Transform Your Travels Into Meaningful Memoir
It’s easy to ruminate fondly on all the adventures and hilarious (in hindsight) frustrations of your travels. You tell your friends anecdotes of your travails, and they invariably say that you should write this all down. But when you get to that blank page, you don’t know where to start. Here are some ideas to spark your travel […]
A travelogue is a mind on the page, venturing into a new location, informing the reader of one’s impressions. These impressions can be analytical, measured, sharp, and / or whimsical. The form allows the writer to encompass all those highs and lows of travel, as long as your observations are sharp and your writing is […]
I wrote a novel called Hungry for the World and Its Glow. I dreamed of my characters and their lives for two years before writing it. When I did get around to starting it, I experienced some of the best writing moments of my life. But the novel failed. It’s not a unique story. No one […]
With all the planning, searching, experiencing and observing, travel is exhausting. Yet you’ll be kicking yourself once you arrive back home and sit at your desk, trying to recreate those moments without any notes, journal entries or bits of stories to guide you. But how and when do you find the time to write? 5 […]
As scary as the prospect may sound, the best and most effective way to improve your writing is to get constructive feedback on how well you are communicating your story. Writing is, in its essence, a form of communication. You are having a one-sided conversation with another. In order to make your writing the best it […]
So you spent a month in Rome or a summer in Istanbul, or two weeks in Vietnam, or you lived in Morocco for five years, and you want to write about it. A lot happened when you went away, so there’s bound to be some great stories, right? Yet you find yourself either rambling into […]
If you’ve travelled enough, you’ve probably found yourself dealing with some challenging experiences. Perhaps you’ve witnessed an injustice and been part of the effort to help. There were probably times when you felt powerless. I’ve been there. It’s important to write about these experiences, for yourself and for those people you care about. In Dubai, I […]
You can’t predict what’s going to happen on your trip, but you can do a few things to prepare for writing great travel stories: 1. Skim a quick overview of your destination’s history, from ancient to recent. What appeals to you? Are there any stories you find fascinating? Dig deeper. You’re not trying to give yourself […]