As a travel writer, you want your stories to be as authentic as possible. The best way to create a realistic piece is to discuss the destination with those around you. Incorporating interviews into your travel writing can provide your readers with tremendous insight that you, as an outsider, cannot. As a writer, your work [...]

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to travel by container ship? Meet someone who did. I must confess that I’ve been a fan of Maria Staal‘s for quite some time. I first discovered Maria through her blog that chronicles her genealogical research into one of her ancestors (who it appears was a saint), and [...]

Imagine that you’re traveling in a foreign country. Like any smart traveler, you’ve stored your most important and valuable items, such as your passport, airline tickets, credit cards, and extra cash or travelers checks, in your hotel room safe. You arrive back at your room after a day of sight-seeing or lounging by the pool [...]

The world of publishing is changing day by day. In the old days, an author whose book was accepted for publication could count on a team of professionals, employed by the publisher, whose jobs were to polish a manuscript into a slick, shelf-ready product. These days, many of the powerhouse publishers have down-sized, and, as [...]

While researching travel writing workshops for my post last week, I came across ACE Camps. ACE Camps features a variety of educational workshops, a couple of which were specific to travel writing, so naturally I included them in my post. I was also very intrigued by their overall concept for workshops — life enrichment-style courses [...]

Many travel bloggers are aware of the benefits of a Blog Network, and may belong to one, or more than one. For those unfamiliar, a Blog Network can be anything from an informal alliance of bloggers (who support each other through commenting, guest blogging, and cross-promotion) to a more structured membership platform that offers additional [...]

Lately I’ve become intrigued by the idea of a creative writing retreat. I’ve been feeling a bit fried creatively. Maybe it’s the mid-winter doldrums. Maybe it’s just having too many projects on my plate at one time. But the thought of getting away and clearing my mind of everything and rediscovering my inspiration sounds more [...]

If you’re wondering what this Case Study is all about, please read the introductory post from Week One. You can browse through all the older installments here.   I promised you a video interview.   And dagnabbit I’m gonna’ give you folks a video interview, even if it’s not oscar-worthy.   At the last minute [...]

Many of you will remember Lisa Lambden from my prior interview with her – she’s the founder and director of the Travel Channel Academy. Lisa has launched an exciting new project – one that every travel writer should pay close attention to – called the “New York Video School“, and she graciously took time out [...]

We have a real treat for you today, dear readers! Yes, I snagged an interview with Susan Farewell (woot!) For those of you newbie travel writers who may not be familiar with Susan, she’s an accomplished and oft-published travel writer and author, a former travel editor and staff writer at The Condé Nast Publications in [...]

If you’re in the Portland Oregon area and listen to KPAM Radio on the weekends, then you may have heard a short interview I did with Pat Boyle. Pat is one of KPAM’s weekday morning anchors who also hosts The Azumano Travel Show, which airs on Saturday mornings with an encore on Sunday mornings. If [...]

On Tuesday I had the privilege of interviewing David Miller, a Senior Editor at Matador and one of the creators (and instructors) of MatadorU, their new Travel Writing Program. In the interview, David opens up about the backgrounds of the team behind MatadorU, discusses the evolution – and future – of travel writing, explains some [...]

Over the weekend I had the great pleasure of interviewing Anthony Bianco, also known as “The Travel Tart“. After a couple of technical glitches on my end and an error calculating the time difference between Arizona and Brisbane, Australia (which I finally worked out using an online time zone converter tool) , I finally got [...]

Here’s a fabulous opportunity for all of you aspiring travel writers out there – the International Food, Wine, and Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA) has announced a Scholarship contest that will award a First Prize as well as two “runner up” prizes, all three of which include a 1 year paid membership to the IFWTWA along [...]

For those that don’t already know, IFWTWA stands for the International Food, Wine, and Travel Writers Association. It is a global network of people involved in the hospitality and lifestyle industries and the writers, bloggers, and journalists who promote them by informing others about them. This past week I had the great pleasure of interviewing [...]