Many Doors into Travel Writing

I actually stumbled into travel writing myself. My passion for travel and my innate curiosity led me down this path. When I was in the church choir I thought my choir director believed I was a genius. I was about 8, and I thought he called me "Terry the Wise." Later, I learned he had called me "Terry the Why" because I was always asking questions. As a travel writer, I'm able to ask questions and get answers -- usually -- unless it's a touchy subject like "where do you think my luggage could be?"

When you tell someone you're a travel writer, the frequent reply is either "Yeah, I've been meaning to do that" or some other variation. If you really do have the ambition to write, a reputable writing conference can be a great place to get your feet wet or hone your skills.

Next week is the 18th Annual Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference in Corte Madera (near San Francisco), California. The 4 day conference runs from Thursday August 13 to Sunday August 16, 2009. It costs $635.00.

There's a one day intensive on Wednesday August 12th for travel writing or photography. I'm taking the photography intensive because my Canon G10 currently knows far more about photography than I do, so I've opted for the photography intensive.

I signed up for the Book Passage conference after hearing about it from one of my editors. It has a reputation among editors, publishers and writers as the finest travel writing conference in the world.

I'm attending to learn more about the business of travel writing and to improve my writing. I still inadvertently clutter an article with a stray adverb (like inadvertently) or a high fallutin unnecessary adjective or two. My editor insists she works with a meat cleaver instead of a pen.

Occasionally I get an edit back and realize my editor has turned the rump roast I filed into a filet mignon. (When I filed it, of course, I didn't see all the limp verbs and fat adjectives that kept my copy from flowing.)

Faculty includes Pauline Frommer, Rolf Potts, actor/photographer Joel Grey and many other distinguished writers, editors, photographers and bloggers. Conference coordinator Kathryn Petrocelli describes the conference as "a place to learn about the craft, hone skills, make excellent connections, learn from the best in the business and have a phenomenal time all the while."

Speaking of a phenomenal time, I believe alcoholic libations are available during evening recess. How I miss my graduate school days -- higher learning, parking tickets at UCLA and Happy Hour at Acapulco in Westwood Village.

For more information, visit the Book Passage website: http://www.bookpassage.com/content.php?id=384 or call: Kathryn Petrocelli, Phone: [phone], ext 233

Comments

[PaulineF]

08:58 AM on 08/06/2009

Thanks for this article.

The Book Passage Conference is certainly one of the highlights of my year. I teach there every year and I so enjoy the camaraderi­e and deep commitment to learning that the conference engenders. I also go to scout talent (as do many of the other editors who attend). I've hired people from the conference and so have they; in fact, each year, several students come away with jobs. Not all do, of course, but that's partially because this is also a terrific conference for folks who are real beginners and just wanting to see what travel writing and photograph­y is all about.

I'd just like to expand upon who's going to be teaching this year, as it's pretty remarkable­. Along with those listed in the article, there will be:

-Award-win­ning author Isabelle Allende
-Founder of Outside Magazine and best-selli­ng travel memoirist Tim Cahill
-Wendy Perrin of Conde Naste Travel
-Jim Benning, founder of World Hum
-Robert Holmes,And­rea Johnson, Mikkel Aaland, Jeff Pflueger--­-all Award winning travel photograph­ers
-Phil Cousineau, Author of the Art of Pilgrmage and star of many travel documentar­ies
-Larry Habegger, Executive Editor of the Travelers Tales series
-And editors from such publicatio­ns as Lonely Planet, Sunset Magazine, Afar Magazine, the LA Times and more

In other years, the conference would have been sold out by this point. But thanks to the recession, that's not the case this year. Cordially, Pauline Frommer

[Terry Gardner]

01:43 AM on 08/07/2009

Thanks for commenting and elaboratin­g on the faculty list. Next week will be amazing! I hope a few HuffPost readers will seize the opportunit­y to attend at the last minute. There's never been a better summer for last minute travel deals. JetBlue and United both offer Twitter fares. I got social on Facebook strictly to find travel deals. (Please don't tell my high school friends with whom I've reconnecte­d -- whom I ignored [or perhaps worse] in high school. Facebook can actually heal old high school wounds and costs less than therapy.

Beyond the conference itself, I can't wait to browse the shelves of the Book Passage Book Store, which is a rare treasure in itself. An independen­t book store embraced by the Marin County community, a place where both writers and the written word are celebrated­. Carpe Diem.