Jan

17

Hotel Drinking Glasses

January 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Watch this video clip by Dahlia Rideout about The Hidden Truth behind Hotel Drinking Glasses. You may decide never to drink from one again. I found it on the Divine Caroline site.

Jan

13

TravMedia distributes travel news to the media

January 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

“Our service provides journalists with the latest breaking press releases from travel companies and organisations worldwide, together with access to images, company profiles and archive releases, PR contacts, online research tools and much more. Additionally, our ‘Journalist Alert’ service allows journalists to advise PRs of all their current needs.”For travel companies, organisations and PR agencies, TravMedia offers the complete communications channel to the key media in your region or throughout the world.”

Jan

13

Book Expo America

January 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

May 29, 2008toJune 1, 2008

BEA 2008 will be at the Los Angeles Convention Center from May 29 - June 1. New for 2008:

  • New Title Bookstore — With over 1500 titles and 1000 authors and publishers — be sure not to miss it!
  • Expanded and comprehensive podcast program including industry events and streaming video. An interactive component to BEA to enhance and expand dissemination beyond the show dates — a BEA without walls!
  • and more….

Jan

10

BookTour.com, Where Audiences and Authors Meet

January 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

“We’re a free online service that connects authors and potential audiences of all sorts, from book groups to civic organizations, from bookstores to corporate events. Authors create their own page (biography, books, tour dates and availability) and any group looking for speakers can find them and contact them directly to arrange for an appearance. Relevant information for both authors and venues can be added in minutes through a simple fill-in-the-blanks interface. Connecting authors with potential audiences then becomes as easy as searching (by geography, book titles, subject, dates of availability) and sending an email.”For authors, BookTour.com serves as a one-stop tool for book promotion, allowing authors at all levels of their careers to locate receptive live audiences. For readers and audiences, BookTour.com makes finding when a favorite author is coming to your town as easy as checking the weather.

Read the full post . . .

Jan

10

Help End World Hunger with FreeRice!

January 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

“WARNING” the site reads. “This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance… ” The oh-so-addictive-and-good-for-you-too vocabulary game works like this:

  • You’re presented with a word.
  • You click on the answer that best defines the word.
  • If you get it right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word.
  • For each word you get right, FreeRice donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
Read the full post . . .

Jan

10

Litquake 2008

January 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

October 3, 2008 6:00 pmtoOctober 11, 2008 6:00 pm

“Pull out those shiny new dayplanners and mark them thus: Litquake 2008 begins on Friday, October 3, with a smashing tribute to another famed Bay Area author at the Herbst Theater. It will steamroll through the week with fabulous events and conclude as always with the Lit Crawl on Saturday, Oct. 11. Start breaking in those walking shoes now!”

Jan

10

Redroom

January 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Thanks to April Orcutt for this link to a SF Chronicle article about Redroom, an intriguing social networking site “where the writers are.” You’ll find Amy Tan’s virgin blog entry there, as well as links to many other writers’ blogs and websites.

Jan

10

Bureau of Communication

January 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Thanks to April Orcutt for sending the link to this clever site that will surely help you move quickly through writers’ block. She reports, “Newsweek said it lets you send “snarky” messages.”

Jan

10

NothingBinding.com: The Place for Independent Authors

January 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

NothingBinding.com is the premier global stage for Independent Authors to promote their books, attract new readers and connect with fellow writers. The gateway for writers to tap into a worldwide audience through audio and video, biography, inspirations and excerpts from their books and from their hearts.

What’s more, readers can discover hidden gems - truly without boundaries - that just are not available at traditional booksellers and other venues. Now finally, unheard voices and untold stories can be shared and heard, savored and enjoyed. NothingBinding unites Authors and Readers everywhere, across the globe. The strength of the independently published book is the great numbers of authors and readers around the world, that log on from near and far to congregate at NothingBinding.com.

Read the full post . . .

Jan

10

“w00t!”

January 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

And the winner of the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year for 2007 is: w00t. What, you say? According to the Merriam-Webster website:

w00t (interjection)
expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word “yay”

Check out the website for the rest of the Top 10.

Reprinted with permission from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

Jan

10

Read it Later

January 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment

If you follow a lot of news and social bookmarking sites you are going to love this Firefox Extension. Have you gone to a site or seen an interesting link and thought you would get back to it later? My usual technique is to open up a ton of tabs and come back to them when I have time. Inevitably I will find I don’t have time, the screen gets too cluttered or the browser crashes. Read it Later allows you to create a reading list so you can come back to read links at your leisure.

Read the full post . . .

Jan

7

Knight-Wallace Fellowships

January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment

February 1, 2008
1:00 pm

“University of Michigan invites applications by February 1, 2008 from journalists in any media with 5 years’ experience to experience a deadline-free eight months as a Knight-Wallace Fellow. $55,000+ stipend. Spouses welcome.” Above info from the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Jan

7

Science Journalism Program Fellowships

January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment

March 1, 2008
1:00 pm

“Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) invites applications for Science Journalism Program Fellowships. Take one of two hands-on courses: biomedical science (in Woods Hole, MA, June 4-14, 2008) or polar science (in Toolik Lake, Alaska, June 29 - July 12, 2008). A limited number of fellows will spend an additional month at Palmer Station, Antarctica. Deadline: March 1, 2008.” Above info from the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Jan

7

Global Climate Change workshop

January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment

February 6, 2008
1:00 pm

“The University of South Florida presents Global Climate Change & Sea-level Rise in Florida: A Conversation Between Scientists and the Media on Feb. 6, 2008, to facilitate the flow of scientific information to the public on the predicted effects of global climate change and the susceptibility of coastal Florida to sea-level rise.” Above info is from the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Jan

7

Western Enterprise Reporting Fellowship

January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment

January 14, 2008
1:00 pm

“Stanford University’s Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West invites applications from professional journalists for the paid Western Enterprise Reporting Fellowships. Fellows are in residence at Stanford for up to two weeks to develop articles and broadcast series on the environment, politics, and culture of the Western U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Deadline: January 14, 2008.” Above is from the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Jan

7

Society of Environmental Journalists

January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) mission is to “advance public understanding of environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy, and visibility of environmental reporting.”Towards that end, SEJ provides critical support to journalists of all media in their efforts to cover complex issues of the environment responsibly. Through combined efforts of board, staff, members, and appropriate partners, SEJ offers unique educational programs and services for working journalists, educators, and students, including annual and regional conferences; daily EJToday news service; quarterly SEJournal; biweekly TipSheet and other publications; SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment; members-only listservs; mentoring program; website-based resources; and a lively membership network of journalists and academics.

Read the full post . . .

Jan

7

SEJ contest deadline

January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment

April 1, 2008
1:00 pm

“The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ)’s annual journalism contest honors outstanding environmental coverage in nine categories, each with a $1,000 prize offered, plus a student category. As well, we are pleased to announce a new book category with a $10,000 prize available. Deadline for SEJ’s seventh annual contest is April 1, 2008.”

Jan

3

SMART goals for 2008

January 3, 2008 | 3 Comments

Setting your writing goals for 2008? Remember that SMART goal-setting requires objectives that are:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • oh gosh; I can’t believe I’ve forgotten the details of this acronym already. Would someone who remembers what the R and T stand for please email me? Thanks!

Anyway, I think the Measurable parameter is the most important. And “more” does not count as a measurement.

  • How many rejections are you going for in for 2008—and how many queries per week or month will you need to send to get there?
Read the full post . . .

Jan

3

Opium6: The Bookmark Contest

January 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

February 8, 2008
12:00 pm

“Write 250 words, win $1,000 and your very own bookmark! Our rotation of oddball contests (Seven Line Stories in Opium4, and 500-Word Memoirs in Opium5) has led to some of the most jaw-dropping, exciting work we’ve read. That leads us to our all-new competition for Opium6’s “Go Green!” issue: The Bookmark Contest judged by Aimee Bender. The deal: write a 250 word story (about anything at all, but make it delightful—in no way does it have to fit our theme), and the winner will earn their spot on the bookmark that will be slotted into every issue of Opium6. Inarguably thrilling!The Deadline: February 8, 2008

Read the full post . . .

Jan

3

50,000 Trees

January 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

C/Net News article by Michael Kanellos Coming soon: A notebook with a terabyte

“Asus, the Taiwanese computer maker, will come out with a notebook that sports two 500GB hard drives from Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. Combined, this will give a fully configured Asus M70 notebook a terabyte of storage.

“Put another way, the notebook will be capable of storing 1,000 hours of video, or more than 350 feature length movies, or 250,000 four-minute songs. That will probably tide you over for even the worst airport layovers. A terabyte also holds about the same amount of data that could be stored on the paper from 50,000 trees.”

Read the full post . . .

Jan

3

World Hum Links

January 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Congratulations to me! The Travel Writers News URL is included on World Hum’s links page, which lists links to Journals and Websites, General Travel Blogs, Destination Focused Travel Blogs, Magazine and Newspaper Travel Sections, Travel Communities, TV/Radio, Offbeat Sites, and Travel Writing Blogs/Resources/Communities.

Jan

3

Integrated Media

January 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The New York Times Frugal Traveler series is a great example of integrated travel writing: articles, video, slideshows, readers’ comments/responses, and even a soundtrack. Good examples for those of us who are looking for new ways to market our work.

Jan

3

Exquisite Safaris

January 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Check out the Exquisite Safaris website, with sections on philanthropic travel, an article about Marc Gold and the 100 Friends Project, thoughtful—and thought provoking—articles about kindness, spiritual activism, and related topics … and beautiful photographs.

“The Exquisite Safaris philanthropic mission integrates a guided visit to a humanitarian outreach project into every private, luxury, epicurean experience we create. These personal introductions create authentic cross cultural friendships that generate trust, respect, and generous donations funding philanthropic travel projects worldwide.”

“If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time but if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
– Indigenous Saying

Jan

3

‘We’ve spent three days hiding in our homes’

January 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

London Times article about the post-election chaos in Kenya is here.

Jan

3

The Trouble With ‘Smile When You’re Lying’

January 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

“Chuck Thompson’s ‘Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer’ slams modern travel writing as mediocre, if not dishonest. Why this is the case is a question he—like many critics—can’t seem to answer, observes Rolf Potts” in this WorldHum article.

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