Travel Writing 201, Tips from Three Pros

I'm still thinking about our Travel writing seminar at the Javits Center on Saturday. It was exciting to have an audience of 180 listening to every idea we had about how to break into the travel writing business. I was impressed because many of the people in the audience were already experienced writers, yet they felt that we could offer them something.

It's always nice to spend time around people who think they've got something to learn. I mean, who knows it all, right? After I got back to the office I published a story that summarizes Julia, Kent and my point of view about this topic, with each of our own tips.

I sent this out in email--D'OH!--with the wrong URL. Boy that's bad internet form. So here is a link to the story, and I hope that if you're an aspiring travel writer this helps you too. Thanks to Shoul for this excellent photo!

Globe Comes West to Feature the GoNOMAD Cafe

WOW the Boston Globe included a half-page article about the cafe in their Sunday Travel section. Featured in the photo prominently is Elizabeth Bagley, our barista who just returned from Amsterdam, where she traveled to write a story for the website.

Diane Daniels had written about me before, during Kate's wedding in the Dominican Republic. She was in town last summer, so she wrote about us, and I must say she got it all right. Here's a snippet and the link to the piece.

Lhasa, Lisbon, latte at Deerfield stop

SOUTH DEERFIELD -- "This is a traveler s cafe, a little teeny travelers cafe," said Max Hartshorne, with a sweeping gesture toward his compact, map-filled GoNomad Cafe. "It's about computers, travel, and coffee. All the things I love.

Hartshorne has owned and edited gonomad.com since 2002, when he purchased the online travel magazine from founder Lauryn Axelrod of Pawlet, Vt. The popular site and international travel portal focuses on alternative and independent travel. Hartshorne, 48, and a staff of five work in an office in the back of the cafe.

"Now instead of saying come to my office, I say, come to my cafe. Every office should have a cafe," he said.

At the GoNomad Cafe, the menu is coffee, lattes, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches, and pastries. Time at the cafe's five computers is a minimum $6 per hour, and there is free wireless Internet.

"About once every other month I go somewhere overseas," said Hartshorne, who was planning then to head to Austria . "I love the ambience of computer cafes."

At GoNomad, Hartshorne has created a total travel-themed look and feel, from the map cutouts on the wall to the guide books available for reading, in the cafe and its restrooms.

While Internet cafes may be more common in urban areas (and nearly fixtures abroad) , Hartshorne said the town sees a steady stream of visitors, thanks in part to its proximity to Historic Deerfield and the Yankee Candle Co.

"You'd be surprised," he said. "People go through Deerfield all the time."