New Article at 'the traveler's notebook'...

I have a new article online at the traveler's notebook ...

How To Work New Zealand Wineries

FYI: Am off to Wellington for the weekend so there'll be no posts till Monday.

365 days later….

Wow! I just realized that today My Year of Getting Published turns ONE…



Seems like only yesterday that I decided to go out on a limb and announce to the world (ie cyberspace) that I was on a journey to become a freelance travel writer.

Here’s what I said (October 31, 2006)

“I’ve been saying for years that I am a writer. Problem is, I haven’t done much about it, expecting, I guess, someone to come along and say ‘want to write for us’. This year, I finally decided to do something about this desire to write - I started writing and reading and planning. A business plan was developed, I researched the business of freelance writing, created a website and started blogging. And now it is time to get published.

So this is ‘my year of getting published’ and it starts on Halloween night . Might as well feel the fear and do it anyway.”

Since then I have written 368 posts discussing my successes and failures, provided writing tips and resources, and generally rambling on…

Along the way I have learned a great deal, made lots of ‘blogging’ friends, and discovered the joys and trials of freelance writing. And I found other travel writers, many of whom were generous enough to offer tips and advice and even participate in my ‘Interview with a Travel Writer’ series..

I also discovered online writing.

Before My Year of Getting Published, my focus was tunnel visioned - trying to get published in print magazines and newspapers. Now I realize that there are just as many, if not more, writing opportunities online.

I can now call myself a ‘professional blogger’ with my paid writing gig over at Alzheimer’s Notes and Christchurch Tour Guide.

I feel that I have managed to dip my toes into the water but am still a long way away from being able to swim.

A BIG THANKS to everyone for spending time with me and my blog. Without you all, My Year of Getting Published would have quickly sunk. The support, comments, and help that been offered throughout the year has ensured the survival of the blog and my determination to continue pursuing my dream...

Stick around…there’s so much more to come.

So much more to learn…
So much more to discover…
So much more to share…

Monthly Roundup...(September)

Hi everyone. I am now back in New Zealand and am trying to recover from jetlag and the post-travel blues…plus the cold weather that has greeted me.

Needless to say, I haven’t done much on the writing front in September. No articles or query letters were sent out. I was too busy in Spain and New York City experiencing the travel to actually write about it. But I hope to fix that this month by sending out numerous query letters and articles about places and activities that I have discovered during my travels.

I had a great month travelling. I meet so many interesting and entertaining people along the way. In Madrid, I met up with Abha Malpani from the Written Road blog…you can read about our meeting here. It was great to talk with Abha who has done something that I often consider but haven’t quite yet got the courage to do. She dropped out of her former life in Public Relations/ Media and moved to a foreign country - ie Spain - to learn the language and pursue her desire to become a successful writer. She’s doing okay with this, teaching English to Spaniards, writing online content for Gridskipper, Written Road, Map Magazine, and now Vagablogging building up both contacts and content, and immersing herself in the Spainish culture…it really is quite inspiring.

In New York City, I finally got caught up with Wendy Perrin of Conde Nast Traveler magazine and The Perrin Post. We had a great lunch at the Gramercy Tavern and chatted away for a couple of hours about writing and blogging.

I’ll be spending the rest of this week posting some more about my travels and then will be back to the usual format of resources and interviews…

Meanwhile, here’s few interesting articles about the post-travel blues…

6 Simple Ways To Beat the Post-Travel Blues

Post Holiday Blues

The coming home blues

Monthly Roundup...(August)

August seems to have flown by. Between organizing and pre-posting for Alzheimer’s Notes and getting ready for the trip to Spain and New York, I’ve once again found very little time to send out query letters. I did manage to send out a few (I think around 4 but lost track somewhere) but none of them resulted in an assignment (yet!!!).

One more sleep and then I’ll be on the plane heading for Madrid (via Sydney, Bangkok, and London). It’s going to be a long, long, long flight. I get tired just thinking about it…

I’ll be turning this blog into a travelogue (technology allowing!!) while I’m away. I’m armed with a laptop and digital camera, so providing I can find WiFi hotspots, I should be able to post. Time will tell.

So stick around and follow my adventure…

Monthly Roundup...(July)

July was the month that I discovered that you cannot squeeze any more than 24 hours out of a day…in other words, I ran out of time.

Between work, trip planning, and learning how to use all the new technology (iPod and digital camera), I had no time to write.

So, for the first month since I started My Year of Getting Published, I did not send out a single query letter…

I had drafts written, ideas and markets in my head, and a determination to get them sent out. But time just ran out…

I did manage, however, to manage to continue to post to this blog, as well as Alzheimer’s Notes and Christchurch Tour Guide.

I did complete my trip planning - flights, accommodations, sightseeing timetable.

I have been downloading music, audio books, and travel information to the iPod.

I am gradually becoming more comfortable with the new digital camera.

And I will send out the query letters this month…

Monthly Roundup...(June)

Another month gone. And what did I do::

Query letters

- eight query letters sent (2 responses so far: “Thanks … but will give this story a miss” and “Sorry…we already have someone doing just this …”)

- one application sent for blogging position at Creative Weblogging (no response yet!)

Blog Carnival

- Hosted Carnival of Cities over at my Christchurch Tour Guide blog.

Blogging

- wrote (almost) daily posts at My Year of Getting Published.
- wrote 4-5 posts a week at Alzheimer’s Notes.
- wrote 2-3 posts a week at Christchurch Tour Guide.

Miscellaneous

- starting to organize my trip to New York and Spain.

Monthly Roundup...(May)

Another month done. It’s the first day of winter here in New Zealand. And so far, it’s been a mild one. In fact, the last couple of weeks have been great - sunny days which have warmed up nicely after a slight frost. But you know winter is coming because there’s less daylight. Personally, I can’t wait for the shortest day to get here and then we’ll be heading back to summer….

It was a slow May writing wise. I think I overdid things in April and early May with the two freelance conferences and completing a couple of writing assignments. I seemed to have run out of energy….so I did very little for the rest of the month.

What I did do:

Query letters

- one to an online magazine (no response as of yet)
- one answering ad at Freelance Writing Jobs (got response but decided it wasn’t for me)

Blog Carnival

- Creating the Travel Writers Carnival seemed like a good idea at the time but it fell through as all the submissions were travel articles rather than on the craft of travel writing.
- submitted two posts from Christchurch Tour Guide to the weekly Carnival of Cities.

Blogging

- wrote daily posts at My Year of Getting Published.
- wrote 18 posts at Alzheimer’s Notes.
- wrote 20 posts at Christchurch Tour Guide.

Contests

- entered the Problogger Top 5 group writing project.
- sent entry to the Travel Rant Blog a Thon Challenge

Miscellaneous

- organized for a guest blogger (Sheila Scarborough) to report on SOBCon07.
- joined Media Bistro so that I could access the How to Pitch articles.

....

And that was May...

Stay tuned for June as I have great plans afoot...