Write to Travel Heads for the High Seas...

As I write this, I'm sitting in the lobby of Four Points at Sheraton in Sydney, Australia, catching up with emails and blogs before boarding the Dawn Princess for the first leg of it's World Cruise. Traveling with my mother, I will be spending the next 54 days port hopping on our way to England.

During this time, the Write to Travel blog will be taking a sabbatical from travel writing information and instead, will be featuring 'photo of the day' posts tracking my travels.

I'll be writing about life on the high seas over at Planet Eye Traveler and Perceptive Travel Blog.

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1. How Freelance Writers Can Avoid Taking Lower Paying Jobs

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3. 5 Tips for Working in the Midst of Chaos

4. The Freelance Writer's Guide to LinkedIn

5. 6 Tips for Freelance Writers and Authors Who Can’t Pay Their Income Taxes

TED Talk: JK Rowling at Harvard University...

"Harry Potter" author JK Rowling offers advice to dreamers and overachievers at this Harvard University commencement speech.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

A Travel Bloggers Scholarship Fund for TBEX?

Travel blogger Caitlin Fitzsimmons has come up with a novel and innovative way of raising money to get to this years TBEX’10 Travel Bloggers Conference.

She has set up a Send Caitlin to TBEX in NYC project over at Kickstarter with the aim of raising $500 to help cover the costs of travel and accommodation in NYC during the conference.

In return for everyone’s support, Caitlin promises to provide up to date summaries of conference content and conversations to help people who can't attend.

And within two weeks of her trip to New York, will create and publish the following on her Roaming Tales blog:

- an edited video
- at least one post from each of the five boroughs
- two restaurant reviews
- a hotel review

As of today, the Send Caitlin to TBEX in NYC project has raised reached the goal of $500.

But all this got me thinking that maybe now is the time that a travel bloggers scholarship fund, similar to the one created by the Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC), was established to help travel bloggers get to TBEX.

Last year I was one of the grateful recipients of WBC’s scholarship fund. And while what I received wasn’t financially huge, it did make a huge difference to me being able to attend the event.

Dependent on donations on wineries, PR agencies, wine business industry members, and individuals, the WBC scholarship fund will be funding up to 11 wine bloggers at this year’s conference in Walla Walla, Washington. Anyone with a wine blog is encouraged to send in an application describing their blog, their financial needs pertaining to the Wine Bloggers Conference, and why they are deserving on sponsorship. The successful wine bloggers are then chosen through a committee selection process.

Sounds like something that TBEX travel bloggers could easily do. After all, travel bloggers are a generous lot.

All you have to do is look at the results of the Passports with Purpose fundraisers organized by four Seattle travel bloggers. The first one raised over $6000 dollars, the second one well over $25000.

So maybe it’s time we start being generous to each other as well by creating a TBEX scholarship fund for TBEX’11.

Sure sounds like something that everyone should be discussing at this year’s TBEX.

In the meantime, why not make Caitlin the ‘inaugural TBEX scholarship’ recipient by donating to the Send Caitlin to TBEX in NYC fund.

(For more on TBEX'10, check out the TBEX facebook page and follow on the TBEX twitter.)

(cross posted at Perceptive Travel blog)

Travel Writing Course in Morocco...

Tour operators Steppes Travel announced this week a one-off travel writing course in Morocco. Run by author Paul Gogarty, this seven day course will consist of personalised one-on-one private tutoring, feature-writing assignments and daily workshops intermixed with a series of field trips around Marrakech.

At £1,850, it's not cheap. But imagine learning the tricks of the trade while wandering around such a colorful and interesting place.

Dates: 27 September to 3 October 2010

For more information, visit www.steppestravel.co.uk

(via cntraveller.com)

Planet Eye Traveler is looking for Travel Bloggers...

Planet Eye Traveler is hiring travel bloggers for the following positions - Las Vegas, Berlin, and cruising.

Editor Mary Jo Manzanares (aka @flyawaycafe) says while Las Vegas, Berlin, and cruising are her top priorities at present, Planet Eye Traveler is also looking for travel bloggers to write about the following...

Destinations:

Athens
Bangkok
Berlin
Cape Town
Denver
Hong Kong
Las Vegas
Mexico City
Montreal
New Orleans
Paris
Rome
Singapore
Tokyo
Toronto

and niches:

Family travel
Cruises
Green travel

Offering a modest base pay plus bonus structure, these positions won't pay the mortgage but are a great place to build up a travel writing portfolio in a supportive environment.

Applicants need to be passionate and knowledgable about their topic and be able to provide 4 posts a week. WordPress familiarity is important but they are willing to train the right people.

Contact Mary Jo at @flyawaycafe for further details.

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