TRAVEL WRITING WORKSHOP

*** Travel for free? Get paid for it? Get published? Sounds like a tall order, doesn't it?

When I was getting started as a freelance writer, many of my first published pieces were travel articles. I spent hours diligently searching Writer's Market and what I discovered was that there were more calls for travel articles (even from magazines that were not "travel" magazines) than just about any other subject.

I learned on my own, and slowly. If there'd been something like a Travel Writing Workshop led by someone who'd been there and done that I'm sure I could have progressed much faster.

I wrote and sold pieces about the museums of Amsterdam, the tiny out-of-the way museums of New York City, movie theatres in New York that showed old and foreign movies, a man who displayed his hand-carved miniature circus at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, and many more. A piece I wrote on the luxurious sleeper-flights from New York to Los Angeles in the 1930s was published in an inflight magazine and then reprinted in Modern Maturity. Two checks for one article!

In other words, travel writing was a wide-open doorway for this beginning writer to start getting checks.

One of the great things about travel writing is that you don't have to give up your day job. (You may decide to later!) You can use your vacation time to put together travel articles; and you can write travel articles about your own home town and the area around it. It's home and maybe old-hat to you, but it's a travel destination to everybody else!

You can start the Travel Writing Workshop right now. You'll receive six carefully crafted and stimulating writing exercises. When you finish each one you'll get the next one.

Here are some of the things you'll learn:

• How to choose your subject, and how to find some "peg" or unusual focus that will help you write it and sell it.
• How to get started. How to use the writing talent you already have (and you probably haves more than you think you do) to write successful travel articles.
• How to find the perfect markets for your work, and how to submit it so that it gets noticed, and gets published.
• How to get chosen for "press trips" to exotic locales.

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Rather than tell you about the Workshop myself, I've asked Mike A. Williams, one of the participants in a recent workshop, to give you an idea of what to expect.

Mike's comments on his experience with my Short Story Workshop:

"I didn't have time to write; my plans were to continue with my 'real' career another 10 or 15 years, and then I would be able to take up writing. But...this seemed like a good opportunity to test my wings a little in a no-pressure situation. The cost was low enough and the time commitment was small enough, so I said 'What the heck' and signed up.

"Right from the start, I was impressed with the format. Simple but effective techniques to help me get into it slowly....Just one easy step, then another, and before I knew it, half the story was already written. And then came the first draft, very rough, but worthy of the effort to polish it. That was a critical point for me, because I almost quit then (didn't know that, did you Roy?) My story ending was awful but I didn't have anything in mind to improve it. But the simple yet effective and timely advice that Roy gave at this point was to just sit down and write, even when you don't feel like it. I did, and the ending came, and I'm quite proud of it.

"Roy is a real pro, and it shows. In my opinion, he has great instincts for what makes good writing and he can see how a story should be changed to make it more effective. He gives concrete reasons to back up his comments when he knows he's right and lets you know when he's just offering suggestions for you to think about. He takes your writing seriously and gives you what you paid for--serious help to become a better writer.

"I learned a lot of things during this short workshop. If I wait 10 or 15 years to start my writing career, I'll be 10 or 15 years behind where I could be if I start now. I still don't have time to write, but I'm going to do it anyway. One story at a time."

The Short Story Workshop is in six parts—as you finish each assignment, I'll send you the next one. It's conducted entirely by email (you don't even have to get out of your pajamas!).

Email me at RoySorrels2@aol.com for the current tuition and with any questions you may have.

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*** Are you willing to spend two weeks, seven days a week, 30 minutes per day, to banish writer's block forever?

My Beyond Writer's Block workshop is for writers who know they have it in them to write, who want to write, but who are blocked.

You'll learn the ideas, principles, techniques, strategies, activities, behaviors, and actions that I've spent several years developing to get you started writing and keep you writing freely and much more easily well beyond the end of the workshop.

Writer's block is the most common problem that writers face, even very talented writers. I can help you eliminate it from your life once and for all with techniques I've used many times with individual clients and in Beyond Writer's Block Workshops.

When you sign up, this is how it works: early every morning (Sundays off!) for two weeks you'll receive an email from me with ideas and strategies that can help you write freely and more creatively whenever and wherever you want to. You'll also receive a writing prompt / challenge / question / assignment / nudge. You'll spend 30 minutes writing (more, of course, if you're on a roll), and you'll be free to share what you've written with me and receive my comments.

When it's appropriate I'll suggest how you might turn what you've written into a publishable piece.

That's a description of what I'll do. Here's what you have to do to make the workshop work: you have to come with an open mind, ready to consider ideas and try things that may be completely new to you; you have to actually devote 30 minutes a day to the workshop; and you have to be willing to accept success.

Email me at RoySorrels2@aol.com for the current tuition and with any questions you may have.

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You have a story to tell that no one on the planet can duplicate. You.ve been places, seen things, done things, made accomplishments, overcome obstacles, loved and been loved in ways unique to you.

And nobody can tell your story except you. Most of us tend to think our lives are too ordinary to write about, and we're wrong!

Do you want to share your life's adventures and the wisdom you've gained with your children, your grandchildren, and generations to come? It's a gift only you can give them, and it's a way that some part of you and your life can live on.

Or do you want to join the people who are writing and publishing their memoirs to share with the world? Memoirs are, as you probably know, a hot item in the publishing world.

For several years, when I was living in the expatriate community in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico I conducted my LifeStory Workshop more than a dozen times for people who wanted to write about their lives. I developed and tested powerful strategies and effective techniques that anyone can use to make the process easier, more productive, and even fun.

You can use the techniques we developed. You'll work on writing your life story for 6 weeks.

Writers of all levels, from absolute beginners to experienced writers are welcome.

This is how it works:

It's a workshop in six parts—as you finish each, I'll send you the next one. You'll receive the techniques and strategies I've spent years developing. You'll sharpen your creative remembering skills, learn how to write about your life clearly and effectively and with depth, truth, and humor.

If you're already turning out life story material, however, you can just send me what you've been working on—maximum 1,000 words at a time.

I'll read what you've written and send you a careful, creative, supportive critique, telling you what you're doing well, and making specific suggestions to make it even better.

When you finish the workshop you'll be well on your way, armed with new strategies and techniques, to telling your own personal story!

Email me at RoySorrels2@aol.com for the current tuition and with any questions you may have.

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