Edited by Lori Appling in Bethany Beach, DE.

"Change should be a friend. It should happen by plan, not by accident."
-- Philip Crosby ("Reflections on Quality")

TODAY:

• Avoid F-Words: How to Replace "Filler" Words with Descriptions that Make You Sound Like a Pro
• A Holiday Gift from AWAI
• Get Big Bucks for Your Snap Shots
• On Spec: Request for Articles on Argentina
• This Week's Featured Travel Publication: Travel Notes
• More Opportunities and Resources for Writers

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Dear Reader,

I hope you have enjoyed a good holiday season. I have.

I went to New York City on Wednesday of last week to see the tree in Rockefeller Center and to peer through all the shop windows at Macy's and Lord & Taylor. It seems I picked the perfect night -- the streets were packed, and the weather was perfect (I walked around in an unzipped jacket with no gloves or hat).

This week has been great too. There's still snow on the ground here, which I always think is a treat this time of year. Most people seem to have a short work week -- I've spent the majority of mine finishing up our new Travel Writing Virtual Workshop and setting new goals in both my business and personal life.

Michael Masterson, editor of Early to Rise (and my personal mentor), had this advice the day after Christmas…

"Spend an extra hour [today] relaxing and another hour thinking about the year that's passed and the year that's coming…

"Make a mental list of those who have helped you succeed this year. And another list of people you've helped.

"Ask yourself what you'd most like to accomplish in 2005. You don't need to come to a definitive answer today. You are just trying to get your subconscious mind working on it.

"If you have the opportunity, spend some time talking to friends and colleagues about their accomplishments and goals. This will give you good ideas and it may even deepen your relationships a bit."

I think that's good advice, so here's what a few of your travel-writing peers are up to. Hopefully their stories will inspire you to pick up the speed on your travel-writing career…

Wendy VanHatten wrote to say that she's had some more success recently. International Living will be publishing her piece on Italy soon, and over Christmas she's going to the San Diego Wild Animal Park for free. She wrote the park and told them she was interested in a story there… faxed them her ITWPA card (www.itwpa.com) for credentials… and in return got 4 free tickets into the park. Wendy's been published at least a dozen times now and credits her success to both our live workshops and our written course. You'll find her story and advice in issues #9 and #39 in our e-letter archives: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com

I also got word that Maigii Sterling from our San Diego workshop was published in The Traveler this month. Maigii wrote to us for advice earlier this month when she submitted a time-sensitive article to the editor and wondered should she submit elsewhere due to its need to be published in December. We answered her question in issue #47 in our archives (http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com) and a week later she was published.

Our hats go off to both of these ladies. And if you've got a success story to share, shoot me a note at lori@thetravelwriterslife.com. I'd love to feature you in an upcoming issue.

And about those goals (and a holiday gift for students)…

This year, AWAI has more courses -- and more successful students -- than ever.

So as a holiday gift for our students only, AWAI is offering a 20% discount off some of our most popular courses.

Whether it's a gift for yourself, a friend, or a loved one, you can be assured each program is designed to help you find a new skill that will give you more control over your life and a new stream of income in 2005.

And…if you take advantage of this discount offer before January 10th, we’ll send you a certificate for $100 off any upcoming Travel Writing Workshop (including our next workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina).

Of course, whichever program you choose ... it comes with our no-questions-asked guarantee. If you or the person you’re buying for doesn’t love it – no problem. You can exchange it for another one. Or simply return the program and get your money back. (And if you need to return the product for any reason, you can still keep and use the $100 gift certificate...)

To order your program call Barb or Scott at 866-879-2924 today, or click here: http://www.awaionline.com/order/holiday

The thing to remember is that on January 10th everything goes back to the regular price. So make sure you consider this offer today.

Below, too, you'll find a classic article from Jen Stevens on how to write better descriptions.

Students have said that this part of Jen's presentation at our live workshops has changed the way they write. I hope it does the same for you.

Have a great week,

Lori
Director, AWAI's Travel Writer Program

P.S. The next opportunity you'll have to attend an AWAI Travel Writing Workshop -- where you'll hear Jen's extended presentation on writing descriptions and learn hundreds of secrets that will improve your writing and increase your odds of getting published -- is at the end of March in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Keep watching here, in your issues of The Write Way to Travel, for details.

And if you just can't make it to one of our live events in 2005, check out our new Virtual Workshop… it's very cool.

You see, we found a way to merge the audio recording from one of our most successful live events with each presenter's PowerPoint slides. You can simply put a CD into your computer and relax as the entire workshop unfolds before you. The slides advance to the audio recordings so you can easily follow along. It's a darned-close second to actually being in the room.

But here's the really sweet part: If you act now (before the whole package goes to press) you'll save a full 35%. That's $140 savings when you reserve a pre-press copy of The Ultimate Travel Writer's Virtual Workshop now. And that's not all. Check out the rest of the goodies you get: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/virtual/prepress

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

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NOTE: Big Bucks for Snap Shots comes free when you enroll in Passport to Romance: The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course at: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/kp/tw4

The descriptions that editors like -- the ones they pay for -- are those that paint pictures so vivid, readers see and feel and taste right along with the writer.

How do you make sure your descriptions do that?

The short answer is: "Show don't tell" -- a maxim of good writing you'll come across in nearly any book devoted to the subject.

But what, exactly, does it mean? How do you, in fact "show" and not "tell" in your own writing?

Turns out, it's not that easy. Don't despair: In a moment, I'll let you in on a secret that will help immensely.

First, though, let me back up...

*** WHAT, EXACTLY, IS "SHOW DON'T TELL?"

"Show don't tell" means that you shouldn't just announce directly what a place is like and how it makes visitors feel. Instead, you should describe it in such a rich way that your reader experiences it for himself...

In other words, lead your reader to draw his own conclusions about a place. Don't lay them out for him.

For example: Say you're writing about a back-of-beyond hotel on some barely charted island in the Mozambique Channel. You could say it's remote. And you could say it's peaceful.

But a more skillful writer would, instead, describe the place in such a way that the reader would find himself thinking, "Boy, this sounds like the most remote, peaceful place on Earth."

So, how can you "show" your reader remote? Well, tell him about how you get there -- the four-hour ride into dense bush in the canvas-topped back of a 1979 Peugeot pick-up truck with three chickens, four shrouded women, and an infant for company.

And how do you "show" peaceful? Perhaps describe the night -- how the only sounds you hear are the rustling of lemurs in the trees above, the squeaks of the fruit bats, the sloshing of the Indian Ocean as it slides between the jagged lava rocks that frame the sandy cove where this hotel sits.

I know... it's one thing to read it, it's another altogether to do it yourself. But take the following advice seriously, and you will improve every description you write:

*** THE BIG SECRET: AVOID "FILLER" WORDS (OFTEN ADJECTIVES) THAT DON'T REALLY SAY ANYTHING... OR SAY SOMETHING TO ONE PERSON AND SOMETHING ELSE TO ANOTHER.

Sometimes it's hard to find that stand-out detail that really characterizes a woman's dress. So you just say it's "fashionable."

You ring the bell in a rural French town, and a shopkeeper comes down from his upstairs apartment to open his antique store. You wander through, even buy a little something -- silver ice cube tongs. In your story, the shop is "quaint."

Travel writing is full of words like "fashionable" and "quaint" that don't really say anything: pretty, lovely, charming, upscale, idyllic, cozy, colorful, fancy, beautiful...

When you use words like those, you're just filling space. You're taking the easy way out -- and editors know it.

Sometimes, to be fair, those filler words do say something -- it's just that what they say to you as a writer might not be at all what they say to your reader.

As William Zinsser put it: "One man's romantic sunrise is another man's hangover."

Consider this description, which relies on too many "filler" words:

"We're greeted on arrival by hot, tropical weather. A blessing. There's the beautiful bay, Bahia de Zihuatanejo, that we saw in the pictures. Our palapa is at the edge of an idyllic jungle."

"Beautiful bay" -- one reader conjures up Cape Cod in his mind, another sees a Caribbean island.

"Idyllic jungle" -- one reader thinks of a tamed landscape with lighted, stone walkways and strategically planted frangipani, another sees a dense expanse of vines and trees, seemingly impenetrable.

*** CHOOSE, INSTEAD, SPECIFIC DETAILS. LEAD YOUR READER TO DRAW HIS OWN CONCLUSIONS FROM THEM.

Here, by contrast, is a description rich in specifics, which make it genuinely compelling. Ever since I first read this, I've had an itch to see Oslo in winter. And at least one editor liked it -- this appeared in the "New York Times":

"There were little white candles flickering everywhere in Oslo – even in the breakfast room of the hotel, where we guests all lingered over our lavish Scandinavian smorgasbord. According to our preferences, we fortified ourselves with three kinds of herring, with soft-boiled eggs or shrimp salad, with mackerel in tomato sauce or muesli. We refilled our plates and sipped our tea and coffee, reluctant to go out into the winter cold. Little white candles in silver-stemmed goblets, in smoked-glass boxes, in pewter saucers were burning on every table in every café and restaurant, like a promise to hold onto the light right through the winter darkness."

The writer doesn't tell us that guests have a wide choice of breakfast foods. He doesn't tell us it's cozy. He doesn't tell us Oslo in winter is surprisingly enticing. He provides us the specifics and lets us draw those conclusions from them.

You want your descriptions to make the places your describing come alive for your reader. You want him to join you there. It takes energy and effort. But if you're careful to shun "filler" words in favor of specific details, you'll be way ahead of the pack. And editors will notice that, too.

[Jen Stevens has spent the balance of the last eight 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 principal architect and writer of Passport to Romance: The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course, published by the American Writers & Artists Institute: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/kp/tw4.]

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REQUEST FOR ARTICLES ON ARGENTINA

Special note from Lori Appling, Director, AWAI's Travel Writer Program

We're planning our next Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop for March in Buenos Aires, and we'd like to fill our hopper with well-written blurbs about Argentina we can use to help drum up enthusiasm about what we know to be an absolutely fabulous destination.

If you have a short story to tell (apx 150 - 400 words) about interesting places to see and things to do in Argentina, please send it to me at lori@thetravelwriterslife.com. If we use it, we'll pay you for it.

THIS WEEK'S FEATURED TRAVEL PUBLICATION

Travel Notes is an online travel guide seeking mid-length pieces (500-1000 words) about destinations around the world. They mainly look for writers who can contribute articles on a regular basis. This is a non-pay site, but can offer some exposure. Article submissions are made online. Find the full details at http://www.travelnotes.org/City-Guides/

OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES FOR WRITERS:

• TAX SAVINGS EVERY FREELANCER SHOULD TAKE
  Find out where you can save... what the IRS really needs to know... how to make the most of those deductions for travel, meals, entertainment, home office, and more including practical worksheets you can use to make sure you're paying as little as possible to Uncle Sam. You'll find The Writer's Tax Guide: A Money-Saving Manual for Travel Writers and Other Freelancers here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/tax/tw4
• CAN YOU WRITE A SIMPLE LETTER? If 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:
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• RETIRE…AND GET PAID TO TRAVEL -- Get the Details and Your Free report at: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/kp/tw4
• EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF WRITING
  Learn how to find the best story ideas and places to publish them…how and when to follow up with an editor…what you need to know about buying rights, contracts, and agreements…how to use syndication to increase your exposure and boost your earnings…and more. You'll find The Business of Writing Guide: A Practical Guide for Travel Writers (and Other Freelancers) Ready to Turn Words into Profits here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/biz/tw4
• 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.
• BIG BUCKS FOR SNAPSHOTS
  Photos can be a remarkably strong sales tool when you're approaching an editor with a story. They can significantly increase your chances of getting published (and earning extra income) -- that is, if you know how to take the kinds of photos editors like. Find out the simplest and best camera to take with you (you don't want to be lugging a trunk full of equipment)... how to use time of day... create a mood... how to photograph people versus landscapes and wildlife... and more. You'll find Big Bucks for Snapshots: 53 Can't Miss Techniques for Becoming a Money-Making Freelance Photographer here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/photos/tw4

  NOTE: Big Bucks for Snap Shots comes free when you enroll in Passport to Romance: The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course at: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/kp/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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