Transcript What Now? Your Seven-Day Plan for Success

Denver, CO ● July 23-25, 2009 ● American Writer’s & Artists, Inc.
By Jennifer Stevens
AWAI’s Ultimate Travel Writer’s Program  Denver, CO  July 2009
“God gives every bird a worm,
but he does not
throw it into the nest.”
Swedish Proverb
What do you need to do to sell
an article by August 4?
1.
2.
3.
4.
First you must know who your reader is.
Appeal to his heart, then to his head.
The narrower your article idea, the
better.
Short articles are easier to write… and
easier to sell.
 Task
# 1 -- Come up with an idea for a short
article (50-500 words). Keep it close to home –
• Someplace or something local.
• Where do you take guests when they come to visit?
• Your local haunt -- restaurant, bar, café, movie
house, a shop you frequent?
• Someplace new in town -- a new restaurant or a
new B&B or a new attraction, perhaps.
• Attractions offering something new – a program for
kids, a new lecture series, a new exhibit.
6
 Task
# 1 -- Look for three publications where
you might potentially sell your article.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Check the publications you “met” at the Expo
Look into publications close to your home
Look online
Check Writer's Market
Read the Writer’s Guidelines
Read past issues of publications
 Task
# 2 -- Depending on what your article
idea is, you may want to call ahead to set up
an appointment to visit the place you’ll write
about.
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 Task
# 1 -- Visit the destination you want to
write about and take notes.
• What distinguishes this place from other, similar
destinations?
• What makes it special, unique?
• What stands out most in your mind?
 Task
# 2 – Define who your audience is.
• Who would benefit from the information, advice,
and guidance you have to share?
• Write that down.
 Task
# 3 -- Come up with a strong title for
your short article.
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 Task
# 1 -- Write your short article
• Between 50 and 500 words.
• Don't worry about every sentence being perfect.
Just write.
• Get the information you want to include onto the
page.
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
Task # 1 -- Read what you wrote yesterday.
• Edit.
• Do all the bits of information you've included support
that main idea you outlined in your title?

Task # 2 -- Read what you wrote again.
• Edit.
• Are all your sentences as short and concise as they can
be? Have you used strong, active verbs? Have you
provided your reader the how-to details he needs to
take action -- address or price or phone, etc.?

Task # 3 -- Show your article to somebody else
and ask him or her to read it.
10
 Task
# 1 -- Go back to your short list of
possible publications and see where
your piece fits best. Read the Writer's
Guidelines again.
 Task # 2 -- If you need to rework your
article a bit so it fits better in a
particular publication, do so.
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 Task
# 1 -- Write a cover letter to the
appropriate editor at the publication
where you'd most like to see your article
appear.
 Task # 2 -- Review the publication's
guidelines to make sure you're following
them to the letter.
12
 Task
# 1 -- Reread your article one last
time. Make any additional edits you deem
necessary.
 Task # 2 -- Send your article to the editor.
13
 Task
# 1 -- Pat yourself on the back.
14
 Task
# 1 -- Start planning your next
article.
• Go back up to Day 1 and start over again.
• Keep this up, and before the middle of
September, you'll have three articles on editors'
desks and be well on your way to freelance
success!
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Keep this up, and by
September you could
be living the
travel writer’s life…
Just like these folks…
Renting In Buenos Aires : Live Like A Local
by Sandra Kennedy
Why pay for a hotel when you can easily rent an apartment for less? The
prices of the apartments range from $25 to $145+ U.S. dollars per day. Hundreds of short
and long-term apartments are available with options such as studios, lofts, and several
bedrooms to palatial residences. You can save money while living in a fully furnished
apartment and live in your own neighborhood.
My recent experience in Buenos Aires, Argentina was in a pre-arranged
apartment. This convinced me that you might want to know about this idea whether you
are a tourist or you are scouting the city to relocate. Living in the Barrio Norte
neighborhood led to conversations beyond “Hola” to dramatic sign language, a worn
Spanish dictionary and recalled phrases from my year of living in Peru.
Daily visits to my favorite Confiteria for café and masas vienesas (pastries),
talking with taxi drivers who have a wealth of information, sniffing and slightly pinching
tomates in the local market, stopping by at the next door musty antiquities shop and
phoning from the Locutorio (for mail, internet, phone booths) all added to create
conversations, questions and a sense of belonging. In a few days, faces and greetings
became familiar.
Here are some suggestions for pre-arranging an apartment. First, I found a
reputable agency through the Internet. The agency’s website I used and others are
listed at the end of this article. My intention is not to promote the agency I used but I do
want to say they were reliable and friendly. It is their rental process that is used an
example as each agency has its own procedure.
From Hippy to Hip at the Portland Saturday
Market
By Bonnie Caton For Oregon.com
Stepping off the Max train at Skidmore Fountain on a Saturday or Sunday morning, you'll
notice a colorful commotion. White tents line the cobblestone streets and brick buildings of the
historical Skidmore district. In them, Portland artists and artisans arrange their hand-crafted wares
as shoppers and street performers meander about. Music filters through the streets while people
sip their fresh coffee and eye the goods. It's impossible to take it in at once, you have to slow down
to see it all and let the smells of spicy chicken or frying cinnamon sugary elephant ears tease you.
At Portland Saturday Market, you might want to give in and taste one of the international home
cooked treats or pick up a hand-crafted gift for someone back home. To come here is to
experience authentic Portland, for all things Portland seem to converge on the very spot.
Every artist, artisan, musician, and restaurant is chosen by a jury for the market and can
be found on the East side of the Max light rail tracks. On the other side is an international import
market, offering jewelry, art, clothing, and other interesting objects from afar.
Overflowing with unique artwork and crafts, the market is also a place for constant
weekend entertainment. Music saturates the air from all directions, whether from the scheduled
stage performances every Saturday and Sunday or the talented and sometimes quite colorful street
performers. Here, you'll come face to face with the likes of Jimi Hendrix in a purple velvet suit as
he and others collect around the Skidmore Fountain, guitars in hand. Nimble fingered balloon
artists twist together quick versions of your kids' favorite cartoon characters, flowers, animals, and
crazy hats. Wherever you look in Portland Saturday Market, there's something fun going on, and it
all takes place in the center of Portland's Historic Skidmore District, with its original cobblestone
streets, iron-frame brick buildings, and a vintage trolley rattling by.
The President and the Cowboy
One was a Harvard-educated New Yorker. The other was a Canadian-born lawman
and rancher. But when the paths of these two men from different worlds crossed on
the plains north of Belle Fourche, they began a friendship that would survive the ages.
By Scott Moses
Judging by the streaks of dust clinging to their riding clothes, their tired faces and their tangled hair, Seth Bullock could tell that the three horsemen had been on the trail
for a long time. Bullock, a deputy U.S. Marshall and former Deadwood sheriff, had been riding the range on his Belle Fourche ranch looking for strays when he ran into the
mounted trio. He struck up a polite conversation at first, but his instincts told him that something was wrong. Outnumbered three to one, Bullock knew there was little use in
being overtly hostile. Instead, the cunning lawman resorted to subtle questioning, hoping to get a handle on the situation before he felt the need to put his hands on his
pistols. After a few moments, it became clear that only one of the drifters was a troublemaker. Known as Crazy Steve, the offender was wanted in Dakota Territory as a horse
thief, and the other two men had just recently captured him. One of Crazy Steve’s two captors was a 26-year-old rancher and deputy sheriff named Theodore Roosevelt.
A Harvard-educated man who had already published a nationally-acclaimed history book and served in the New York State Assembly, Roosevelt had only recently moved
to Dakota Territory before his 1884 encounter with Seth Bullock. Born in New York City in 1858 to a wealthy family, Roosevelt was on track to becoming one of the youngest
nationally-recognized intellectuals and politicians of his day. But on Valentine’s Day 1884, his wife and mother both died, just two days after the birth of his only daughter,
Alice. Roosevelt was devastated, prompting him to live a more simple life in the badlands of what is now North Dakota.
Bullock, on the other hand, had lived most of his life on the frontier. Born near Windsor, Ontario in 1849, Bullock left home for Virginia City, Mont. in about 1867. There he
set up a mining supplies and hardware store. However, like Roosevelt, Bullock had a knack for politics. He served in the upper house in the Montana legislature during the
l871-1872 session and participated in special sessions during l873. Following the news of gold in the northern Black Hills, Bullock moved his hardware operation to
Deadwood in July l876. By the late autumn, Bullock had been appointed sheriff.
Despite their difference in background, Roosevelt and Bullock hit things off well. Their mutual duties as enforcers of the law seemed to provide the initial common ground,
as Roosevelt later recounted in his autobiography, referring to their 1884 meeting on the plains north of Belle Fourche.
We had had a rather rough trip and had lain out for a fortnight, so I suppose we looked somewhat unkempt. Seth received us with a rather distant courtesy at first, but unbent
when he found out who we were, remarking, "You see by your looks, I thought you were some kind of a tinhorn gambling outfit and I might have to keep an eye on you.” He then
inquired about the capture of Steve with a little of the air of one sportsman to another when he has shot a quail that either might have claimed, “My bird, I believe?”
Roosevelt stayed on his ranch in Dakota Territory until the winter of 1886-1887, when freezing weather wiped out his entire herd of cattle. He returned to New York, where
he held various political posts, becoming Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1897. Though they were now separated by distance, Roosevelt and Bullock stayed close,
corresponding often. When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, Roosevelt resigned his Navy post and organized the First U.S. Volunteer Calvary Regiment,
known the media as the Rough Riders. Bullock was among the many Western ranchers who volunteered to serve, and he was made Captain of Troop A in Grigsby’s
Cowboy Regiment. Although his unit never saw combat, Bullock was given the title “captain” from then on.
Portugal's Medieval Jewel: The Walled Village of Obidós
by Bob Samborski
The ancient wall of Obidós appears suddenly, just off the A8 motorway an hour north of Lisbon. It rests like a tiara on a large
hill, a geophysical anomaly in the surrounding low-lying farmland. Inside the wall is a jewel-one of Portugal's most treasured
historic villages.
A walk up a cobbled road from a nearby parking area delivers you to the original old stone gateway. The small entrance
vestibule with large stone steps leads to the top of the wall. A leisurely walk around the ramparts takes about an hour, and is
a definite must-do. The walls offer spectacular views of the main castle and countryside. Looking down into the village, a sea
of red tiles parts in places to reveal splashes of vivid blues, yellows, and reds against bright white stuccoed walls.
Not exactly a secret, Obidós attracts its share of visitors. Tour groups of Britons, Germans, French, and Portuguese visit
during the peak hours of the day. It's a convenient one- or two-hour stop between the palaces of Sintra to the south and the
religious pilgrimage cities of Braga and Fatima to the north and east. Most groups quickly move on, but to simply rush down
what serves as the main street in this village to see the castle and climb to the top of the wall deprives the visitor of a truly
remarkable experience.
A night within the walls
Spending the night within the walls significantly enhances the entire experience. Options range from a fairly pricey Pousada
(one in a chain of restored castles and manor houses that dot the Portuguese countryside) to pension-style accommodations
in smaller privately owned houses. Once the tour buses and day visitors leave, the place assumes a blissful quiet. There are
not many nightlife options in Obidós, but that fits well with its spirit. Unlike many places in Portugal, the restaurants and bars
close at 10 p.m., and are usually empty well before then, especially in the off-season.
Take an after-dinner stroll through the village's narrow cobbled lanes and you are likely to be completely alone, the only
sound…the echo of your footsteps on the stone, the only light…the occasional soft glow of lamps illuminating lace window
coverings.
The Cat Who Moved to Mexico
Traveling with Pets
Barbara Bode
Some 37 million pets worldwide traveled in the past three years with their owners to a new home or more frequently, on
holiday. By plane, car or on board boats and ships, these cats, dogs, ferrets and occasionally even exotic species like
iguanas packed up and took off, clutching their Pet Passports.
Not so long ago, such adventures were considered far too difficult and even too dangerous because of required months of
quarantine or hotel and local prohibitions. Recently, however, those barriers have come crashing down. In Europe, the UK
led the way. Notorious among pets in past years for their 6 month quarantine period, in 2000, that all changed. They
launched PETS, their successful Pet Travel Scheme.
PETS became the model for the new EU-wide system of passports for dogs, cats and ferrets. The key feature is a single
European passport and veterinary certificate 998 which provides authenticated details of the animal's identity, vaccination
record and overall health. Thus certified, quarantine is unnecessary.
Malta adopted this scheme in 2004, enabling PET-conforming qualified pets from EU countries to enter Malta and bypass the
month-long quarantine period. There are two additional requirements: the completed certificate 998 must be in English and
owners must get an Import License from the government.
Veggie, my Gozitan cat, needed much the same documented proof of similar qualifications in her Pet Passport when she
arrived in Mexico. We flew Lufthansa, which like a number of intercontinental airlines is especially solicitous of their flying
furries and won’t allow a pet to travel for longer than 12 hours without a rest. Thus, thanks to Veggie, we had a leisurely
three day journey to the Pacific Coast, spending two nights in pet-friendly hotels along the way.
Recognizing the growing number of peripatetic pets and potential profit, upscale hotels have vigorously gotten into the act
offering hospitality both to traveling visitors as well as adding special attractions as a pet-friendly holiday destination. The
Four Seasons Hotels, Lowes and many resort hotels make particular efforts to be pet-welcoming. There are summer walking
trips and hiking trips in the Alps for owners and dogs; boogie board training for dogs who love the water and are visiting the
Pacific; gourmet meals for picky cats and all-pet cocktail hours to which owners are also invited.
If they can do it,
so can you…
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