Getting it wrong on jet lag
Posted: August 27, 2012 Contents: Resources | Tags: jet lag, new york times, stephanie rosenbloom, travel journalism, travel writing 1 Comment »A New York Times travel advice column got it wrong on one aspect of jet lag.
Stephanie Rosenbloom, the Getaway columnist, advised that when flying east…
you must expose yourself to light early, advancing your body clock so that it will be in sync with the new time zone.
That’s the opposite of what experts advise, as the example she cited points out. When flying east, you should delay exposing yourself to light so as to retard your body clock’s syncing with the new time zone.
This isn’t new advice: I remember reading 15 years ago about air travelers from the U.S. arriving in London wearing welder’s goggles until noon or thereafter. Dark sunglassses are just as effective — and more fashionable.
SmartBrief, a news feed for travel aggregators
Posted: August 25, 2012 Contents: Chapter 6 | Tags: aggregation, asta, smartbrief, travel aggregators, travel blog, travel journalism, travel writing 1 Comment »Aggregation, or “curation” as some bloggers prefer it, is the practice of blogging about content created by others.
Most aggregators set up feeds that push content to them. SmartBrief is a daily e-newsletter that pushes content about 25 key industries — including travel. Ten travel-related associations have signed on as partners with SmartBrief to add its advertising messages to the content SmartBrief aggregates and email to subscribers. It’s free, current and useful.
I subscribe to the ASTA-partnered feed and find at least one thing of value daily.
A new approach to the three-by-three model
Posted: August 25, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: McDonalds, three-by-three model, travel journalism, travel writing 8 Comments »The three-by-three model described in Chapter 4 accomplishes two imperatives for the travel journalist. One is journalistic excellence. The other is journalistic efficiency. In other words, get as much good stuff as possible for the least investment of time and money.
The model proposes that the travel journalist report, write and publish (or prepare to publish) three stories over a three-week cycle. Week One is at-home pre-work. Week Two is the reporting trip. Week Three is back-at-home writing and publishing.
I explored a variant of the model during a recent reporting trip to Prague. I was there to test-drive TOL’s Foreign Correspondent course. The at-home pre-work assignment was to come up with a story idea. Instead of three stories — one sure thing, a story that emerges from serendipity, and a story based on gathering string — as…
New edition of best “how-to” text published
Posted: August 25, 2012 Contents: Resources | Tags: jacqueline harmon butler, louis purwin zobel, the travel writers handbook, travel journalism, travel writing Leave a comment »I advised in Resources that travel journalists with time to read just one of the “how-to” texts should order The Travel Writer’s Handbook: How to Write — and Sell — Your Own Travel Experiences. That was the 6th edition, published in 2007, in which Louise Purwin Zobel and Jacqueline Harmon Butler provided comprehensive, coherent, accessible advice.
A 7th edition was published in April 2012, and is stronger in several ways. Most importantly, this edition recognizes that opportunities to publish in print are in decline, and most new opportunities are to be found online.
Butler handled the new edition on her own. Zobel died in June 2008.
