While writing for my other blogs, I came across these three great resources that are definitely worth a visit.
First up, there's WHTour, a virtual tour of the World Heritage Sites, which I wrote about over at the Perceptive Travel blog.
Second, there's The Green Map System which I wrote about over at Traveling the Green Way.
And third, there's Healthmap, an interactive map tracking current diseases and epidemics, which I wrote about over at Healthbolt.
Have a read of my reviews and I'll see why I think that these are resources you should visit and bookmark...
Showing posts with label writing resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing resources. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Armchair Traveling: Three Cyber Places Worth Visiting...
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Pico Iyer on 'The Nine Commandments of Travel Writing'...
In my cyber travels, I came across this article in Conde Nast Traveler by Pico Iyer that I thought was worth sharing.
It's his list of 'The Nine Commandments of Travel Writing' or what makes a good travel book...
1. The ideal travel book is a quest.
2. The travel writer is much less traveler than writer.
3. The travel book must teach you something.
4. The travel book, like the traveler, often travels incognito.
5. The travel writer's place is on the threshold.
6. The travel writer need not go far at all.
7. The great travel writer takes in every aspect.
8. The true travel writer does not just listen to a place but talks back to it.
9. In the end, every great travel book is about a journey inside.
Read the full article to find out more about what he means...
.........
And for more more advice from Pico Iyer, check out my Travel Writer Pico Iyer talks post.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Written Road and Vagablogging looking for Bloggers...
Two great travel blogging sites are looking for bloggers. There's no pay but plenty of exposure.
Aaron at Vagablogging writes...
'We're looking for one dedicated individual to post once or twice a week about any vagabonding-related topic of their choice, from travel gear to destinations to literature. The ideal writer will be familiar with Rolf's book Vagabonding and/or the philosophy behind it.
Though the position is unpaid, it really is a great opportunity to establish contacts and get your feet wet in the travel writing world. Several writers have moved on to paid positions after writing for Vagablogging, and now-- I can tell you from personal experience-- they're really raking in the dough.'
Find out how to apply here.
and
Nicholas at Written Road writes...
'We are looking for a few new bloggers here at Written Road. Just a person or two who can add a couple of posts per week. There’s no pay (we aren’t paid either), but you’ll get a good deal of exposure, help the occasional travel writer find a gig, a few free books, and get to work and network with a great group of writers. Ideally this is for someone just starting out or someone established that has something to say on occasion and needs an outlet.'
You can find out how to apply here.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Travels with the 'Next Great Travel Writer' contest winner...
Remember National Geographic Traveler and Travcoa's Next Great Travel Writer contest last year.
Well, the winner Suzanne Roberts is currently on the road in Mongolia with National Geographic Traveler Editor in Chief Keith Bellows (and a tour group). Suzanne's assignment is to write an article about the experience that will be run on the National Geographic Traveler website. Keith is along to offer support and coaching.
And thanks to the Intelligent Travel blog, we can follow their travels...
The Next Great Travel Writer: Arriving in Beijing
Next Great Travel Writer: Day Two in Beijing
Next Great Travel Writer: The Real Mongolia
The Next Great Travel Writer: Dating in Mongolia
with more to come...
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
13 'Top Ten Lists' About Freelance Writing...
Over at Freelance Writing Jobs, there's a contest. Using the American Idol concept, they have thirteen contestants vying for a position as blogger for Freelance Writing Job.
Each week, the contestants are given a writing assignment to be posted at FWJ. Once posted, the readers vote and each week, one contestant will leave until there is a winner.
Last week's assignment was to create a 'top ten list' about freelance writing and it's turned into a goldmine of information for freelance writers. Check out these great posts...
- Ten Sensible Defenses of Telecommuting
- Top Ten Ways to Stay Out of the Slush Pile
- Top Ten Money Saving Ideas for Freelance Writers
- How to Lose a Gig in Ten Ways
- Ten Things I Wish They Taught Me in Freelancing School
- Top Ten Mind Tricks to Boost Your Career
- Ten Great Resources for Freelance Writers
- Ten Ways to Write Without Pay and Still Respect Yourself in the Morning
- Ten Unique Ways to Market Your Book
- Top Ten Phrases No Freelance Writer Wants to Hear
- Ten Ways to Get Organized so You Can Get Writing
- Ten Ways to Get a Freelance Blogging Gig
- Ten Things to Do While Waiting to Find that Perfect Freelance Writing Gig
Can't wait to see the results of the next assignment which is 'all about finding work - best practices.'
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Favorite 'City Movies' of Five Travel Writers...
Five travel writers - Pico Iyer, Heidi Julavits, Tony Wheeler, Ayun Halliday and Rolf Potts - were asked by FilminFocus what their five favorite city films were.
Here's what they came up with...
Pico Iyer listed 2046, The Buena Vista Social Club, Mystic River, City of God and Monsoon Wedding.
Heidi Julavits listed Rosemary's Baby, Saturday Night Fever, Spirited Away, Vertigo, and Band of Outsiders.
Tony Wheeler listed The Year of Living Dangerously, Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome, Blade Runner, The Lives of Others, and Arabian Nights.
Ayun Halliday listed Underground, Before Sunset, Daughter from Danang, Lost in Translation, and The Edge of Heaven.
Rolf Potts listed Lost in Translation, Beyond Sunrise, Do the Right Thing, Boogie Nights, and About Schmidt.
This got me thinking what my favorite city movies. Here's what I came up with...
Buena Vista Social Club (Havana, Cuba)
You've Got Mail (New York)
Midnight in the Garden of Good an Evil (Savannah)
Leaving Las Vegas (Las Vegas)
Chinatown (Los Angeles)
So what's your list of 'five favorite city movies'?
(discovered via World Hum)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
What is Twitter?
What is twitter?
Why do we need it?
How does it work?
These are the questions I have about twitter. So if anyone out there can lead me to a resource or two that can explain what it is and how it works in 'very' simple terms, would greatly appreciate it. As usual, technology is puzzling me.
So far, have found this video 'Jack Dorsey Presents Twitter'.
Jack Dorsey Presents Twitter from biz stone on Vimeo.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Weekly Top 5 Blog Posts for Writers...
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Visuwords: A Combined Graphic Dictionary and Thesaurus...
This is really neat. Visuwords takes any word you type in and creates a 'neural net' diagram of the word's meanings and associations.
(found via Neatorama)
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Telling Travel Stories...
Slideshow on 'Marketing Travel through Storytelling' by Stephen Joyce, publisher of Tips from the T-list.
Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Travel Writing Miscellanea...
Rolf Potts highlights the benefits of attending writing workshop with a roundup of success stories from previous attendees…
Geeky Traveller has all the info on Wi-Fi shoes and the Traveler’s Notebook has a list of the Top 10 Useful Travel Gadgets & Accessories.
travelblatherer has a couple of posts on a recent Bookseller seminar focusing on travel publishing.
Nerd’s Eye View offers some great tips on How to Keep Your Travelblog Alive When You’re Not Traveling.
The Urban Muse posted about a New Way to Research Magazines. Seems Barnes and Noble offers online print and digital subscriptions. Here’s a list of all the travel magazines they have.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Travel Writing Miscellanea...
Sandwagon has an Interview with Robin Barton - author of 101 Weekends in Europe
Latest Perceptive Travel Zine Offers Good Reading.
Sex, sunshine and sangria? You must be joking! or more on the Thomas Kohnstamm saga.
World Hum writes about Travel Writing and Tall Tales: An Historical Perspective
Pam at Nerd's Eye View is giving away three copies of Mark McCrum’s Going Dutch in Beijing: How to Behave Properly When Far Away from Home. All you have to do is post about your favorite story about a cultural misunderstanding and leave a link in the comments.
The Matador Network, the interactive travel magazine, is launching 8 new websites. Here's a complete list of their sites:
Matador Travel
Matador Trips
Matador Study
Matador Nights
The Traveler's Notebook
Brave New World
Matador Goods
Matador Pulse
Matador Volunteer.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Travel Writing Miscellanea...
Still more on the 'Travel Writers Go to Hell' saga...
Veteran travel writer Chris Taylor wrote Death of the guidebook: lost in a cutthroat world for The Age Newspaper.
And Michael Shapiro asks Can You Trust Your Travel Guidebook? over at The Washington Post.
Two useful articles over at The Traveler's Notebook...
The 10 Steps to Becoming a Successful Travel Writer
10 Steps to Surviving Your First Press Trip
And Intelligent Travel offers suggestions on Picking the Right Guide.
Jaunted has an interview with Stephanie Oswald who launched travelgirl magazine a couple of years ago and is now hosting All-Girl Getaways, a travel TV show.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Europe A La Carte Live Discussion about Travel Blogging...
I'm seriously late with this.
Karen from Europe a La Carte has organized and is hosting a live blogging session on “What readers want from a travel blog” right now.
Head on over and check out.
Participation is encouraged and no special equipment required....
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Travel Writing Miscellanea...
A few interesting things that I've come across this week...
Oz Traveller has put together A Round-up of Reaction to Lonely Planet’s Rogue Author Thomas Kohnstamm, covering reaction from a variety of bloggers from World Hum to Perceptive Travel.
Want to submit a travel article to the New York Times? Then you should read this Q&A with Stuart Emmrich, travel editor.
Just what a travel writer needs...a Wi-Fi Umbrella. No joke. Japanese company Pileus has created an umbrella that "... has a large screen on the top surface, a built-in camera, a motion sensor, GPS, and a digital compass, and it provides two main functions; A Social Photo-sharing and A 3D Map Navigation."
You can buy one through Sharper Image.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Everything you wanted to know about Press trips…
Well, maybe not everything. But there’s a couple of interesting articles over at Inkthinker and Notes in the Margin that can fill you in on the how’s and why’s of Press Trips.
Written by Roy A. Barnes, a travel writer from Wyoming, they are definitely worth a read...
Guest Article — How Writers Can Score Press Trips, Part I: Landing A Press Trip
How Writers Can Score Press Trips, Part II: Things To Keep In Mind Before Attending
To press trip or not is a controversial issue amongst travel writers. When Sheila Scarborough from Family Travel and Perceptive Travel Blog wrote a guest post here last year, it brought quite a negative response from some writers on the Media Bistro bulletin board.
Personally, I think that there is a place for press trips and FAM trips and that it is up to each individual writer to look into the ethic and moral issues involved in taking such a trip. Traveling and experiencing places to write about is not cheap (especially when you live on the other side of the world). As long as you are honest, fair, and true in your writing, press trips should be an acceptable means of gathering information.
What do you think?
Monday, April 14, 2008
5 Reasons Travel Writers Blog...
Curious to find out why writers who already have a paid market for their work would also spend hours creating and maintaining travel blogs, I decided to put the following questions - Why do you think travel writers blog? What made you start a travel blog? - to few travel writers.
From their answers, I determined travel writers blog because...
* Writing a travel blog allows freedom of expression and ideas not always encouraged in newspaper and magazine writing.
* A Travel blog provides a storage facility for travel notes.
* Writing a travel blog provides connection with your readers.
* Writing a travel blog is like creating a travel library.
* Writing a travel blog provides exposure and some financial rewards.
Read the full post Travel Writers - Why Do They Blog? to find out which travel writers I asked and what they had to say.
So why do you blog???
................
'Travel Blog of the Week' will be back next week.
................
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Last Call for the Micro Travel Writing Workshop...
Don't forget about the Micro Travel Writing Workshop over at Nerd's Eye View.
Here's your chance to have your writing critiqued by a travel writer.
Deadline is April 14th so you better get writing. You can check out the participation guidelines here.
I'm more than happy to have my writing critiqued, so here's my entry...
The Jailhouse Accommodation in Christchurch, New Zealand.
A prime example of ‘Gothic Revival’ architecture, this 1876 building has a colourful history. Designed by Christchurch architect Benjamin W Mountfort, it was the original Addington Prison - a lock-up for local crime-lords and petty criminals. But not any longer. Addington Prison has been transformed into The Jailhouse Accommodation and the only people who enter it’s doors these days are tourists looking for somewhere cheap to lay their head.
The new owners have tried to maintain the authentic prison atmosphere. Four cells, including the solitary confinement cell, are still in their original condition, with prisoner’s art work decorating the walls. The rest of the rooms have been renovated and are more inviting. Offering comfortable beds (straight from the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games) and a secure and safe environment, the Jailhouse Accommodation is becoming a favorite among travellers, especially those on limited budgets.
It might not be your first thought when looking at accommodation in Christchurch, but a night in this jail is not such a bad idea.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Write to Travel Gone Geeky: Alltop, Babelfish, Widgets, and Gizmos...
Have had a number of geek attacks this week. And as a result, I've been adding some widgets, badges, and gizmos to Write to Travel blog.
First up, Alltop.com has added Write to Travel to it's list of Travel Blogs - so welcome to anyone who has arrived here from there. I noticed that it's listed by the old name 'My Year of Getting Published'. Not sure how to change that so that stays. And someone pointed out to me that the blog has been listed twice (a slip of the click I'm sure).
In thanks, I've added the Alltop 'badge of honor'...click on it and you'll find your way to bloggers heaven. Set up in wonderful catergories such as travel, food, health, wine, etc, etc, there are web resources for you to simply get lost in for hours and days.
Next geek attack resulted in finding the Babelfish widget or gizmo (not sure which is what). I added this so that Write to Travel could claim to be truly international. You'll find the widget/gizmo on the sidebar just below the categories list. It translates the page into six other languages. So now you have the chance to see Write to Travel in eight other languages.
And then I discovered SpringWidgets and found I could create widgets that showcase my writing on Healthbolt and Perceptive Travel Blog. So of course I had to add them to the mix. You'll find them just below the Babelfish Translator on the sidebar.
Wonder what else I can add ???
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
