Freelance writer and editor
I had a story published in The Australian’s travel section on the weekend. This was a revised and shortened version of the San Francisco streetcar story I did for the LA Times last month. The hook for Australians is that the fleet contains two Melbourne trams.
12 June 2012 | Last stop San Francisco
Two of my travel pieces were published on the same day. The first was my debut in the Los Angeles Times – an article about San Francisco’s historic F-line trams, which come from all over the world, including Melbourne.
LA Times | 2 May 2010: San Francisco: The rolling transit museum known as the F line
The second was more of a personal essay, on living with an Iraqi family in Syria and my experience as a woman in this part of the world. It was based on the same trip as this piece I did for The Guardian in 2008.
Galavanting | 2 May 2010: Behind the Veil
I’ve just spent an extraordinary few days at Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference in Corte Madera, north of San Francisco.
The faculty included brilliant writers such as Tim Cahill and photographers and also editors and agents. The access was superb. The conference was quite intimate – we had 75 students and over 30 faculty members – and since we were there for four days, there were plenty of formal and informal opportunities to meet people.
For me it was a nice blend between networking and working on craft. I took Larry Habegger and Henry Shukman’s personal essay and memoir workshop in the mornings, which I very much enjoyed. I also took inspiration from the readings and talks from published writers and photographers – and from the many book-filled shelves in the enormous and wonderful Book Passage store.
I want to get more serious about travel writing as I enjoy both the travel and the creative style of writing. I’m also very much looking for new markets now that I’m based in the US. This is particularly true since Anyway magazine, which commissioned a lot of my foreign reportage, is on hiatus.
I was lucky enough to go to Syria earlier this year, to write about an Iraqi wedding in Damascus for G2. As well as staying with an Iraqi family and experiencing Arab culture from within, I also took the opportunity to explore the fascinating, ancient city of Damascus. I’ve written an article on the highlights of Damascus, now up on the Guardian Travel site.
As a freelance writer I’m very interested in new media since I believe it will be a big part of my future. It’s not just a case of print publications moving online, it’s also a case of the internet throwing up new types of businesses. Educating myself about this is a large part of the reason why I blog at Roaming Tales and The Gooseberry Fool – and use social media tools such as Twitter.
I have some exciting news to share – I’m joining EcoSalon as a regular contributor. I’ve been asked to write two posts a week, one on green travel and one on green tech and lifestyle.
My first post last week was on eco-holidays in Cornwall and today I’ve written about 5 creative ways to be a green bookworm.
The theme of EcoSalon is about going green without sacrificing style and this is something that really strikes a chord with me. I am a passionate environmentlist but I also believe that people need inspiration and a reason for hope. We shouldn’t hide from the immensity of the challenge – but if we focus on doom and gloom, we risk generating despair rather than the committed and focused action the planet needs. Despair is just as destructive to the environment as denial.
I’m pleased to be blogging for EcoSalon because the blog is committed to the environment but with an aim to empower and inspire people rather than hector or scare them. There’s enough troubling environmental news out there – the question is what we can do about it.
I fully intend to keep my own sites and my blogging duties at EcoSalon are as well as, not instead of, what I already do. It’s a paid gig so this properly falls into my day job as a freelance writer and is probably a sign of things to come in my profession.
The November issue of Australian Women’s Health is out, with my article on kayaking in the Arctic in the travel section.
The idea was to write a blog-style piece with plenty of humour focusing on the wildlife. The photographs (with the exception of the one that I’m in) are mine as well.
Happy Easter! I have had a holiday in Australia with my family and now I leave on a whirlwind world tour, finally returning to the UK in mid April. The itinerary includes Hong Kong via Nicaragua (yes, I’ve looked at a world map), then Bangkok, Cambodia and Kuala Lumpur. It’s all for work – I can’t reveal too much about my projects, but stay tuned.
The British Guild of Travel Writers had its annual general meeting in Malta today. Included on the agenda was ratification of new memberships. So as of today, I am a fully fledged guild member. It’s only for professional travel writers and to join, I had to have 12 published travel articles in the past year (authors of travel books are also eligible). The guild is known for its lively events and meetings and I hope it will be useful for networking.
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