Hello, BATW Members – You’re receiving this email version of the June 2009 BATW e-zine/newsletter because you  subscribed to monthly updates from the BATW website.  However, this email only contains 10 posts (including this one), and there are many more new posts this month.  To find out...

BATW’s June meeting at Inn Marin in Novato includes overnight and program by marketing expert Penny Sansevieri June 13 at 10 a.m. Please note: The meeting is on the second Saturday this month. Our June 13 meeting will take place at the beautiful Inn Marin in Novato—about 30 minutes north of San Francisco....

BATW president Diane LeBow is attending a food, wine and culture conference in Sicily and will write about her trip next month.

All BATW members are encouraged to submit their best works, as published over the last two years, to our BATW Best Writing & Photography Awards 2010. Judges will include print and online editors from across the country, and cash prizes and/or travel packages will be awarded. For complete Information...

The Bay Area Travel Writers organization, based in San Francisco, announces its latest travel book and travel article competition for writers from around the United States and the world. Travel journalists, writers and authors are welcome to enter Planet Earth Awards 2010 with works of this description: Travel...

You’ve watched the BATW newsletter evolve from paper-based to PDF to this online e-zine. “  Newsletter” doesn’t adequately describe the new format, though, so we’re having a contest to rename the new incarnation of the BATW newsletter. Thanks to the San Francisco Convention...

Thanks go to Karen Misuraca for sending this information about BATW members who deserve congratulations for winning awards in the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) Western Chapter travel writing contest: Guide Book: Bronze:  Bruce Whipperman Moon Handboks Guadalajara Avalon Travel Travel Column Silver:...

Diane Covington (left) and her long-lost almost-adopted “brother” Gilbert Desclos with his wife, Huguette, and daughter, Cathy, and Cathy’s sons, Benoit and Romain, in San Francisco Congratulations to Diane Covington who has a very sweet and emotional story titled “Finding Gilbert“...

Diane Covington’s essay “Finding Gilbert” appears in the June issue of Reader’s Digest.  Below she shares the journey she and her story went on to arrive at that success, and she offers tips and encouragement to other writers: The bottom line?  Believe in your story and never give up!

William “Bill” Foster, a fabulous photographer based in Sacramento, gave an excellent presentation about how to use the internet, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other web tools to promote writers and photographers at the May BATW meeting at the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco.