Feb
27
Pico Iyer on Travel Writing
February 27, 2006 | Comments Off
A while back I was in Larry Habegger’s Master Class for Travel Writers, and Pico Iyer came to talk with us about travel writing. I recorded the conversation, and am publishing a small part of it here, with Larry’s and Pico’s permission.
Question: Your writing style is so seamless and packed with detail and wit, and reads like snapshots of cultures. How do you do it? How do you tie together all the detail and weave in the research which all flows like a stream of consciousness?
Pico Iyer: Everyone has their own way of doing it. Let’s say I have to write a 30-page piece about Beirut. Before I go, I’ll read guidebooks and I’ll work out a rough itinerary for myself. And I’ll also work out a focus for it, some question I want to address, because it’s hard to go to a new place for two weeks and then try to say something about it. So I’ll make a focus as precise as possible. And a question that I want to unriddle. In Beirut it was, This is a center of tribalism, and it’s also a center of multiculturalism. Which is winning out, and what does Beirut tell you about the rest of the world?
more follows….
Feb
19
Internet content
February 19, 2006 | Comments Off
Speaking of where the Internet is going, here’s a Hallmark(!) card that embodies a new approach to greeting cards. Not only is this one an e-card, but it also required a writer who could come up with more than one line of clever copy. I can imagine all kinds of extensions…. Be sure your sound is turned on when you play it.
Feb
19
Congratulations to Jeff Pfleuger
February 19, 2006 | Comments Off
Today’s (2/19) NYT Travel section has a story Mark Sundeen and Jeff Pfleuger did on backcountry skiing at the historic Ostrander hut in Yosemite. If you didn’t happen to grab the paper, the story and layout are here and here.
Feb
19
Karen Kefauver
February 19, 2006 | Comments Off
Want to see a great writer/photographer’s website? Here’s Karen Kefauver’s. “Specializing in adventure travel, endurance sports, fitness, food, spas and business stories, Karen has been a full-time freelance writer for 12 years…. [She] has written more than 500 feature stories which have been published in international and U.S. magazines, newspapers and online media.”
Feb
19
Bay Area Family Travel
February 19, 2006 | Comments Off
Kathy Chin Leong, Executive Editor of Bay Area Family Travel isn’t paying yet for articles, but if you want a clip and have a good family travel piece, check out the website.
Feb
19
Lee Foster
February 19, 2006 | Comments Off
Lee Foster spoke at the Februray Bay Area Travel Writers meeting, and I learned a lot about Internet publishing, independent publishing, and selling travel photography. Not only does Lee have all that figured out; he also has a clear vision of what changes are likely in the near future, and how content providers can best be positioned to take advantage of them. The biggest surprise for me was that Lee publishes his travel writing and photos on his website (200 destinations), and gets requests from the likes of ABCNEWS.com, The New Yorker, and The New York Times to publish (license) his work. They apparently don’t mind that it’s already been “published” on his website. Check it out.
Feb
16
Copyediting listserve
February 16, 2006 | Comments Off
Thanks to Suzanne Stewart for telling me about copyediting a listserve “for copy editors and other defenders of the English language who want to discuss anything related to editing: Sticky style issues; philosophy of editing; newspaper, technical, and other specialized editing; reference books; client relations; Internet resources; electronic editing and software; freelance issues; and so on. Carol Roberts started the list at Cornell University in December 1992 and passed ownership of the list to Beth Goelzer Lyons. Bill Blinn and Jane Lyle are the current list owners.”
Feb
11
Travel Time News
February 11, 2006 | Comments Off
Brad Zembic at Travel Time News forwarded this info (2/3/2006) about a new market for travel writing:
“We are at an early stage of getting a publication together for distribution on Canada’s west coast. Our goal is to offer interesting insights and perspectives on provincial, national and international travel destinations for the purpose of encouraging people to explore the world around them. Our readership will consist of those whose travel styles vary from organised tours to backpacking trips.
Feb
11
Cultivating Loneliness
February 11, 2006 | Comments Off
Thanks to Karen Misuraca for sending along this link to “quite a wonderful article in the Columbia Journalism Review about journalism and travel writing. Sometimes we forget how important and powerful our work can be.”
Here are a few excerpts from Cultivating Loneliness by Robert D. Kaplan:
“Journalism desperately needs a return to terrain, to the kind of firsthand, solitary discovery of local knowledge best associated with old-fashioned travel writing. Travel writing is more important than ever as a means to reveal the vivid reality of places that get lost in the elevator music of 24-hour media reports…
Feb
11
Peoples of The World Foundation
February 11, 2006 | Comments Off
The Peoples of The World Foundation has published their 2005 annual report.
“Summary: 2005 was an excellent year for the Foundation. We continued to fulfill both parts of our mission and we met or exceeded most of our goals. We completed our work with the Cherokee, we wrapped-up our work in Southeast Asia and we began new work in Central America. We also began postproduction work on our first feature-length documentary. Donations were up by 42% over 2004 — in a year when charitable giving in general was, once again, down.”