Apr
28
Oddly, the blog associated with OnlineDegrees.net includes some entertaining and instructional resources, like these lists of 100 Creative Ways to Excite and Inspire Young Readers, 100 Essential Cheat Sheets for Doing Business Abroad, and 100 Novels that let you Travel the World without Leaving Home.
Apr
28
Fluent in 3 months
April 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Traveling soon to a country where you don’t speak the language? There are many helpful posts on Benny Lewis’ FluentIn3Months.com, “a how-to guide and story of becoming fluent in any language quickly. After over seven years of travelling and learning languages I have picked up quite a lot of short-cuts, unconventional learning techniques, and a pretty good mentality that has hugely helped me to learn these languages, and earn the title of ‘polyglot’. This site is for sharing these tips so that others may also live their dreams of being able to speak other languages!”
Posts include these:
Apr
28
From Ridiculously Extraordinary by Karol Gajda come these 21 reasons you should quit your day job and travel the world.
Apr
28
Costa Rican cuisine and more from Lenny Karpman
April 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Did you know there are no lemons in Costa Rica? Would you like an authentic recipe for Costa Rican Christmas tamales (which you may eat, by the way, at any time of the year)? Looking for the best restaurants in Costa Rica? Look no further than Lenny Karpman’s new website.
Apr
26
Tim Cahill at San Jose State
April 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
| April 28, 2010 | ||
| 1:00 pm | ||
| 7:00 pm |
Tim Cahill has been a professor (The Lurie Distinguished Visiting Writer) in San Jose State’s creative writing program at this semester. He’ll be speaking at two events, both free and open to the public, on Wednesday, April 28. More info here.
A founding editor of Outside Magazine, Cahill is the author of seven books, including Pass the Butterworms, Pecked to Death by Ducks, Hold the Enlightenment and Lost In My Own Backyard.
A Conversation with Tim Cahill, 1 pm: Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Rm 225-229
Reading and Book Signing, 7 pm: Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Rm 225-229
Apr
26
This article by Randal C. Archibald is on the New York Times site, where it was published on April 23rd. Some travelers have suggested boycotting travel to the state of Arizona in protest of the new law.
“Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed the nation’s toughest bill on illegal immigration into law on Friday. Its aim is to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants…
“The law, which proponents and critics alike said was the broadest and strictest immigration measure in generations, would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Opponents have called it an open invitation for harassment and discrimination against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship status…
Apr
26
Journalism Innovations
April 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
| April 30, 2010 12:00 am | to | May 2, 2010 12:00 am |
Thanks to Linda Jue for sending this announcement:
Journalism isn’t dying, it’s on the cusp of a new era. While the journalism industry is still recovering from the collective shock of mass layoffs, buyouts and closures, there have also been some impressive new ventures to emerge in the last couple years as brilliant reporters, managers, administrators and educators react to the demands of a changing mediascape.
Apr
26
Lisa Alpine’s new book
April 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Lisa Alpine’s collection of short travel stories, Exotic Life: Laughing Rivers, Dancing Drums and Tangled Hearts, is now available for pre-order on her website. Lisa made the book available in multiple formats using Smashwords (for Kindle, Sony Reader, and Palm doc) and Scribd for a free sample preview or a PDF.
Maureen Wheeler blurbed the book: “Curiosity, courage and fierce determination to remain true to her own search for truth, shines brightly and are at the core of each of Lisa Alpine’s stories. To quote Kurt Vonnegut “Strange travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God” – this could be Lisa’s motto as she dances wherever the spirit leads her.” —Maureen Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet Publications
Apr
26
Just Back: Freedom stifled in North Korea
April 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
A colossal mosaic of Kim Il sung and Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang Photo: Alamy
“I once stayed in Kyoto in a hotel that had incontinence pants in the bedside table. I have nibbled on scorpions in a Chinese market, been bitten by a monkey in Rajasthan and was almost arrested in Tutankhamun’s tomb. But in all my travels I had never felt intimidated, controlled or fearful – until I spent a week in the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea.
Apr
26
Travel & Words 2010 Summer Seminar
April 26, 2010 | 2 Comments
| June 26, 2010 | ||
| 8:00 am | to | 6:00 pm |
Save the Date: Saturday, June 26 for Travel & Words 2010 Summer Seminar
Pacific Northwest destinations, attractions, historic sites and all-season recreation are hot topics in travel publishing. In this one day seminar for freelance travel writers, journalists, photographers, editors, and travel and tourism industry professionals, participants will:
Attend workshops and seminars on marketing freelance articles and photography to both print and online publications in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Gain timely information on changes and trends in the freelance writing world, particularly the use of social media in managing and marketing one’s brand and developing income-producing web sites related to travel writing.
Apr
26
3rd grade geography lesson
April 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
“Is Europe a country? Is France? Now, Hungary … never heard of it!” Americans need better geography educations!
Apr
26
Send your book to BEA
April 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
The 2010 BookExpo America New Title Showcase takes place May 25-27 in New York City. Register your Lulu print-on-demand book by May 7th and Lulu will display it physically at their New Title Showcase booth and will also list it, along with your contact details, online and in the printed catalog given to BEA attendees. The cost is $399.
Apr
26
A Thousand and One Words – Find your Writing Setpoint
April 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
| May 29, 2010 | ||
| 10:00 am | to | 6:00 pm |
| June 3, 2010 | ||
| 10:00 am | to | 6:00 pm |
| June 19, 2010 | ||
| 10:00 am | to | 6:00 pm |
Check out this writing workshop with Camille Cusumano, who brings more than 30 years of experience in publishing as researcher, writer, editor, and instructor in a vast array of subject areas including essay, memoir, food, travel, fitness, health, mind/body/spirit, creative non-fiction, fiction, and more.
WRITE WITH CONFIDENCE AND FLAIR
Apr
26
Write and Sell Your Book Now!
April 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
| October 1, 2010 | to | October 6, 2010 |
April 26 update: here’s a link to a video with more info about the writing workshop in Bali.
Robin Sparks is at it again: The Write and Sell Your Book Now! workshop will be in Ubud, Bali from October 1st to 6th, 2010. It is followed by the Ubud Writers Festival. Register for the workshop before April 15 for a $300 discount on the workshop, plus a discount on the festival. Maximum 15 participants.
Apr
6
An Ode to Travel Writing
April 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment
From KQED Forum’s An Ode to Travel Writing: These days, thanks to travel blogs and instantaneous travel guides, just about anyone can be a travel writer. We discuss the history, current state and future of travel writing with people who have made their careers writing about far-off places. What are their thoughts on the craft, and what are their hopes for the genre in years to come?”
Guests:
- Jeff Greenwald, writer, executive director of Ethical Traveler and author of books including “Shopping for Buddhas” and the forthcoming “Snake Lake”
- Lee Azus, owner of Get Lost Travel Books in San Francisco
Apr
6
The Real Americans
April 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Jeff Greenwald, on KQED Forum’s “An Ode to Travel Writing,” recommends Dan Hoyle’s new solo show, The Real Americans, playing at The Marsh through May 30. Rob Hurwitt at the San Francisco Chronicle calls the show, “…impressive, hilarious, moving and provocative…”
Apr
6
Dream Whip No. 14
April 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Also from An Ode to Travel Writing; Dream Whip No. 14 was recommended by a caller: “Bill Brown’s latest ramblings of modern American wanderlust mixes short evocative stories with a romantic, almost eternal longing. Reminiscent of the work of Bill Bryson, David Sedaris, or an episode of ‘This American Life,’ Dream Whip has the amazing ability to mix laugh-out-loud stories with goosebump-inducing spookiness. Here are anecdotes of small towns, landmarks and would-be landmarks, diners with good egg salad, and a cast of unforgettable characters. Bill tells of St. Roch, the patron saint of lost causes, whose church is littered with discarded crutches and prosthetic limbs. He laments, ‘In Austin it was impossible to go on a simple errand without falling in love. Every time I mailed a letter or went to buy a loaf of bread, I’d end up with a broken heart.’ Vividly illustrated in b&w by Brown, whose hand-drawn landscapes are both simple and lonesomely elegant.”
Apr
6
Summer internship at Avalon Travel Acquisitions
April 6, 2010 | 2 Comments
Thanks to Eva Schleshinger for forwarding this 3/31 post from Craig’s List about an internship at Avalon:
Reply to: avalon.internships@perseusbooks.com
Position: Acquisitions Communications Intern
Reports to: Acquisitions Director
Term of internship: one semester (May 17 – Sep 10); apply before April 22nd to be considered for the position
Minimum number of hours: 16 per week
Job summary:
The Avalon Travel Acquisitions department is responsible for finding authors for all Moon-series titles, including Moon Handbooks, Moon Outdoors, and Moon Living Abroad. Acquisitions also organizes the future publishing program.
Apr
6
| June 18, 2010 |
April 6 addendum: thanks to Constance Hale for pointing out that “The first 40 people to register get a one-on-one meeting with an editor, so it’s a good idea to register early.”
March 29 addendum: Here’s the link we’ve been waiting for: freelance.stanford.edu. Registration opens April 9th for ASJA members and Knight Fellows, and April 16th for other experienced journalists.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Thanks to Connie Hale for forwarding this information about an upcoming class at Stanford: June 18-19, 2010 ~Â Stanford University
Sponsored by The Knight Fellowships and the American Society for Journalists and Authors
Mar
29
Smartphones and the Future of Photo Publishing
March 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment
| April 13, 2010 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 9:00 pm |
You know you need to go: The Northern California chapter of the Society of American Media Photographers (ASMP) presents: Smartphones and the Future of Photo Publishing.
“If you thought the personal computer revolution of the 1980s and the Internet revolution of the 1990s were big, well, they were. But a new revolution merging the best features of personal computing, instant anywhere, anytime communication, and carry-everywhere portability promises to dwarf them both.
Mar
29
| April 1, 2010 | ||
| 12:00 am |
REMINDER: Are your entries ready for the 26th Annual SATW Foundation Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition? The deadline is approaching (April 1), and details are posted on the SATW website.
Mar
22
Mikel Essery Travel Writing Contest 2010
March 22, 2010 | 1 Comment
| April 30, 2010 |
The Mikel Essery Travel Writing Contest has an interesting story; check out their website. And here’s an open invitation for the travel writing contest. Get your submission in before May 1st.
“We are sending you this sincere invitation to take a look and contribute to the difussion of the Second Mikel Essery Travel Writing Contest 2010 that we want to turn into a cozy, hospitable and truthful place for writers and travelers.
“So far we have successfully completed the first, 2009 edition, and we have received words of encouragement from most of the participants. The winner in this first edition has been the Santa Fe based writer JANN HUIZENGA with the piece KEEPER OF THE KEYS, who has won a 16 day Trip to Costa Rica. Other prizes,
Feb
16
Gold Rush Writers Conference
February 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment
| April 30, 2010 | to | May 2, 2010 |
The fifth annual Gold Rush Writers Conference will be held  April 30, May 1 and 2 in picturesque Mokelumne Hill, the Sierra town that time forgot. The event, which includes your choice of 16 workshops, plus readings, talks, a picnic supper in a Victorian garden, lunch and dinner in a Gold Rush hotel, and a poolside brunch, is priced at just $145 — if you sign up before March 30.
Genres and topics covered include mystery, memoir, historical fiction, mainstream fiction, non fiction, poetry, short story, plus the basic tools of digital research, media marketing, plot, dialogue and point of view.