Work Habits that Speed You Up: Best Writing Styles for Prolific Writers
By Freelance Writer/Author Bob Bly in New York, NY [The below is an excerpt from Bob's Write More Sell More, available at: href="http://tinyurl.com/63a94" target=_blank>http://tinyurl.com/63a94] "I never use a long work when a short one will do or an involved construction when a simple one will do or literary trickery when plain-speaking will do," wrote Isaac [...]
Uncovering the Best Story Ideas: Three Keys to Writing Articles Editors Want
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 [...]
Getting Published Using a Cereal Box and a Tube of Toothpaste to Improve Your Query Letters: Part 2
By Freelance Writer and Copywriter John Forde in Paris, France In 16 words, here's how to persuade anybody to do almost anything: First, hook their attention. Second, show them a benefit. Next, prove your credibility. Last, urge a response. That's it. What's that got to do with travel writing? Well, first... think about this... every [...]
Get Published Using a Cereal Box and a Tube of Toothpaste to Improve Your Query Letters: Part 1
By Freelance Writer and Copywriter John Forde in Paris, France You're writing a query letter. You’ve slaved over every syllable. It's smart. It's dramatic. It's genius. You drop it in the mail and wait. Any editor who reads this masterwork, you reason, is going to trip all over himself to get to his checkbook. But [...]
Unexpected Attention-Grabbers: Three Effective Twists on the Travel Lead
While specific detail will always mark any good travel lead, you needn't feel tied to a straightforward descriptive introduction to your article. You can beef up and vary your leads by adding a surprising fact, a quote, or by getting right to the "so what," of your piece -- assuming it's something your audience will [...]
Less is More Confessions of a Word-a-Holic
By Freelance Writer/Copywriter, John Forde in Paris, France My name is John . and I'm a word-a-holic. There, I've said it. Yes, that's right. I often over-write. I can't help myself. I love words. I love ideas. I love the way each leads into another like a jazz improvisation. I'm addicted to irony. Doped up [...]
Three Ways to Broaden Your Focus and Bump-Up Your Travel Writer Income
What you know about good travel writing holds true, in my view, of all good writing. The skills I teach in Passport to Romance: The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course , many of which I've also discussed here in past issues of The Write Way to Travel -- like how to read critically, analyze your audience, [...]
Five Things I Learned as an Editor that Helped Me Become a Better Freelancer
By Freelance Writer Roberta Beach Jacobson in Greece For three years I edited Kafenio, an e-zine dedicated to European life and culture, and for three years I marveled at the types of inquiries I'd get from writers. If you're taking AWAI's written course on travel writing or you've attended one of their live workshops, then [...]
Seven Things New York Can Teach You About Great Travel Writing
By Freelance Writer and Copywriter John Forde in Paris, France There's a little apartment in New York, on the corner of Bleecker and Perry. For three years, I lived there. For nearly three years more, my wife and I visited there when we could. We let friends take care of it in the interim. But [...]
Seven Places to See Your Real Estate Articles
This past Wednesday, my colleague Steenie Harvey and I conducted a special bonus session on writing about real estate for the many would-be travel writers in attendance at our Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop. Steenie seconded my contention that you really don’t have to have a background in real estate to write proficiently about it -- [...]
