles about destinations outside the U.S..
As the editor, you're beginning to despair… but then you find in the stack of submissions a few gems --
* Bargain travel, great art: A weekend in Panama's San Blas Islands. On a trip to the San Blas Islands, you are escorted by canoe from home to home -- stick and thatch huts all. There you can shop for $3 molas (delicately embroidered and quilted fabric patches locals sew onto their clothing, but which also make unusual wall hangings and pillow cases). In this remote, sandy hideaway, the natives have no commercial need for your currency -- they'll use your bills to stuff their chairs or insulate their homes.
ED NOTE: Accept -- This is a region I know our readers are interested in. I like the concrete examples of what to do there. It's not an over-touristed destination, clearly.
* A tour of Germany's criminal museum. In this little-known museum you'll find such torture devices as finger screws (to make people tell the truth)...masks of shame (for people who missed church)... and the so-called "baker's chairs" for those bad bakers who shorted customers on loaf sizes.
ED NOTE: Accept -- Quirky enough to interest our readers.
* Tax-free profits on Croatian real estate. The city within the walls of Dubrovnik is like Paris' Isle de la Cite -- it's never going to get any bigger. When it comes to real estate, there's limited inventory. Only the thing is: An apartment on Isle de la Cite sells for ten- to 14-thousand euro per square meter. An apartment within the city walls of Dubrovnik -- Grade A property -- can be had for 3,000 to 4,000 euro per square meter. Plus buyers can enjoy all the appreciation likely in the next five-plus years completely free of any capital gains tax. Sell a piece of real estate in Croatia that you've owned for three years or longer... and you pay no capital gains. Compare this with France, where you pay capital gains on real estate profits unless you've owned the property for more than 15 years.
ED NOTE: Accept -- Perfectly targeted to a readership looking for good-value investments overseas.
Now, step back into your own, writer's shoes. How can you know if your story idea will pass muster with an editor? What can you do to increase the chances your article will wind up in the pages of a magazine instead of in the editor's rejection pile?
Below, Jen Stevens outlines a three-part test you can put any story idea to before you submit it to a publication.
Follow her advice… and if you receive a note saying your article has been accepted for publication, let me know at lori@thetravelwriterslife.com. I'd love to hear about your success.
Have a good weekend,
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
UNCOVERING THE BEST STORY IDEAS: THREE KEYS TO WRITING ARTICLES EDITORS WANT By Freelance Writer, Jennifer Stevens in Chicago, IL
Once you have a general story idea in mind, you've got to really hone it. The best -- the most marketable -- story ideas are specific, unique, and targeted to a particular audience.
If you're anything like me, what you'll scribble on a scrap of paper and toss into your "story ideas" file will most often be just the core of an idea… something that struck you as a possibility for a piece, but not something you've really thought through.
So when you sit down to decide on the actual story you'd like to write, you must make sure that your idea is --
*Specific*
Don't send a letter to a publication asking if the editor is interested in a piece about Belize. Instead, ask if he'd be interested in an article about the best jungle lodge or the top spots to invest in real estate.
*Unique*
If you've been reading a lot of travel stories, you'll develop a sense after a few months for what's run-of-the-mill and what's new. Also, by keeping country files you'll have on hand some examples of what other people have written about the place you're going to write about, so you'll know in what ways your piece will need to be different.
I've found that one way to keep ideas unique is to think about what the stereotypical view of a place is and write to counter it. If most people know about the diving in the Bahamas, then you write about the hiking trails.
*Targeted to a particular audience*
When you target a particular audience with your story idea, it becomes a stronger idea. Here's what I mean: If I were to write to the readers of Walking magazine about St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, my story would, most likely, be about the trails there -- the best walks, the best guide, the best time of year to go, maybe the best "outdoors" hotels to stay in.
That story is specific and it's unique -- at least to the readers of Walking magazine. While you might regularly find stories about St. John in travel publications, it's not run-of-the-mill fare for Walking.
[Jen Stevens has spent the balance of the last seven years gallivanting through Latin America and the Caribbean -- to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize and beyond reporting on and writing about the best locales for overseas travel, retirement, and investment. She is the former editor of International Living and Island Properties Report, and she was a writer and editor for several years at Trade & Culture magazine. Jen is the author of Passport to Romance: The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course, published by the American Writers & Artists Institute: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/sh/tw4]
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39 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING Author unknown
1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
2. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
3. Employ the vernacular.
4. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
5. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
6. Remember to never split an infinitive.
7. Contractions aren't necessary.
8. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
9. One should never generalize.
10. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
11. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
12. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
13. Be more or less specific.
14. Understatement is always best.
15. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
16. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
17. The passive voice is to be avoided.
18. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
19. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
20. Who needs rhetorical questions?
21. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
22. Don't never use a double negation.
23. capitalize every sentence and remember always end it with point
24. Do not put statements in the negative form.
25. Verbs have to agree with their subjects.
26. Proofread carefully to see if you words out.
27. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
28. A writer must not shift your point of view.
29. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.)
30. Don't overuse exclamation marks!!
31. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to the irantecedents.
32. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
33. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
34. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
35. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
36. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
37. Always pick on the correct idiom.
38. The adverb always follows the verb.
39. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; They're old hat; seek viable alternatives.
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76.1 million baby boomers are turning 50 at a rate of 3 to 4 million a year.
Their knees hurt, their backs hurt, their cholesterol is high, their prostates hurt, they're going through menopause, they're having trouble sleeping, they're anxious…
If you have what it takes to sell to this market you can make very good money in a specialty field that will give you as much work as you can handle…and that routinely pays $8,000 and up – with royalties – for each sales letter you write?
Find out more at: http://www.thewriterslife.com/health/tw4
THIS WEEK'S FEATURED TRAVEL PUBLICATIONS: Above & Beyond
Above & Beyond is the quarterly in-flight magazine for First Air, the third-largest airline in Canada. They publish travel features, destination profiles, and pieces on outdoor and recreational activities. Articles with a personal voice that run 1500 words, and that are accompanied by full color photo prints or slides have the best chance of being accepted. Queries can be sent to Tom Koelbel at info@arcticjournal.ca.
OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES FOR WRITERS:
- Travelwriters UK (www.travelwriters.co.uk) is a British site where travel writers and photographers can post their details. It's used by editors to offer work commissions, and by the travel industry to find participants for press trips. Writers listed range from rising newcomers to established professionals.
- THE AWAI FORUM FOR TRAVEL WRITERS -- You'll find this excellent online resource at: http://www.awaionline.com/forum/. It's a place to get answers to your questions, discuss your story ideas, find readers to review your articles, and stay connected to a community of writers.
- 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
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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