Here's another issue from our archives...
Every Friday in The Right Way to Travel e-letter you'll get a note
from me that usually includes a travel tip and a weekly writing
prompt. I also use my Friday notes to answer reader questions that
come in either on our forum or through email.
Below is an issue from our archives that includes a frequently asked
reader's question - how do I write about something I wouldn't normally
recommend?
Take a minute to read the issue below. Tomorrow, I'll send you the
Saturday note that followed with advice on how to write these types of
articles.
-- Lori Allen
Director, AWAI Travel Division
P.S. Hope you've been enjoying your free reports. If you missed the
first three, you'll find them here:
*** Where to Sell Your Stories:
http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/sellyourstories
*** 101 Things You Can Get Paid to Photograph:
http://www.thephotographerslife.com/101things
*** Where to Sell Your Photos:
http://www.thephotographerslife.com/wheretosell
And here's another I think you'll find useful…
Instead of showing you how to get paid to travel during and after your
trip, this report shows you how to fund your travels before leaving
home -- by getting published locally… which is really the easiest way
to start.
*** Fund Your Travels:
http://www.thephotographerslife.com/fundyourtravels
***********************
The Right Way to Travel
Edited by Lori Appling in Philadelphia, PA.
Archived: March 2007
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live
forever." -- Mahatma Gandhi
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Today:
*** How to Turn a Bad Hotel into a Good Travel Article
*** Practical Writing Prompt of the Week: Eating Guinea Pig
*** Reader Feedback: Writing for Other Markets
*** More Opportunities and Resources for Writers
**************************
Dear Reader,
Before you scroll down to today's writing prompt (about eating guinea
pig and drinking turkey-flavored soda), take a look at this question I
received from one of our readers last week:
"If you're sent to do a piece on a specific location, such as a hotel,
and it turns out to be terrible, do you still have to write the
article as promised? If so, what do you say? If you don't feel you can
in good conscience write an article about it, do you have to reimburse
the value of the trip and expenses?"
I passed this question along to freelance travel writer and editor
Jennifer Stevens (Jen is the author of our Ultimate Travel Writer's
Program http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/kp/autofr). Here's what
she said...
"If you're sent to cover a hotel for a publication -- doesn't matter
if you're paying your own way, if the hotel is comping you, or if the
publication is picking up the tab -- if what you find makes it
impossible for you to write the article you and the editor agreed
you'd write, then you need to contact the editor immediately (ideally,
while you're still on-site).
"But don't haul off and write the guy an email after just three hours
in the place -- even if your bathroom sink did fall off the wall, and
even if a rat did run over your foot. First, come up with an alternate
idea you can pitch. In other words, don't simply tell the editor:
'This place is a dump. There's no way this is going to work as a
good-value luxury-retreat piece, which is what I came here to write.'
"Instead, take a day to do some poking around elsewhere. Are there
some other hotels nearby that might better fit the bill? Is there any
aspect of the mediocre hotel where you're staying that might be worthy
of coverage? Maybe you'll find that the hotel's spa is fabulous, in
stark contrast to the neglected guestrooms. Well, you could shift the
focus of your article to good-value pampering and recommend a
different hotel, this spa, and maybe a couple great restaurants.
"Think about ways you can salvage your by-line and your paycheck.
Suggest to the editor something else he can slot into the space he'd
reserved for your original piece.
"Now, if you just can't see a way that you can turn this disastrous
trip into an article for the editor you're meant to be serving, well,
then so be it. Speak up earlier rather than later. The more time he
has to find something else to fill the hole in his publication, the
better.
"Your next order of business, then, should be to think hard about what
audience would, in fact, want to know about the hotel where you're
staying. The best way to figure this out is to find out as much as you
can about the hotel.
"Do they offer special programs? Could you talk to anybody who is
participating in one? Do they offer special discounts -- for whom and
when? Is there one saving grace about the place? If so, who would find
that one thing an enticement? Maybe the hotel has fallen into
disrepair... but it's sitting right on an amazing surfing beach. Well,
what could you write for a readership of surfers?
"Find the right audience, and you can still write about this hotel --
even if what you write ends up worlds away from the article you'd
first intended to come away with.
"You also asked whether if, in this situation, you'd need to reimburse
the value of the trip and expenses. I'm guessing you mean if the hotel
had comped you your stay -- maybe even the full trip -- and you
weren't going to write about it, do you need to then pay for your
trip? The short answer is: No.
"Hotels, tourist boards, tour operators, and the like sponsor writers
in hopes of getting some press. It's not a guarantee for them. They
invite the folks who, they feel, are most likely to get something
published. Are you obligated to write an article and sell it? No.
"But you are expected to make a good-faith effort to do so. If you
discover on the spot that your 'assigned' article clearly isn't going
to fly, you really should try to come up with another article that
will.
Should you hold your nose, lie through your teeth, and write an
article the gets the place good (though completely undeserved) press?
No. But it is in your best interest to write something.
"If you take a trip and never write anything about it, the likelihood
that you'll be invited back on another trip is slim. (OK, so you may
not want to go back to this particular, mediocre hotel. But often it's
PR agencies that arrange press trips. And the agency may represent
other clients whose hotels you'd most certainly like to visit.)
"Plus, it's your collection of 'clips' (proof of your track record in
getting things published) that most helps you land press trips. So
it's in your best interest to find something you can write about --
even if the only mention the awful hotel gets is a short note about
the great daiquiris Ralph the bartender mixes and the to-die-for
sunsets you can enjoy as you chat with him." -- Jen Stevens
[Ed Note: Jennifer Stevens is the author of AWAI's Ultimate Travel
Writer's Program http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/sh/autofr). A
freelance writer and editor these days, she spent years at the helm of
International Living, buying, editing, writing, and publishing travel
articles.
You can meet Jen in person in San Francisco, CA this coming July at
the Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop:
http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/sanfrancisco]
--------------
Tomorrow I'll send you more specific advice from Jen on how to manage
negatives in your stories... She'll tell you how to be honest and
still make a buck.
And don't forget to scroll down to this week's writing prompt and a
reader comment...
P.S. Know a friend or two who'd enjoy the freedom and independence of
a writer's or photographer's life? They, too, can sign up to receive
this free e-letter here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com.
***************************
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PRACTICAL WRITING PROMPT OF THE WEEK: Eating Guinea Pig
Freelance travel writer Steenie Harvey sometimes uses this article
excerpt in her workshop presentations at our travel-writing events --
an example of the kind of personal anecdote and rich detail that
characterizes the best travel writing:
*** Cute, cuddly...and it comes with chips
The guinea pig stared at me. I stared at the guinea pig. Then I took a
deep breath, counted to three - and ate it.
There's much more to visiting Peru than taking in Machu Picchu, the
500-year-old 'lost city' of the Incas, which is considered the
must-see attraction of South America. And eating guinea pig, a local
delicacy, is one of the more memorable diversions.
It tasted awful, although on first inspection it looked rather natty.
With great aplomb, brandishing trays on shoulders, a team of waiters
had brought forth our roasted creatures (with side orders of chips).
Each guinea pig, front legs perched on a sweet potato, wore a half
tomato cap with a decorative mint sprig. The animals' mouths were
propped open by slices of carrot in what disconcertingly seemed like
hey-how-you-doing smiles.
From The Times Travel Section, January 28, 2006
------------
Have you ever eaten anything weird? Think about it this week (or
venture out to find something unique). I found these weird drinks
online: Turkey and Gravy soda... Dinner Roll Soda... and Pea Soda:
http://www.jonessoda.com/files_new/turkey06.html
Follow the lead of this Times article and turn your own culinary
adventures into a travel piece. If you want, send it to the Travel
Post Monthly, where the editors are looking for exactly this sort of
thing... and more. You'll find the writer's guidelines here:
http://www.itwpa.com/writers_guidelines/
***************************
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READER FEEDBACK: WRITING FOR OTHER MARKETS
"I'm in sunny Mexico, where the sun is soothing, the water is clear,
and the area is booming. I just was able to check my e-mail and
discovered that my Spanish dancer photo won the Feb. "Paint the Town
Red" contest. My excitement boiled over, I yelled, and woke my
husband from his siesta. (He's back to normal now.)
"As I go along the beginning of my new adventures, I feel the need to
let you know the successes that you are creating. My story on
"Lipodissolve" will be in the May or June issue of Southern Health
Magazine, and I have been given monthly assignments. I'm taking good
notes to do some travel articles on my two-week stay in Mexico, have
started on a series of children's books, and am looking forward to
whatever comes my way.
"Thanks, again, Ladies. Your direction and support give me more
confidence each day."
Regards,
Cecilia Kirkpatrick
****************************
OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES FOR WRITERS:
* JOIN THE ITWPA AND GET $200 OFF YOUR NEXT WORKSHOP:
http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/itj/autofr
* TAKE BETTER PICTURES OF YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS:
http://tinyurl.com/3accwj
* SIX THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED:
http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/tel/autofr
****************************
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