Photo courtesy of Abbie Mood

Since then, dozens of aspiring travel writers have joined the course, working through the curriculum at their own pace and enjoying the conversation with other students and the Matador editorial team.

One of those students is Abbie Mood, who has also been a member of the Matador Travel community for about six months. Abbie registered for Matador U two weeks ago, and says, “I already feel like I’ve gained so much! Besides the chapters being really informative and interesting, being able to connect to and share feedback with editors and other writers has been amazing.”

Abbie has taken full advantage of Matador U’s features, including the Market Leads board, which provides students with exclusive listings of online and print opportunities for publishing their work. In fact, Abbie has already landed a writing gig through the market leads; she learned this week that she has been hired as Planet Eye’s local expert blogger for Orange County, California. “I’m very excited,” she says, “because this is my first official writing gig!”

Abbie has lived in Orange County for just over four years and will be using her experience to inform her postings for Planet Eye about what’s going on in Orange County. Some of her favorite places there are El Moro Canyon/Crystal Cove State Park to trail run (”There is a beautiful view of the ocean, and the trails kick my butt!”), Main Street on Huntington Beach to bar hop and people watch, and the Irvine Spectrum in Irvine for shopping!

Though it will be a few more days before her local expert page is active, you can check out the site and other cities’ local experts–including Matador’s own Twitter Ninja and Edinburgh local expert, Andy Hayes–at www.planeteyetraveler.com.

Community Connection:

Abbie isn’t the only Matador U student who has landed a writing contract since entering the travel writing program. Over the next few days, we’ll be profiling other students who have found gigs through the Market Leads board.

Interested in joining the U? Learn all about it here. And keep your eyes on that page– over the next few months, Matador will be introducing other courses, too!

Matt Kepnes, happy about new friend.

We were stoked last week when Matador contributor Matt Kepnes, aka Nomadic Matt, sent us a copy of his first travel ebook.

In Matt’s own words, his ebook “teaches people some basic coding and what to think about when creating a travel site. The real meat of the ebook are the sections on SEO and how to make money with your blog. I go through the whole process and where to find advertisers.”

I read through the book and found the information to be laid out in a very easy to follow, step by step kind of way that draws directly on Matt’s own experience over the last year, as he’s gone from someone without a travel blog to someone able to sustain himself on ad revenue generated via his site NomadicMatt.com.

After reading the ebook I realized that even though I felt like I “knew” Matt, especially after working with him on several of his classic stories on Matador (such as Top 20 Craziest Party Hostels around the World), there were still several basic things about Matt I wanted to know for this article.

Where are you from? What’s your age / background?

Born and raised in Boston, I have a background in teaching and business but abandoned both to follow my dream of endless travel. I’m 27.

How long have you been with Matador?

Since April 2007 (you guys gave me my big break!).

How long since you started your own site?

February 2007.

How many pageviews do you get?

350,000 per month (not bad, huh?).

Where do you work from?

My laptop.

Where are you right now?

Bangkok, Thailand.

Where are you going next?

Scotland for my birthday! (June 12th!).

What’s the ‘big vision’ for the next 3-5 years?

Finish seeing every continent, getting to the World Cup in 2010, and moving to Europe (Paris or Amsterdam).

Anything special you want readers to know about the ebook?

This book is designed to help those with blogs make an even bigger and better blog and make some money off of it. Many people get discouraged that they put so much work in but see such a little return. The book is here to help you put in less work and get bigger returns by avoiding common mistakes.

Community Connection

You can connect with Matt either via his website or friend him up at Matador.

Photo: swimparallel

The UK-based Bradt Travel Guides has announced a travel writing competition open to all writers over the age of 18.

Applicants can submit a well-written 800 word essay responding to the contest theme, “Destination Unknown,” in one of two categories: unpublished travel writer or published travel writer.

A first-place winner will be awarded a trip for two to Colombia. In addition, his or her winning essay will be published in The Independent on Sunday, a newspaper that will also grant the winning writer a commission.

A second winner will be awarded a travel writing course in Spain, courtesy of contest partner, Travellers’ Tales.

Full details can be found here.

For all the aspiring and working travel writers out there: our friends over at BootsnAll have just launched two new paid travel writing outlets.

BootsnAll feature articles will pay $50 — here’s the skinny:

…Your article should potentially appeal to a wide audience, rather than just those interested in going to a particular destination. They also need to be visually appealing, so we need to be able to use photos throughout in order to help tell the story in the text.

We are also interested in new and creative list articles as well as what we call Photo Features where the collection of images itself is the star of the show. There are unlimited ways of being creative, even with lists, so pitch us your best ideas and we’ll tell you what we think.

Meanwhile, BootsnAll expert travel articles will fetch $30. Details:

Expert Articles need to be about something that other travelers are already researching. We will include these articles in our Traveler’s Toolkit, so the audience will have a chance to find them over time…

We appreciate creativity on these, so don’t hold back. If you know a particular aspect of travel very well, chances are your knowledge will really help others out there. We can’t use topics that are widely covered elsewhere (like tips on packing light, for example), but we are open to hearing any ideas.

Check out the complete guidelines, and get writing!

Photo by Advanced Source Productions (Creative Commons)

Of course you do.

Which is why our friends at Wend Magazine are offering a one-year digital subscription, which includes access to their adventurous archives, for the obscenely low price of $5.

You can’t even get a coffee and a muffin at Starbucks for five bucks!

Go ahead. Sign up now. That is all.

Photo by donjd2 (Creative Commons)

Photo by Del Far (Creative Commons)

Just about everywhere, it turns out.

And I don’t just mean every corner of the physical world, either — they can be spun out of even the most unexpected moments, thoughts and connections in our own lives.

Case in point: last night I attended a reading featuring several contributors to The Best Travel Writing 2009, the latest in the popular series of Travelers’ Tales anthologies.

The readers — Jill Paris, Peter Wortsman, and Matador member David Farley — all shared their contributions to the book, and guess what?

None of them had to journey to the ends of the earth to find a compelling travel story.

From shopping for traditional Austrian attire, to a less-than-wild expat unexpectedly finding his inner cowboy through the expectations of his French in-laws, and even to a long walk in Italy bringing the writer back to his childhood “special ed” classes, each story stemmed from wholly individual experiences and insights.

None required major external drama — a coup, or a near-miss on a mountaineering expedition, say — to function as free-standing narratives.

It was a great reminder — for me and other aspiring writers — that when we’re in search of our next story, we shouldn’t forget to look inward, too.

Got a story to tell? Check out the submission guidelines for Travelers’ Tales, and don’t forget about our own Notes from the Road submissions call, too!

And hey, while we’re at it, take a look at My Chinese Clown, one of my favorite travel stories Matador has ever published.

Looking for some quality travel writing to stir up your wanderlust?

Check out the winners and runners up in this year’s Narrative Travel Writing Contest from our friends over at Transitions Abroad.

The big winner, Ancient Wonders and Desert Hallucinations, is a Libyan travelogue — accompanied by some fantastic photographs — that’s sure to get you thinking about a visit to the formerly taboo African nation.

If you’re a writer yourself, consider entering the 2010 competition!

First prize is $500 and publication on Transitions Abroad. Stories running from 1000 to 3000 words are eligible — the complete guidelines are at the bottom of this page.

And don’t forget, too, if you’ve got some shorter travel stories to tell, that we’re now soliciting 400-800 word pieces for our Notes from the Road series!

Photo by crucially (Creative Commons)

Blogger Scarlett Lion recently offered up some really thoughtful, motivational tips on becoming a correspondent in Africa.

She knows a thing or two about it, too: she’s been writing, snapping photos and blogging from Africa since 2006. Beyond her personal blog, Scarlett Lion (whose real name is Glenna Gordon) also blogs for critically acclaimed Canadian mag, The Walrus.

The whole Google document is worth a read — it covers local internships, wire service work, and freelancing, and then adds some more general thoughts.

I’ll quote a couple of those last thoughts here:

I truly believe journalism is a battle of attrition. I’ve been around for a few years, so I’ve got experience, and I’ve gotten better at what I do. I work hard and consistently. I work every day, regardless of whether or not I have an assignment. I read widely, google a lot, look at as many photos as my internet connection will allow, and think about my work and how to get better at it.

Google, and you shall find. Get in the habit of googling everyone and everything and you’ll learn about things you didn’t think you even needed to know.

Filing on time is more important than spending extra time to make something perfect. It can never be perfect, but it can be on time.

Well, what are you waiting for? These tips are applicable well beyond Africa. Read Glenna’s thoughts, and then get going!

Looking for more exciting ways to earn your living on the road? Check out Matador’s archive on some of the world’s best travel and adventure jobs, and how to land them.

Photo by DanieVDM (Creative Commons)

Literary agent Nathan Bransford recently held a contest on his blog, seeking the best first paragraph he could find.

He’s just announced the winner — and, along with the announcement, he’s offered some feedback on what makes a good first paragraph, and what makes a bad one.

The advice is aimed at fiction writers, but (as is so often the case with writing advice!) it’s equally applicable to narrative nonfiction, including travel writing.

Here are Bransford’s three first-paragraph patterns to avoid:

1) Surprising sentence.

Well, not the surprising sentence per se, but rather the surprising sentence is made more complicated by the fact that it is followed, in fits and starts, by conversational prose that, in its casualness, contrasts with the shocking statement and sets a breezy tone despite the shocking statement. That is, until the reversal.

2) Small, finely rendered observation.

This is followed by the particular shape of the moon or the wisps of grass and the particular temperature that still night or perfect sunset that lulls us into a sense of place and setting. And then we linger in that scene still longer to see one more even more finely rendered detail, and still another, leading us to the very thing the author seeks. That is, until the shocking statement.

3) The tough protagonist shudders against whatever bad weather they are enduring.

They check their timepiece, or weapon, and go back to the task at hand. Pithy comment. It’s not easy being the tough protagonist.

Sound familiar? Yeah, we’ve all been there.

Thanks to Nathan Bransford for the friendly reminder!

[Via The Book Bench]

Photo by mezone (Creative Commons)

It’s that time of year again.

Rolf Potts’ Vagablogging.net is seeking two new writers to contribute a couple of posts per week, on anything and everything vagabond-related!

The site doesn’t pay, but it’s a great platform for aspiring travel writers, with plenty of exposure and lots of opportunities to make contacts.

I’m actually one of the writers being replaced — I’ve been writing for the site for about 15 months now, and am ready to pass the reins. I’d be thrilled to see another Matador member on the blog, so please, check out the full application details and think about applying!

Writing for free is a bit of a controversial issue in travel blogging circles: for more, check out my post on Vagabondish, Writing For Free: Is It Worth It?, the debate over at Written Road that prompted my response, and a more recent post from Matador member Christine Gilbert, Want to be a Travel Writer? Don’t Write for Free.

Also, be sure to check out my recent interview, Rolf Potts: On His New Book, “Letting It Flow”, and the Stories That Never Got Written.

Photo by morbuto (Creative Commons)

Our friends over at Wend Magazine are putting on a fun new writing competition: the Traveling by Alternative Transportation Essay Contest.

Got a story about an unusual mode of transport?

Almost anything goes — Wend notes that they’ll accept stories about “anything that doesn’t require fossil fuels to run” — so think back over your travels, dig up your best stories, and get writing!

Maximum length is 1000 words. The prize is a customized TimBuk2 bag, along with some other cool goodies. Essays are due to contest[at]wendmag[dot]com by January 23.

C’mon, Matador community! I know we’ve got a lot of great stories between us: send ‘em in and let’s take home the prize!

And hey, without giving too much away, why not drop us a comment about your wackiest form of transport ever?

Mine’s a toss-up between a camel safari in India, and my two summers as a part-time rickshaw runner here in Ottawa.

Photo by travlinman43 (Creative Commons)

Stephanie Nolen, the Globe and Mail’s one-woman African bureau, is one of my favourite journalists — heck, one of my favourite writers in any genre. For the past five years, I’ve been following her stories from the Congo, from Rwanda, from Mali, and from her base in Johannesburg, South Africa.

So I was saddened today to read that she’s leaving Africa, and instead moving to a new Globe India bureau in New Delhi. India will be lucky to have her, and I’ll look forward to her dispatches, but I can’t help but be sorry that South Africa is losing such a powerful voice.

The Globe and Mail has just posted Nolen’s final thoughts from Jo’burg, and a few of my favourite passages are below.

I’ve quoted at length because Nolen’s excellent farewell essay is likely to be behind a subscriber wall pretty soon. If you do get a chance to read the whole thing, though, please do so!

On the crush of foreign press outside the Taj Hotel during the Mumbai attacks:

In five years as this newspaper’s Africa correspondent, I found myself in such a crush of reporters just three times — at the 10th anniversary of Rwanda’s genocide, the controversial 2005 elections in Zimbabwe and the ousting of South African president Thabo Mbeki as head of the African National Congress a year ago. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, I was alone.

Even on really big stories — like the start of the latest war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which 350,000 people have fled their homes — there was exactly one other foreign correspondent with me at the front line.

On the recent outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa:

Five years slipped by. Then one day this past May, I found myself in the township of Ramaphosa, just a 20-minute drive from my house, looking at a charred, smouldering heap of ash where a mob of South Africans had beaten a man to the ground and then burned him alive hours before, because he was a foreigner…

This was the kind of story I covered in other countries — Congo, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe. Not here. Jo’burg was the place I came home to, the place that kept me hopeful. How could this be happening?

Photo by thomas_sly (Creative Commons)

And on the post-election violence in Kenya:

There was no shortage of reasons to despair. A few months earlier, I had been in Kenya — lovely, peaceful, stable Kenya, another country that usually offered respite. But this time Kenya was the story: Frustration at a rigged election ignited decades-old anger over land rights and political marginalization.

Soon, 1,300 people were dead, most of them killed with machetes or bows and arrows, and 350,000 were homeless, including a woman I interviewed who was in early labour and sheltering in a horse stall in an old fair ground. Again, I had that sense of being in a familiar, well-loved place I could no longer recognize.

On the lack of change in some countries:

When I began to plan the last trips I would take in Africa, the World Food Program was urging me to go to Ethiopia, where 12 million people are now critically short of food. There is a risk of a famine on the scale of the infamous starvation of 1984, the LiveAid famine, when a million people died. But I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t go to Ethiopia for a fourth time and write about incipient famine — not again.

On positive change, and one of the first South African AIDS activists she ever interviewed:

The first time I interviewed Zackie, he was charming and helpful, but chalky and sweaty; he moved with a sort of trepidation, as if he had ground glass in his shoes. He had not long to live. But a few months after I moved to Jo’burg, he won: Drug companies slashed prices of AIDS medications for Africa. The government announced that it would provide treatment free in public hospitals. And Zackie took his first handful of antiretroviral pills.

I remember writing the last words in that first article, the electric, unexpected happy ending — and I remember the conversation I had the next day with my friend Sisonke Msimang, an AIDS activist, about the government’s backtrack announcement. She said, “This country always comes right in the end.”

Photo by Mara 1 (Creative Commons)

On good news and bad news:

I realized that in my bleaker moments, I was doing what I often chided others for — seeing Africa as an unchanging disaster and not realizing that between this coup or that rebel insurgency, change was happening — sometimes almost imperceptibly slowly, but definitely, defiantly happening.

I started this job well aware of the preponderance of negative coverage of Africa in the Western media. When I arrived in Jo’burg, I had to face the suspicion of African journalists who were sure I was there to serve up more bad news based on a limited understanding of the place. So I was determined to tell the good news, as often as I could, even if famines and mass rape did demand my frequent attention.

On what she’ll take with her after five years in Africa:

I take other things away from Africa, such as patience — there’s nothing like the Nigerian Ministry of Information to teach you patience.

I also found a greater capacity for rage, although my partner Meril gently points out that mine was already considerable. It drove me nearly mad to spend weeks in the depopulated villages of Swaziland or barren clinics of Malawi and then fly home to Canada on a rare visit and find that no one knew or cared that the people I had just spent time with were going to die, for no reason other than that they were African.

Many died. But others got well. Ibrahim Umoru, a Nigerian AIDS activist whose bean-pole legs were covered in scabs and scars when I met him four years ago, e-mailed me pictures of his brand-new baby this week.

I leave Africa knowing how little I know about what’s possible.

You can find several of Stephanie Nolen’s African dispatches on her website. Stay tuned for her reports from India, in the Globe and Mail beginning next month.

Before you ask: yes, I’ve already grasped the irony of raising this subject on a blog.

Anyway, irony aside, I’ve been noticing different threads of a similar conversation in several articles around the web, and they all boil down to this question: Can a writer blog, tweet, digg, vlog, tumbl, and whatever else – and still get down to the actual business of writing, too, with the same effectiveness?

We all know social media can be a great networking tool: it helps us make contacts, collaborate with other writers, set up meetings, and even land gigs.

But what about the impact of the ever-growing social media in our lives on the purely literary side of our efforts?

Over at the Poetry Foundation’s online journal, Adam Kirsch writes:

The Internet has democratized the means of self-expression, but it has not democratized the rewards of self-expression. Now everyone can assert a claim to recognition—in a blog, Tumblog, Facebook status update. But the amount of recognition available in the world is inexorably shrinking, since each passing generation leaves behind more writers with a claim on our memory. That is why the fight for recognition is so fierce and so personal…

If that is the case, then the best strategy for writers in the age of the Internet may be to ignore the Internet and look down on it. If print is a luxury, make it a rare and exclusive one; if literature is antidemocratic, revel in its injustice. Make sure that the reward of recognition goes to the most beautiful and difficult writing, not to the loudest and neediest.

Responding to Kirsch on the VQR blog, Jacob Silverman agrees:

I would recommend that writers avoid the internet (for few can skip over it entirely, except for someone living off the grid like Carolyn Chute or a member of the established old guard, perhaps no better personified than in the quasi-prophetic voice of Cormac McCarthy, calling from a mountaintop) not because by immersing themselves in the Web they meet their critics on their own ground, becoming caught in the same muck they ostensibly hold themselves above, but because more than anything, such activities are simply a waste of time….

[B]efore one works one’s way out, how many hours are wasted? How much stress and emotional concern and how many thousands of words devoted to, say, a litblog vs. lit mag showdown that concerns no one beyond the immediate participants and their friends?

In a separate thread at Poets & Writers, Frank Bures has also been pondering the impact of all this digital communication on writing.

“As a writer, I have always strived to carve out this place where I can think my own thoughts, where I can let all that’s rolling around in my mind congeal into something (hopefully) new and interesting,” Bures writes.

But if that was difficult to do two decades ago… it’s a million times more difficult now. Today, it seems that we have access to an unlimited amount of information all the time, and for those of us who want to be alone with our thoughts, that information is getting harder and harder to avoid.

…What does all this mean for writers? It means that from the comfort of our own chairs we can research the hell out of whatever we’re writing, while keeping up on the latest celebrity scandals, political polls, and the flood of e-mail. But a growing body of research shows that we pay a price for this constant stream of information.

And that price, according to Bures and some of the writers he interviewed (including a favourite travel writer of mine, Tom Bissell)?

Flow.

Obviously I’m hardly anti-blog (please see above-noted irony) but I do think there’s something to all this. If I’m working on a longer piece – a personal essay, say – I always close my email, all my browser windows, sometimes I even unplug the high speed entirely.

I only do that rarely, though, under special circumstances. The rest of the time I bounce between Word, Google Docs, Twitter, email, and an assortment of blogging platforms.

Does my writing suffer as a result? Does yours?

Photo by sindesign (Creative Commons)

The good bloggers over at Frommers would like to remind all of us aspiring travel writer types about the upcoming Key West Travel Writing Workshop.

There’s still time to sign up for the workshop, which actually takes place twice: first, from January 30 to February 1, and again from February 6 to 8. The cost is $275.

Sounds like a good excuse to head south, right?

I’m a big fan of writing classes and workshops: I don’t believe that writing can be “taught”, exactly, but I do think that for some writers, a little bit of structure and motivation — not to mention new perspectives from both instructors and classmates — can go a long way.

A year or so ago, I wrote about my experience at the Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference for Brave New Traveler: check out 9 Things I Learned About Travel Writing at Book Passage.

Photo by jiashiang (Creative Commons)

Matador’s own Tim Patterson popped up in an interview on Written Road this week — you can read it here — and the discussion (with another Matador member, Anna Brones) got me thinking about all the great interviews out there on the interwebs.

About a year and a half ago now, when I had just come home and started working an office job that I hoped would pay my way into the world of travel writing, I spent a lot of time cruising the net and trying to figure out the “secret” to making it.

I read a lot of interviews with writers in that time, and while I eventually realized that there is no “secret”, I did learn an awful lot.

So, to accompany Tim’s excellent interview, here are a few more favourites:

Pico Iyer: On Travel and Travel Writing — This in-depth interview with Iyer, from World Hum, is jammed full of useful insights and fascinating biographical bits and pieces.

In this May 2006 installment of Rolf Potts’ monthly travel writing interviews, San Francisco Chronicle travel editor John Flinn is as helpful and funny as always.

David Miller’s interview with Outside Magazine’s Eric Hansen always stuck with me for, among other things, Hansen’s anecdotes about looking for one story, and finding another, in Italy.

Tim Patterson’s interview with Perceptive Travel editor Tim Leffel, over at Brave New Traveler, is another one that stayed with me, for its blunt take on the differences between alternative, online travel writing and mainstream print publications.

Read up when you get the chance, and for more interview fun, check out the World Hum Q&A archive, the Written Road interview archive, the Rolf Potts Writers archive, and the BNT interview archive.

And after you’re done all that reading, make with the writing already!

Photo by rachel_thecat (Creative Commons)

The excellent Wend Magazine has just introduced a new online section called iWend, which will – among other things – feature a series of “Postcard” pieces.

iWend’s Postcards will each consist of a single, compelling travel photo with an accompanying narrative of no more than 600 words.

The Postcards will be unpaid, but especially for newer writers they could be a great way to gain some exposure and get your name on Wend’s editorial radar.

Full details from Wend associate editor (and Matador member!) Anna Brones here.

Interested in writing other pieces for Wend, too? Check out the complete submission guidelines.

Not familiar with Wend yet? Does “literate adventure travel” sound like your thing? Matador’s thrilled to offer a special subscription offer for our readers.

Subscribe now, and enter the promotional code matador08 at the end of the online sign-up, and you’ll get a one-year subscription for $21.

Not only that, but a portion of that money will come back around to Matador — so you’ll be supporting your friendly neighborhood travelers’ network, too!

Photo by frozenchipmunk (Creative Commons)

HarperCollins recently introduced a new way for prospective authors to get their books noticed, and it’s way Web 2.0.

Authonomy.com lets you upload your manuscript (or partial manuscript – at least 10,000 words must be uploaded), where it’s available to be read by editors, publishers, agents, and your writing peers – as well as anyone else who feels like checking out the site.

Visitors to the site then rank their favourites, and once a month the top 5 books get sent to a team of HarperCollins commissioning editors for consideration.

The idea is to “beat the slush pile,” but reaction to the initiative has been mixed.

Written Road thinks Authonomy represents an exciting opportunity:

Your uploaded travel book or books will be sitting on the doorstep of one the world’s largest publishers. Your work is also ripe for discovery by talent scouting agents, not to mention other publishing houses that may dip into the site from time to time spotting the next best thing for their list before HarperCollins themselves get to it.

The Guardian’s books blog, on the other hand, takes a more cynical view:

I remain unsure whether this really provides a great service for writers or whether it will level the playing field. I imagine that the hearts of those behind Authonomy are in the right place, but it’s hard to ignore the suspicion that what they are really doing is outsourcing the unlovely task of sluicing through the slush pile. Of course, outsourcing is totally within publishers’ (and agents’) rights. Reading and responding to the slush pile doesn’t generally make them any money, with the cost of the time spent most likely outweighing any profit made from finding a very, very occasional diamond amongst all the rough.

Being realistic, I think Authonomy may end up being a nice polite way for the publishers to say that they’re not accepting unsolicited submissions anymore. If the launch goes well, I’d wager that anyone asking about submissions will be directed to hit the site, keeping editors’ (and editorial assistants’) desks clear for them to get on with the books agents have sent them, the ones they are genuinely interested in.

As for me, of course I love the idea of being able to cut straight through the hassle and have my (imaginary) book manuscript voted right on to an editor’s desk.

But I’ve also always figured that if you’ve got the skills and the right idea, you’ll be able to find yourself an agent – and that agent will find you a publisher.

The thing is, short-cuts rarely work, especially when the voting public is involved.

How many American Idols have managed to put together award-winning, lasting music careers? How many Top Model winners have actually become, well, top models?

And, I wonder, how many Authonomy.com manuscripts are ever going to hit the New York Times bestseller list, or even get published?

Call me jaded, but this strikes me as more false hope than legit opportunity.

That being said, I’ll be thrilled for the lucky writer who proves me wrong.

What do you think?

Photo by gadl (Creative Commons)

Since then, he’s been published in the travel world’s most respected publications, racked up awards and appearances in the annual Best American Travel Writing anthologies, and produced a book – Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to The Art of Long-Term World Travel – that has inspired countless readers to make more time for travel.

Now, Rolf’s second book, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer, has just been released.

To celebrate, he’s put together a virtual book tour (alongside a physical one), and today’s tour stop is none other than Matador Pulse!

We’re thrilled to have Rolf Potts here to talk about being a travel writer vs. just being a writer, some adventures that haven’t made it to publication yet, and his plans for the future.

Matador Pulse: Established writers often seem keen to warn newcomers off travel writing, pointing out that it’s not the “dream job” the aspiring writer imagines.

Some, like Chuck Thompson, paint a pretty grim picture of the industry. Others – Paul Theroux for instance – emphasize that they are simply writers, not “travel writers.”

What about you? Any urge to dissociate yourself from the “travel writer” label any time soon?

Rolf Potts: Travel writing is definitely not the “dream job” fantasy that so many people envision it to be. I touch on this a bit in my new book — particularly in the endnotes — and for years I’ve been trying to promote a more practical and realistic view of the genre through the “Writers” section of my website, which includes Q&As with nearly 100 working travel writers.

As for me, I sometimes call myself a travel writer, and other times just a writer, since I write on non-travel topics for outlets like The Believer and the New York Times Magazine. I’m sure Theroux calls himself a “writer” for the same reason, and in this way it’s more a matter of descriptive accuracy than distaste for the genre.

I find no embarrassment at the term “travel writer,” but some established writers feel the genre is too closely associated with subsidized “press trips” and brainless destination writing. This is not a new sentiment.

As Jason Wilson noted in a 2000 Salon article called “Trip Lit,” travel writing has been regarded as a lesser genre going back to the 19th century, when writers like Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote travel books less as a serious literary pursuit than an easy way to augment their income.

As you mentioned in your World Hum Q&A last week, there are two sides to travel writing: the more artistic, literary stories, and the consumer pieces.

I think most new writers aspire to end up on the literary side of things eventually – but realistically, the consumer content is much easier to a) produce and b) sell.

I know you plunged right into essay writing back in your Salon days and have hardly looked back, but for the rest of us, any thoughts on bridging that divide?

Is it a matter of choosing one or the other, or is there a way to strike a balance between selling Top 5 lists for a living and cultivating our inner essayists?

I don’t think you have to choose one or the other. Even though I was publishing literary essays early in my career, I’ve still done a fair amount of consumer writing over the years. Since consumer writing pays comparatively well, I regard service items and destination articles as a kind of “day job” that helps support my more serious writing.

I intentionally included one of these consumer articles (a story about Grenada) in my new book so I could use the chapter endnotes to comment on the limitations of pre-assigned destination stories, the ethical challenges of press-trips, and the idiosyncrasies of working with photographers.

So for those who are just starting out, I’d recommend developing your literary chops even as you research and sell consumer articles. Researching superficial service articles needn’t compromise your ability to write about richer human themes someday down the line.

Marco Polo Didn’t Go There has an unusual feature: a commentary track accompanying the essays, that reveals “the ragged edges behind the experience and creation of each tale.”

I was impressed by the self-awareness you must have when you write, to have been able to produce that commentary.

Do you think that being conscious of your artistic decisions when writing – as opposed to just letting it flow – is an important part of good story construction?

Would you advise new writers to strive for that sort of awareness?

All the chapter endnotes were written well after the essays themselves, which means none of the stories were written with a “commentary track” in mind. I reassembled the endnote information retrospectively, using spare notes and memories of the experiences in question.

It’s interesting that you mention “letting it flow,” since it’s never that simple for me. Even when my writing is flowing, it’s doing so in the context of a deliberately structured narrative. Beginning writers sometimes forget about the importance of structure — I know I did when I was starting out.

George Orwell admitted that his most effortless-sounding prose was actually the result of painstaking effort. This applies to many writers, including me — and the passages of mine that seem to flow down the page didn’t necessarily flow that way onto the page.

In this new book, and in your whole body of work, readers get an up-close look at your travel highs and lows, personal moments and misadventures. But I’m wondering about the stories that never got written.

Have you had any especially memorable travel experiences that you’ve tried to write about – and been unable to do so?

Yes, definitely. I’ve been going to Latin America every winter for the past three years — largely in an attempt to learn how to dance — and I am currently at a loss for how to write about this increasingly quixotic endeavor.

Eight years ago I walked across Israel just a few weeks before the latest intifada — and I’m still trying to figure out ways to make this bucolic stroll sound relevant in the context of a post-9/11 world. The next year I rode a bicycle down Burma’s Irrawaddy valley, and to date I’ve only published snippets of that experience.

I’m just optimistic enough to think I’ll find a way to get all these adventures down on paper someday. Chapter 11 of my new book, which describes my attempt to track down a friend in Thailand who may or may not have been dead, was written in this way: For years I was too close to the experience emotionally, so I didn’t make it into a story until four years after it happened.

Finally, I know you’ve just wrapped up this book – and have a North American tour coming up – but looking ahead, are there any more large-scale projects on the horizon?

There are lots of possibilities, though I have yet to settle on a single one. I have an idea for a travel book set in North America, as well as a memoir set in the 1990s. I’ve been exploring some documentary television opportunities as well. And one of these days I should probably get back down the South America and learn how to dance properly.

But right now I’m just looking forward to coming back to Kansas in December and unwinding for a few weeks. I’ve literally been on the go since May, and the pace of all my recent projects has been more urgent and micromanaged than I’d prefer. So my first big task will be to rest on the prairie for a while, read my way through a stack of books, spend the holidays with my family, and try to figure out my next big journey.

We’ll look forward to reading about it. Thanks, Rolf!

You can follow the rest of Rolf Potts’ virtual book tour online, or see him in person at one of 20 cities nationwide as he celebrates the release of Marco Polo Didn’t Go There (Travelers’ Tales, 2008).  We encourage you to ask for the book at your favorite local bookstore or Amazon.com, and follow Rolf’s tour diary at Gadling starting Sept 29th.  Tomorrow’s virtual book tour stop will be at Brave New Traveler. To read Friday’s tour stop, go to The Lost Girls.

If you’re in the NYC area and a fan of Matt Gross, the New York Times “Frugal Traveler” columnist, you’re in luck.

He’ll be speaking about his recent Grand Tour at Idlewild Books on September 18th (yep, that’s tomorrow) and again at the New York Historical Society on September 23rd.

Details below. If you’re able, check one or both of these out!

First up: A talk at Idlewild Books about the Grand Tour, literary travel, frugal travel and so on.
• Thursday, September 18 at 7 p.m.
Idlewild Books
12 W. 19th St., near 5th Ave
(212) 414-8888
Admission: Free (includes wine & cheese after the talk!)
See idlewildbooks.com for more details.

Next: The evolution of the Grand Tour, at the New-York Historical Society.
• Tuesday, September 23 at 6:30 p.m.
The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West, at 77th Street
Admission: members, $10; non-members, $18 (includes wine & cheese after the talk!)
See nyhistory.org for more details.

Photo by kennymatic (Creative Commons)

Dates are still tentative, and more locations (possibly including Montreal, San Diego, Baltimore and DC) could also still be added. Here’s the schedule thus far:

KANSAS

* Thursday, September 18th, Salina, 7:00pm, Salina Public Library

* Friday, September 19th, Wichita, 7:00pm, Watermark Books

* Saturday, September 20th, Salina, 1:00pm – 3:00pm, Waldenbooks

* Monday, September 22nd, Manhattan, 1:20pm – 2:30pm, Kansas State University

* Tuesday, September 23rd, Topeka, 7:00pm, Washburn University

* Wednesday, September 24th, Kansas City, Noon – 1:00pm, Johnson County CC

* Saturday, September 27th, Lawrence, 2:00pm – 3:00pm, River City Reading Festival

CHICAGO

* Wednesday, October 1st, Chicago, 7:30pm, Bookslut reading series

* Thursday, October 2nd, Chicago, 7:00pm, Book Cellar

NEW ORLEANS

* Tuesday, October 7th, New Orleans, 5:00pm, Garden District Book Shop

* Wednesday, October 8th, New Orleans, 7:30pm, Loyola University

MINNEAPOLIS

* Saturday, October 11th, Minneapolis, 10:00am -5:00pm, Twin Cities Book Festival

* Monday, October 13th, St. Paul, 7:30pm, Common Good Books

NEW YORK and NEW JERSEY

* Monday, October 20th, Manhattan, 7:00pm, The Half King

* Tuesday, October 21st, Manhattan, 7:00pm, Book Culture

* Wednesday, October 22nd, Camden, NJ (near Philadelphia, PA), 7:00pm, Rutgers-Camden

* Thursday, October 23rd, Manhattan, 7:00pm, Book Culture

PACIFIC NORTHWEST

* Saturday, November 8th, Portland, time TBA, Wordstock Festival of the Book

* Tuesday, November 11th, Portland, time TBA, Powell’s Books

* Friday, November 14th, Bellingham, 7:00pm, Village Books

* Saturday, November 15th, Seattle, 4:30pm, Elliott Bay Book Company

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

* Sunday, November 16th, Corte Madera, time TBA, Book Passage

* Tuesday, November 18th, San Francisco, 7:00pm, Books, Inc

LOS ANGELES AREA

* Thursday, November 20th, Redlands, time TBA, University of Redlands

* Monday, November 24th, Pasadena, time TBA, Distant Lands

If you’re in any of these areas and can make it to a reading, I highly recommend it. Rolf is not only a great writer, he’s also a really entertaining speaker and an all-around nice guy.

You can find more detail (including venue addresses and contact information) here.

Stay tuned to Pulse for tour updates and more essential Rolf Potts info!

Photo by Sarah Giesecke

Remember those essays you used to write in the first week back at grade school, “What I Did On My Summer Vacation”?

Well now, the Guardian is giving you another shot at those early travel writing efforts of yours, with their Summer Holiday Travel Writing Competition.

Essays should be 500 words, and fit within one of the five categories. Each category includes a different free trip as a prize, with destinations as diverse as Syria, New Zealand and New York.

Winning essays – along with some runner-ups – will also appear in the Guardian’s travel section, in the August 30 issue.

Hurry! The deadline is Friday, August 22.

You must be a UK resident to enter. Details on categories and more here, the fine print on eligibility, etc, is here.

Photo by Obbino (Creative Commons)

If you know Vienna or Budapest like a local because you ARE a local, then PlanetEye wants to hear from you!

PlanetEye is an online travel planning service that is heavy on gorgeous photos, great content about the world’s most exciting cities, and technologies such as geotagging.

At present, PlanetEye is seeking local experts for Vienna and Budapest. Local experts are the backbone of PlanetEye’s content generation, sharing news, reviews, and exclusive insiders’ views of the cities they know so well. Local experts are expected to share at least three blog entries a week that give travelers a look at what’s going on in their city.

And for travel writers looking to build publication experience, there’s extra good news: the local expert positions are paid!

To apply for a local expert position, visit Planet Eye, get a feel for the site, and then check out the application process. Need some insider’s tips? Shoot me an e-mail; I’m PlanetEye’s Mexico City local expert.

Photo by Nicholas T (Creative Commons)

It’s been a busy week for travel writing opportunities. Here’s the latest:

Longstanding travel writing advice/news blog Written Road is looking for some fresh voices: one or two new writers to contribute a couple of blog posts each week. Check out the full call for writers for details.

In case you’re not already familiar: Written Road was founded by travel writer Jen Leo to document her early efforts at travel writing, and to share what she learned along the way.

Since Jen retired from the site, it’s been taken over by a couple of other writers (Abha Malpani and Nicholas Gill – both Matador members!) and covers a mixture of travel publishing news, writing and editing opportunities, and personal notes on the bloggers’ careers and progress.

Written Road is read by an awful lot of editors and writers – it’s a great place to get your name out into the travel writing world.

Sound like your thing? Well then, get applying!

Photo by Greg Westfall (Creative Commons)

If you’re an aspiring travel writer and long-term travel enthusiast, chances are you’ve come across ‘Vagabonding’ author Rolf Potts at some point.

Well, now’s your chance to write for his site. Vagablogging.net has issued a call for writers interested in contributing 1-2 blog posts per week, and the deadline to apply is July 25.

I also contribute to Vagablogging, and while the position is unpaid, I can say from personal experience that writing for the site is a great way to network and make contacts leading to paid opportunities. Rolf’s a big name in the travel writing field, and he goes out of his way to help his bloggers out. Particularly if you’re just starting out in travel writing, take a look at the site and think about applying!

For more on the pros and cons of writing for free, you can check out this post I wrote at yet another excellent travel blog, Vagabondish.

Photo by Dro!d (Creative Commons)

The first lesson we were taught in my ninth grade writing class is one that most of us have heard about a zillion times: ‘Write what you know.’

Back then, I took it to heart as far as poetry, short stories and scripts went – but more recently, I’ve been forgetting to apply the lesson to travel writing.

That is, until the last couple of weeks.

My local paper, like many, can only buy so much freelance travel material. Sometimes the weekly section might have only one story bought directly from a freelancer, instead of from a syndicated service – and some weeks, it might have none at all. The competition between writers selling stories about Dubrovnik, Bali, Peru or St. Kitts is fierce.

Each week, though, one item is constant: a ‘Daytripping’ piece, about an activity – generally family-friendly – within a couple hours drive of the city. Weeks might go by without a story about Asia running in the travel section, but the paper is committed to consistently publishing local content.

My local paper’s far from unique in this; most dailies have a strong local element to their travel sections. And as a freelancer, this can be a huge opportunity for you.

We may not all live someplace glamourous, the world may not always be interested in our hometowns – but chances are, your hometown is interested in your hometown.

If you haven’t already, study up on your local paper and get in touch with the travel editor. Introduce yourself, and ask for submission/pitching guidelines. Mention that you’d be especially interested in writing local content – I can almost guarantee that it’s what he or she receives the least.

Then brainstorm about your stomping grounds: What makes it different? What’s something you’ve done that most people in town may not know about? A hike? A farmer’s market? A small-scale, quirky museum?

Come up with a solid list of ideas, and pitch away.

I don’t want to sound like a testimonial on an infomercial, but here goes: Over the past two years, I’ve sold four international travel stories to my local paper. Last week, in the course of a single half-hour meeting about local content, I sold six stories.

Lesson learned? Give the editor what they need, and the clips (and fame and glory) will follow!

Somewhere before my bus broke down in Australia, I was called a flashpacker. Despite being on the road for 18 months, it was the first time I’d heard the term.

What is a Flashpacker?

“Flashpacker (def): Someone usually in their mid 20s to early 30s, who travels like a backpacker but has more disposable income, as well as electronics such as a camera, Ipod, or laptop. Flashpackers also expect better accommodation and amenities.”

Neither fully backpacker nor tourist, flashpackers are new to the traveling lexicon. Flashpackers sleep in hostels, carry a backpack, and find cheap transport, but blow their wad on meals, tours, and parties.

They usually aren’t strolling into a hostel randomly or wearing the same shirt for a week.

A number of hostels are upscaling to meet the growing demands and needs of flashpackers and you’ll find them in all corners of the world. Flashpackers still have no fixed journey and all the time to meander around but don’t pinch every penny.

They are backpackers with means.

Is flashpacking backpacking?

What makes a backpacker a backpacker? The backpack? The clothes? The lack of showers? People look down on flashpackers, but they are just as much a backpacker as anyone else.

Backpacking is not a look, it’s a lifestyle. Just because someone doesn’t have the look, doesn’t mean they lack the spirit. It doesn’t make them less of a backpacker. It goes against the backpacker mentality to look down on someone because they travel differently.

Aren’t we supposed to be embracing different ways of life?

When I travel, I don’t want to sacrifice. I pinched pennies at home so I could enjoy my travels. I didn’t work hard to go to Italy and not drink the wine or eat a meal in Florence. I didn’t fly to Japan to not eat the sushi. And I didn’t fly to Australia to skip the Barrier Reef.

It comes down to what makes a backpacker a backpacker. That sprit. The desire to explore new places and experience new people. Backpacking is about opening your mind to new things and looking differently at the world. It’s not about the stuff you carry. If your spirit is the same the stuff you carry shouldn’t matter.

The Wave of the Future

We’re all flashpackers, whether you like it or not. We may not be driving up to the hostel in a limo but we all expect a little “flash” nowadays. According to a 2006 Hostelworld study, 21% of people travel with a laptop, 54% with an MP3 player, 83% with a mobile phone, and a whopping 86% travel with a digital camera.

Think about your last trip- how many people did you see with cameras? Ipods? Laptops? I can’t remember seeing one person without a camera, and at least 3/4 of the people I saw had Ipods.

We all travel with fancy electronics now. We check our e-mail and Skype our friends. We all have a camera and most of us have an Ipod. We’ve become flashpackers…and it’s not a bad thing. All this stuff allows us to stay better connected with our friends, our family, and helps us better document our travels. The key is to put down the camer and turn off the computer once in awhile to enjoy the culture you came to see.

The backpacker who sets off with one shirt, a small pack, and two baht to his name is getting hard to find. Most of us have and expect a little more but we still carry his spirit.

We still seek new cultures, exotic locales, and long term travel. We still look for cheap hostels and transport. We camp on that jungle trek. The difference is that now we also want a place to plug in our camera, check our e-mail, take a hot shower, and splash out on tours.

We just want to be pampered…once in awhile.
*
Matt Kepnes is a globetrotter who’s “fully sick with the travel bug.” Whether at home in Boston or on the road, he offers fresh travel ideas daily on his website, www.nomadicmatt.com.

Are you a flashpacker? What do you think of this idea? Share your reactions in the comments.
Luxury Backpacker Photo: klenze17 (creativecommons)
Lone Packer Photo: Werner Schnell (creative commons)

Back when they were in college, my parents’ idea of a cool Saturday night date was hunting for snakes in the Florida swampland.

Perhaps that’s why I liked Jamie James’s book, The Snake Charmer, so much; its subject, the herpetologist (that would be “professional snake guy” for the non-scientific among us) Joe Slowinski, reminded me a bit of my intrepid dad.

But there are lots of other reasons you should like The Snake Charmer.

In the tradition of retrospective eccentric outdoor adventurer narratives gone awry a la Into the Wild, James identified a compelling story and researched it fully without turning the tale into either an overly sentimental hero’s journey or an overly didactic and boring biography.

The life story of Joe Slowinski, the snake charmer of the title, is told with skill and respect. Right away, the reader learns of Slowinski’s fate after being bitten by the deadly many-banded krait, but the story is no less engaging as the result of this early spoiler.

In an impressive inversion of conventional narrative chronology, James delivers the ending in the beginning and then works his way backwards, developing Slowinski’s character by tracing his life all the way back to his outdoor-loving childhood.

Along the way, the reader becomes endeared of the intelligent yet reckless snake expert, seen through the eyes of friends, family members, colleagues, and even Slowinski’s critics. Though the reader already knows what will happen to Slowinski on his fateful 2001 trek into the high northern territory of Burma/Myanmar, the adrenaline rush of the days leading up to and including the snake bite is no less intense, and the efforts his colleagues undertook to save his life remind the reader how on-the-edge off-the-beaten path expeditions can be and how even the most experienced travelers should take precautions and exercise sound judgment on the road.

James’s story of Slowinski’s life is, finally, so compelling because the author seems, with the help (which he acknowledges) of experts, to have acquired such nuanced knowledge of his subject’s passion—snakes—and the places where Slowinski performed field work.

As much as The Snake Charmer is a fascinating tale of one man’s life and death, it is also an important chronicle that touches upon political issues and raises scientific debates, leaving the reader with lots to think about once the book has been closed.

We’re giving away our hard cover copy of The Snake Charmer!

Want it? Here’s what you need to do:

1) Sign up for a Matador profile if you don’t have one already.
2) Post the URL of your profile in a comment below.
3) In the comment, include one sentence describing why you’d like the book or tell us a good snake story.

We’ll contact the first person who responds and get your address to ship the book your way. And if you’re not the winner of this week’s freebie, check out this “trailer” for the book:

Freebies. One more reason to sign up for Matador Pulse’s RSS feed!

Photo: Martin and Kathy Dady (creative commons)

Another one of the perks of the Pulse editing job is surfing through the Matador network and meeting really interesting travelers who aren’t simply taking cool trips, but are also realizing amazing projects along the way.

In this week’s Spotlight, we’re introducing Matador members who aren’t just frequent contributors to the community, but who’ve also got it going on online.

Lola Akinmade: www.lolaakinmade.com

You probably already know Lola for her fantastic photography articles on The Travelers Notebook and her beautiful photos (that’s hers above!).

Check out her website, though, and you’ll learn a little bit more about her other writing and travel interests. My favorite recent post is a thoughtful, funny, and informative piece about her sister’s wedding in Nigeria.

Christine Gilbert: www.almostfearless.com

In just 11 days, Christine and her husband will be pulling up their Boston roots and setting off on a who-knows-how-long-journey: first stop: Spain. She’s left a cushy job to commit herself to following her bliss, but each weekday she serves up funny and useful posts that are both intimate and totally relevant to the reader. Be sure to check out “Escapism: The Dirty Word That Keeps Us Doing What We Loathe.”

Eva Holland:

In addition to co-editing Pulse, writing for Vagablogging and World Hum, and contributing frequently to the Matador community with articles and blogs, Eva’s film and music blogs are evidence of how wide-ranging her interests are and how well she writes about all of them.

Matt Kepnes: www.nomadicmatt.com

Matt is also a frequent contributor of articles to the MatadorNetwork, but he also manages to post fresh content daily on his own website, which is full of useful tips and lively conversations about every travel-related topic you could imagine. His “Things I’d Tell a New Traveler” is a mandatory read for people new to the open road. Pass it on to someone you know.

Ian MacKenzie: www.ianmack.com

Ian is the founder of Brave New Traveler, one of the nine blogs in the MatadorNetwork, but on his personal website he reflects on film, pop culture and current events, and multimedia.

Richard McColl: http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/ricardo_emp

I’m headed down to Richard’s Casa Amarilla in Colombia in a week or so, and I can’t wait to meet this London expat who has called South America home for the past five years. In addition to contributing some great blog entries to Matador, Richard also writes insightful, important journalistic pieces from Latin America. If you don’t know who Ingrid Betancourt is, read Richard’s recent article, “Ingrid Betancourt: FARC Hostage 6 Years and Counting….”

Misty Tosh: www.bigsweettooth.com

Misty’s also a frequent contributor of articles to Matador and is the resident expert on living the solar life from a travel trailer or sailboat, but you have to check out her personal website to begin to get the full scope of what she’s got going on. Reading her blogs each morning gets me stoked for the whole day, but chatting with her just blows me away and reminds me why this one wild and precious life, as the poet Mary Oliver said, is so damn amazing.

Community Connection: Introduce yourself! Who are you? What are you doing? Where can we find you online and on the road? Share your story in the comments below.

Photo: Lola Akinmade

Photo by Ana Cotta (Creative Commons)

I’ve been known to criticize the incessant darkness and the emphasis on the catastrophic that characterizes a lot of modern journalism about Africa.

But I had never really stopped to think about how it feels to be one of those journalists, spending all your days writing about famine, AIDS, civil war, or genocide – until I read this interview with Bryan Mealer in World Hum.

After a three-year stint as a war reporter in the area, Mealer wrapped up his time in Central Africa by completing a 1,077-mile journey along the Congo River.

“For the first time, I was leaving eastern Congo without this heavy dread in my gut,” he says of his departure for the river trip.

I was just so sick of that shit. I covered the war for three years. That’s all I’ve ever covered when I worked for AP—that’s all there was time to do. I could’ve gone looking for more hopeful stories, but there just wasn’t time. So I needed to go out and find that little bit of reprieve… I said, “OK, I’m going to go out and travel on the river.” I didn’t want my legacy to that place to be just a bunch of stories about dead people.

Mealer’s book about the trip, ‘All Things Must Fight To Live,‘ came out last month. The entire interview is well worth reading.

The South: It ain’t all ’bout beer ‘n’ guns.

Pulse co-editor Eva Holland recently returned from a month-long road trip around the American South and wondered why more people don’t choose the southern states as a travel destination.

From music and food, to accents and souvenirs, Eva penned some fantastic entries about Southern culture over on Matador’s community blog.

I thought about her observation as I returned to my hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina yesterday.

You should put the South on your travel to-do list, and if you can visit soon, here are some great summer events taking place in Upstate South Carolina:

Upstate Farm Tour: Tours of local farms, with special emphasis on sustainable and organic practices: May 31 and June 1

Scottish Games: Sports, bagpipe, and dancing contests celebrating Scottish heritage. June 6 and 7

Reedy River Nighttime Concert Series: Every Wednesday night in June

Downtown Alive: Every Thursday night in June

Main Street Jazz: Every Friday night in June

Upstate Shakespeare Festival: June 5-8

But if you can’t come visit us here over yonder, dip into some super place-based writing about the southern states. One of my favorite contemporary Southern authors is George Singleton who, in full disclosure, was once my instructor.

Singleton, a short story writer and novelist, specializes in stories about true Southern characters, and while these folks may seem outlandish to the non-Southern reader, Singleton insists they’re “just regular people trying to get by.” He’s singularly adept at capturing and conveying Southern culture in an authentic, empathic, and humorous way.

Check out this excerpt from an interview over at www.failbetter.com, in which Singleton talks about the South as muse:

“I barely have to make anything up. One time I was in line at the little general store…, and the man in front of me looked outside at the gas pump. The driver hauled a horse trailer. The guy in front of me looked at the trailer and boomed out, ‘What the hell kind of donkeys is them?’ ‘They were llamas.’”

If you’re headed South–or even if you’re not–check out Singleton’s writing. And while you’re at it, let us know what you’re reading. Which writers capture the essence of a place so perfectly that you’re practically transported?

Photo: Felix the Kraut (creative commons)

Photo by anuradha

Well, duh. If you’re an aspiring travel photographer, I’m guessing the answer to that question is a big, loud YES!

Here’s your chance: the World Nomads Travel Photography Scholarship 2008. The winner will receive gear, publication of their work, and a trip to the Australian Outback with a National Geographic photographer. Deadline to apply is June 30.

Feeling left out, writers? Don’t be. World Nomads has a scholarship for us too: up for grabs are a new laptop and an assignment to Sri Lanka with a reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald. The deadline is May 25 (that’s Sunday!) so get on it.

You must be a current student to be eligible.

Matador’s Bounty Board has all the details on both the writing and photography scholarships, as well as tons of other paid writing opportunities, for Matador publications and beyond.

If you’re a writer, you don’t need me to tell you about that creeping feeling of anxiety that swells up at the end of each month when you think about paying the rent.

You’ve typed yourself into Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but you’ve got nothing to show for it but a sheaf of rejections or a check so pitiful it might be more worthwhile to stand in the unemployment line.

Sound familiar?

If so, and if you’re a single writer (and traveler), check out these writer’s residency programs, which offer free lodging in off-the-beaten-path locations for three months to a year, allowing you to create anxiety-free.

Hub-Bub Artists’ in Residence (AIR) Program: Hub-Bub is a residency program for writers and artists under 30 who are not only interested in having a place to live and work-rent free for a year, but who also are invested in community building. From their gallery to their community movie nights, Hub-Bub has breathed new life into the downtown area of my hometown, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The work/live space is a gorgeous recently renovated factory/shoe store, within walking distance of cafes, restaurants, and the public library. If you’ve already missed this year’s deadline, sign up for Hub-Bub’s mailing list and receive early notice for next year’s residency program.

Pretty Apartments Writers’ Fellowships: Ever dreamed of living in a Victorian house… one that’s fully modern? These fellowships offer writers with works in progress the opportunity to live rent- and utility-free in Schnectady, New York for a period of three months… just long enough for you to produce your magnum opus… and roll pennies.

Talk with us! Have you ever accepted a writer’s fellowship? Do you know of great artist-in-residence opportunities? Share your story in the comments.

Photo: Adam Lyon (creative commons)

Photo by uzvards (Creative Commons)

Heading to the Bay Area this summer, and keen to learn more about travel writing and photography?

The excellent Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference will be taking place from August 14th to 17th in Corte Madera, just across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County.

The conference offers four days of workshops, lectures, and schmoozing with big-name writers, editors, photographers, agents, and publishers.

I had a fantastic time there last year, and consider it a crucial investment in my development as a travel writer.

For more on my experience, check out 9 Things I Learned About Travel Writing At Book Passage. And if anyone’s unsure about whether a conference is for them, here’s my recent Vagablogging post about the pros and cons of writing classes. See also the Traveler’s Notebook’s 10 Steps To Becoming A Successful Travel Writer.

Community Connection: Matador co-founder and designated San Francisco expert Ross Borden calls Marin County home. If you’re headed to the area, be sure to hit him up for burrito recommendations and more!

Have a question about the conference, or writing classes in general? Fire away in the comments.

Press trips are a strange animal.

For the aspiring travel writer they can be a crucial money-saving and door-opening opportunity. On the other hand, many editors are distrustful of the writing that results from freebies – and some won’t publish that resulting work at all.

So what to do?

Over at the Notebook, Laura Kammermeier offers 10 great tips to get the most out of your first press trip.

And in the community, Matador member jgbrandt has followed up on Laura’s piece with a blog post about Hunter S. Thompson, story telling, and his first press trip to Grenada.

Been on a press trip yet? Have one in the works? Let us know in the comments!

Photo by Matt Riggott.