CAITLIN FITZSIMMONS

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.

After five years in London, the opportunity came up to move to San Francisco. I’m always one for a new adventure so I seized the chance and for the past few months I’ve been working on the arrangements in my spare time. Since I’m from Sydney originally, I’ve told my family that I am slowly moving home in a westerly direction!

I arrived here yesterday and I’m focusing first on getting settled in my new home and sorting out the paperwork to be allowed to work here in the US. Hopefully this won’t take too long because I’m keen to start writing for some US publications and also to report from the West Coast for British and Australian publications. There is plenty to write about, whether in my specialist fields of media, social reportage and the environment, or as a travel writer exploring California and the Pacific North-West.

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.

In July I travelled to Damascus to attend an Iraqi wedding. It’s too dangerous to get married in Baghdad these days so people are increasingly crossing the border to Syria to get hitched. I wrote about it for G2, The Guardian’s daily features supplement, and the piece was published today. You can read it online but if you get a chance, do check out the print version with all the pretty pictures by my friend and colleague Peter Garmusch.

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.

The South China Morning Post, which is the English-language newspaper in Hong Kong, published my article on the Chinese immigrant community in Dakar, Senegal today. The online version is behind a pay wall but accessible by searching the SCMP.com archive. My editor has kindly given me permission to reproduce the PDF on my site.

I went to Dakar in May last year and wrote about the growing Chinese population and the city as a travel destination for Anyway magazine. I interviewed world music star Youssou N’Dour for Anyway as well. Since my trip there has been a government crackdown on street trade, which has exacerbated tensions, even sparking rioting in November. The SCMP article updates and refocuses the story to make it more newsy and relevant for Chinese readers.

This is the first article I have written for SCMP but I hope not the last. I would like to expand to write for other English-language newspapers across Asia and the world.