Writing & Publishing the Travel Essay with Lavinia Spalding, 2/7 – 3/21 (skip Feb 14)

Lavinia Spalding

Instructor: Lavinia Spalding
Contact: lavinia@laviniaspalding.com
Number of sessions: 6
Meeting time: Thursday Nights, 6:30-9:30 pm
Date: February 7 to March 21, 2013 (skip Feb 14)
Course fee: $350 for six sessions. Spots reserved with $100 deposit.

To register, contact the instructor. All deposits are nonrefundable.

Description: Travel cracks open the mind, and the stories that result can be transformative, terrifying, humorous, and humbling. Discoveries made in foreign lands have the capacity to change who we are as people, and certainly who we are as writers. Do you have a travel tale you’re ready to unleash? Here’s your chance.

In this six-session workshop, you’ll write and revise a personal travel essay, then take steps to get it published. Along the way, we’ll cover the basics of narrative travel writing, from beginning to end, including structure, dialogue, setting, characterization, and story arc. You’ll develop and strengthen your writing voice, awaken your senses, and come to recognize your juiciest, most compelling material. In addition to writing and revising your own story, you’ll read a few published pieces and we’ll talk about what made these essays successful. This is a great opportunity to learn from a professional travel editor not only what an editor looks for in story submissions, but also the invaluable skill of viewing your own writing with an editor’s eye so you can make difficult but essential revisions. We’ll go over tips for submitting writing and working with editors, and you’ll come away with a list of print and online publication outlets. Each class will begin with lively, innovative writing exercises and end with a glass of wine. If you’ve ever aspired to being a published travel writer, consider this your passport.

Instructor Bio: Lavinia Spalding is the editor of the 2011, 2012, and 2013 editions of The Best Women’s Travel Writing. She is the author of Writing Away: A Creative Guide to Awakening the Journal-Writing Traveler, chosen one of the best travel books of 2009 by the L.A. Times, and With a Measure of Grace, the Story and Recipes of a Small Town Restaurant (now in its fifth printing). A regular contributor to Yoga Journal, her work has been featured in a wide variety of national print and online publications, and she is a co-founder of San Francisco’s monthly travel reading series, Weekday Wanderlust.