Feb. 20 Meeting: BATW Awards Presentation
It’s time again to celebrate and honor BATW members for outstanding writing and photography. This year the awards committee received more submissions than ever before. We will also be giving out our Planet Earth Award (open to travel writers everywhere), which is for travel writing that helps sustain or enhance the unique and valuable character of a place—its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and/or the well-being of its residents. And we will be giving our Rebecca Bruns Award, which honors an individual who inspires others—by creativity, hard work, dedication to craft and commitment to BATW.
BATW President Diane LeBow writes about: upcoming awards presentations; Roy Stearns, California State Parks Deputy Director; Cavallo Point; big hits with BATW members; and the 2010 Board of Directors.
Welcome to New Members
BATW is delighted to welcome two new active members: Georgia Hesse and Kenneth Smith.
March, 2010, BATW Meeting: Candy Harrington & Establishing Your Brand
Marketing is essential for travel writers. Even if you don’t have a book or product to sell, you can still use branding to promote your expertise to editors so they will come to you with assignments. Candy Harrington will talk about how to establish yourself as an expert and promote yourself in print, the web and radio. Learn the essential steps of finding your niche, building your platform and establishing your brand, and how this can help you beef up your bottom line.
- February 8: Laurie McAndish King Reads Her “Inspirational” Poems for Valentine’s Day — Feb. 8, 2010
- February 9: Photographers: Re-Boot Your Business Brain — Feb. 9
- February 10: California Journalism Awards Contest — Deadline Feb. 10
- February 11: Dave Eggers & His Editors Speak in Berkeley — Feb. 11
- February 16: Northern Lights Awards for Excellence in Travel Journalism & Photography: Deadline Feb. 16, 2010
- February 16: Symposium for Professional Wine Writers in Napa Valley — Feb. 16-19, 2010
- February 19: San Miguel International Writers Conference in Mexico — Feb. 19-23
- February 20: Feb. BATW Event: Travel Writing & Photography Awards at Book Passage in Corte Madera
- February 28: “National Geographic Traveler” Photography Workshop in San Francisco — Feb. 28
- February 28: Heartbreak Competition — Deadline Feb. 28, 2010
Congratulations are certainly in order for Morton Beebe whose photographs will be included in the Smithsonian exhibit “Christo & Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972-76.” (photo © Morton Beebe)
Funny Photos — Can You Guess What’s Happening Here?
Ohmygawd — what is that woman doing? She doesn’t look entirely happy.
Bob Ecker’s Travel Quiz is Really Fun
Bob Ecker has posted his “First Annual Travel Quiz,” and it’s really, really fun.
Jay Gordon shares Google’s own guide to search engine optimization (SEO) so you can bring more traffic to your website. Thank you, Jay.
Top 10 Green Thingamablogs
Thanks to Sandy Sims for contributing a list of “Top 10 Green Thingamablogs”: green energy blogs. She suggests that this information could help members researching articles.
Tips: International List of Holidays & BBC News Stories Database
Sheila O’Connor sends links to some very cool information: holidays around the world and a database of BBC news stories.
Lakshman Ratnapala points out that “A new study that for the first time measures the return on investment of business travel finds the average business in the U.S. would forfeit 17 percent of its profits in the first year of eliminating business travel, and it would take more than three years for profits to recover.” He also has important information about travel to Antarctica. (photo © Morton Beebe)
Roy Stearns Gives Updates on California State Parks at Jan. Meeting at Cavallo Point — by April Orcutt
Roy Stearns, the Deputy Director of California State Parks, talked to BATW members about the California State Park system at the BATW meeting at Cavallo Point on Jan. 16, 2010. Members pressed him about the serious issues surrounding funding of California’s exceptional state park system. (photos © John Montgomery)
“L.A. Times”: “Freelance Writing’s Unfortunate New Model” by James Rainey
The “Los Angeles Times” ran an article about the dismal state of freelance writing: “Freelance Writing’s Unfortunate New Model” by James Rainey.
Georgia Hesse writes: “When Walter Elias Disney was born on Dec. 5, 1901, did anybody ponder the Sagittarius stars? If they had, they might have considered the Archer who represented the child’s sign: a Centaur (half man, half beast) flinging his arrows (ideas?) in all directions. Enthusiastic, they might have predicted: overdosed with optimism; adventuresome, outgoing, curious, generous, exceedingly verbal.” (photo © Walt Disney Family Museum)
“San Francisco Getaway — Golden Gate Bridge View from Marin” — by Jay Gordon
Jay Gordon writes: “San Francisco’s best view may not be in San Francisco; it could be of San Francisco. Fort Baker, a former U.S. Army post, is just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. It is home to Cavallo Point Lodge, the jewel of the 335-acre Golden Gate National Park with a view of the city of San Francisco, framed by the Golden Gate Bridge.” (photo © Jay Gordon))
“Seven Incredible Adventures” — by Ginny Prior
Ginny Prior writes: “When it comes to travel, it’s all about the list. The top ten this, the top five that. . . . So here is a “bucket list” of real adventures – hand-picked by the Happy Wanderer over years of wild living. These are not for the faint of heart. They are action-packed adventures for the daring and strong-boned and able.”