FREE...final edition... On-the-ground reports from the Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop in Denver
Since you couldn't be with us in Colorado for our workshop, I asked David Morgan - a freelance writer and photographer - to fill you in on what we've learned. You'll find his report here below.
--Lori Appling
Director, AWAI's Travel Division
Lost luggage. ATM card won't work. Kidnapped by Kashmiri carpet salesmen. Showed up for your flight 20 minutes or 20 years too late. Held at gunpoint by Buddhist monks.
If you travel, then things go wrong. That's part of the adventure, and part of the fun when you tell the story later. At least, it can be.
Better yet, your travel disasters can lead directly to your first travel-writing paychecks and bylines. Publications pay for "funny" travel stories... when they can find them.
The good news for you is, hardly anyone writes good travel humor anymore.
"Some of the best travel stories tell the tale of something that wasn't funny at the time," said Stan Sinberg, a MAD magazine writer and travel humorist who joined us during the 2006 Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop in Denver, Colorado.
"With time and perspective, things that weren't funny then can become hilarious travel articles now."
The problem is, most people who think they're funny, aren't.
*** How to tell funnier stories Until today, I had thought that a person could either write humor or couldn't. I didn't think it could be taught. How wrong I was.
My name is David Morgan, and I've been writing to you over the past few days with free, on-the-ground reports from our Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop here in Denver.
My primary goal is to debunk the myth that you have to be rich, elegant, or inherit some natural-born "talent" in order to prosper as a travel writer and enjoy a footloose international lifestyle.
Turns out, you don't have to be a comedian or be able to commit jokes to memory in order to write travel humor, either.
Stan Sinberg reduced writing travel humor to a science for our participants today. I was impressed, as I'm sure you would be. I had never thought about why we as readers find some things hilarious and some things not humorous in the least.
He broke the process down for us, and I think you'd get a lot out of what he said, too.
If you've ever told a joke that bombed or told a "funny-to-you" travel story that caused your friends' eyes to glaze over, then you will definitely profit from Stan's presentation, which you get with the 2006 Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop-in-Your-Home.
Reserve your copy today, and not only will we deliver to you a wealth of travel-writing secrets, but we'll give you a $50 discount, too. That's 20% off the standard price.
But please remember: This special offer expires at the end of the day today. To find out more -- and to take advantage of it -- please read the details here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/trc/getstarted.
You know, I'd love nothing more than to give you a full blow-by-blow in these daily reports of every last secret we've learned. But there's simply not the space. Instead, I've picked a handful of key points -- intelligence you can put to use immediately.
...which leads us to your fourth free writing tip of the 2006 Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop in Denver:
***Make yourself the brunt of the joke.
To write a successful travel article that's funny, you need to volunteer to be the victim of the story.
In other words, whatever happened that wasn't funny at the time had to have happened to you, not someone else. If it was your friend who got trampled by the ostrich and not you, don't write the story.
It is also helpful if no one in the story (including you) was maimed, killed, or permanently damaged due to whatever happened. Your story needs a happy ending to be funny instead of sick: It was terrible at the time, but no real harm done.
When you laugh at yourself, it's funny. And, as Stan today pointed out, when you laugh at someone else, it's sadistic. And sadism isn't funny.
Can you think of something that happened on some past trip that made you look the fool... made you angry... made you never want to visit a place again...
If so, it's likely you're sitting on a travel article you can sell and resell. And, as you well know, once your name starts getting published here and there, it's a lot easier to start cashing in on the perks seasoned travel writers enjoy -- like press trips... reduced-rate travel... and even the occasional complimentary, all-inclusive resort vacation...
Writing humorous travel memoirs is actually a great way to start a travel-writing career from the comfort of your own home. The story you write about in your article could have taken place 40 years ago!
*** You don't need to travel to start a travel-writing career...
There are a couple of ways to start writing "travel" articles and get your career going, even if you can't travel just now: One is to write articles about places for tourists to visit in your home town.
The other way is to write about places you've already been. But this can be difficult because you might not remember many details, and places change over time, often rapidly. Write a humorous travel memoir, however, and the details of the place itself become less important than your personal story there.
*** Start a travel writer's life from your home - a special, limited-time offer
The best way to get started writing your travel articles, since you couldn't attend the conference in Denver, is to attend the conference in the comfort of your own home.
The 2006 Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop-in-Your-Home will guide you through every process of writing your first travel articles. You'll learn how you could get those articles published.
And then, my favorite part, you'll learn how you can use the status of a published travel writer to get the perks that regular tourists never get, often at a significant discount, or even without charge.
That means, once you're published, you could have ample opportunity to travel more often and more inexpensively than ever before... and get the VIP treatment, too.
Register to "attend" your own at-home travel writer's workshop before the end of the day Tuesday, and you are automatically entitled to a $50 discount. That brings the entire program down to an affordable $199 -- 20% off the regular $249 price.
But please remember, once this offer is over, the price for the 2006 Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop-in-Your-Home from Denver will never go back down.
There's no better way to gain the incredible on-the-ground insights our attendees benefited from than to hear it from the experts themselves. And that's exactly what the Workshop-in-Your-Home allows you to do. Go through this program completely, put to use the many secrets you learn, and I think you'll be surprised at just how fast you can jump start your travel-writing career. A handful of months from now, you could be cashing in on the benefits of the travel-writer's life.
It's been a real pleasure writing to you over the course of this year's conference, and I do hope to see your name in print very soon.
Warm regards,
David Morgan
Freelance writer and photographer
P.S. Time is of the essence. The 2006 Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop in Denver, Colorado has come to a close.
And that means time is running out for you to register for the Workshop-in-Your-Home and still get the $50 discount you're entitled to.
Register now and find out how to get started as a travel writer from some of the travel industry's most highly regarded experts...
...people like International Living's Steenie Harvey and Jennifer Stevens... photojournalist Victor Englebert, published by National Geographic, Smithsonian, and many other high-profile publications... and MAD magazine writer Stan Sinberg...
...meet the travel publisher who has practically thrown out the red carpet to you, he's so eager to print your first travel article (restrictions apply, of course)...
...find out the easiest ways to keep editors - and readers - begging for more of your writing, even if as of now you've never written much more than a postcard.
You'll find out the tips and techniques the pros use, so you can look like an "old hand" in the travel writing game in no time.
But your $50 discount is only good until the end of the day today. That's a full 20% off the full price of $249.
Order right now and get your own 2006 Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop-in-Your-Home for only $199.
Read all the details and order here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/trc/getstarted
The Write Way to Travel is a FREE weekly newsletter from the American Writers & Artists Institute, available to AWAI students and friends.
© 2006 American Writers & Artists Institute
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