Introducing MatadorU: Accelerating the Careers of Travel Writers
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TRAVEL WRITING:
After 8 months of work, Matador launches its first educational component, a training course for travel writers at all levels of their careers. More »
How to Bag Your 9 to 5 Job and Write / Travel Full Time
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Since quitting my 9-to-5 job as the assistant director of a mental health agency in 2004 and becoming a full-time traveler and writer, many people have remarked that they envy my lifestyle. What they don’t recognize is that they can create the same kind of life for themselves by following a relatively simple set of steps, which I’ll share with you here. More »
Notes on How Not to Write a Book
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TRAVEL WRITING:
"I went to Chile knowing that this was the moment I would really have to start writing a book, which was a rotten feeling." More »
The 10 Steps to Becoming a Successful Travel Writer
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TRAVEL WRITING:
If you're reading this and following these steps, you're already on the way. More »
10 Steps to Surviving Your First Press Trip
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Organizing beforehand is everything. Learn how. More »
Marketing Language and Youth: 2 Thoughts on Travel Writing Style
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Here's how you can avoid sounding like your travel writing came up through the marketing dept at your local ad agency. More »
3 MORE Things to Never Tell an Editor
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TRAVEL WRITING:
A peek inside a Matador editor’s inbox…and what you can learn from it. More »
3 Sites that Get You Writing Now!
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Here are three websites so full of writing prompts, collaborations, games and exercises you have no choice but to write. More »
8 Ways of Seeing People that Can Sabotage Your Writing
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TRAVEL WRITING:
The way you write begins with the way that you look at the world, at people. More »
10 Words and Phrases We Never Want to See in Travel Writing Again
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TRAVEL WRITING:
These words and phrases have been used too much in travel writing. They're tired. Let them rest. Please. More »
How to Improve Your Travel Writing with Anecdotes
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TRAVEL WRITING:
An anecdote works best when it returns the reader to the story with a new sense of understanding or awareness of the characters.
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How to Get the Most Mileage Out of Your Travel Writing
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TRAVEL WRITING:
From concept to pitch to publication, maximizing readership is about reaching out personally through the internet. More »
Kelsey Timmerman: So You Want to Be an Author?
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TRAVEL WRITING:
"Everyone knew my desire to write, not because I was talking about it all of the time, but because I was doing it. " More »
Write Spontaneously to Unleash your Inner Creativity
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Writing spontaneously & without judgment can strengthen creativity and destroy writers block. More »
Travel Stories: Knowing When to Pitch to an Editor and When to Blog
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TRAVEL WRITING:
How do you decide? More »
11 Magazines, Journals, and Blogs Every Travel Writer Should Know About
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Travel writing tends to get pigeonholed. Here are sites and publications that promote the kind of writing--call/categorize it what you want--we like to read at Matador. More »
4 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting Published
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TRAVEL WRITING:
The biggest problem writers face when trying to get published is getting emotional about the whole process, being reactive instead of proactive. More »
Write Spontaneously to Unleash your Inner Creativity
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Writing spontaneously & without judgment can strengthen creativity and destroy writers block. More »
15 Immortal Opening Lines
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Opening lines have to be good, but sometimes they almost seem immortal. More »
How to Write a Letter
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TRAVEL WRITING:
There is something about a handwritten letter that cannot be touched for all of our technical prowess. The tactile sensation of the paper. The swirl of the script. Nothing will ever replace it. More »
Travel Writing as Punk Rock: 15 Vital Matador Narratives
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TRAVEL WRITING:
You don't mistake travel writing for punk rock. Most of it just isn’t loud or raw enough. But not all. More »
How to Write Narrative Essays Using Scenes
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Like movies, narrative essays are built out of scenes. Here's how. More »
How to Write an Attention-Getting Query
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TRAVEL WRITING:
These two queries show all you have to do to get an editor's attention. More »
Four Ways To Sound Like A Jerk In Your Travel Writing (And How To Avoid Them)
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TRAVEL WRITING:
How can you write about your amazing adventures without sounding like a showoff? More »
Use Hemingway to Improve Your Travel Writing
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TRAVEL WRITING:
How Hemingway's Iceberg model of a good story will improve your travel writing. More »
How To Be A Writer in One Fantastically Simple Step
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LIFE:
People often ask me how to become a writer, and over the years it occurs to me the answer is far simpler than most expect. One simple secret that will turn you instantly into the writer you want to be. More »
Four Ways To Sound Like A Jerk In Your Travel Writing (And How To Avoid Them)
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TRAVEL WRITING:
How can you write about your amazing adventures without sounding like a showoff? More »
How do you advance as a writer?
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Matador editors offer some advice to an aspiring travel writer who asks: How do you get noticed and advance in this profession? More »
3 Writing Styles that Kill Your Authenticity
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TRAVEL WRITING:
These three common marketing 'constructions' completely kill your storytelling authenticity. More »
How to Write Better: 2 Thoughts on Self Awareness
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TRAVEL WRITING:
As a writer I'm sometimes wondering what editors are thinking. As an editor, I'm often wondering what writers are thinking. Here are a few thoughts on writing and the idea of 'self-awareness'. More »
Writing Tips: Tricky Words to Use Correctly and Make an Editor Smile
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TRAVEL WRITING:
The English language is full of traps for writers--here are some to avoid in your professional writing. More »
Thoughts on Plot by Famous Writers
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Notable writers on plot structure, plot development, and the plot of our lives. More »
What Transformers 2 and Terminator Salvation Can Teach About Bad Storytelling
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TRAVEL WRITING:
It’s no secret, Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2 are flimsy, mind-numbing movies. So what can be learned from their storytelling failures? More »
5 Techniques for Writing Bilingual Dialogue
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Suggestions for recreating dialogue that ocurred in more than one language. More »
Use Hemingway to Improve Your Travel Writing
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TRAVEL WRITING:
How Hemingway's Iceberg model of a good story will improve your travel writing. More »
How to Write Better By Exercising Your Observation Skills
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TRAVEL WRITING:
How to deepen your ability to find and tell stories by strengthening your skills in observing the interactions between people. 3 exercises. More »
Material Transparency: manifesto on a writer's personal brand
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Material Transparency is an underpinning or ethic of a writer's personal brand. More »
Writing Tips: How to Avoid Sounding Ridiculous When Using Quotes
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TRAVEL WRITING:
Quotes can add dynamic elements to your story, or kill it almost instantly. More »
