BACK WHEN I was doing a lot of remixing and audio production I always dreamed about having some kind of ‘brain machine’ that would simply extract whatever rhythms or melodies you were hearing in your head and export them directly to .wav files.

Obviously this is still a ways downstream, but I have no doubt there will be something like it eventually, with odds on Google as the people who figure it out.

Anyway, a few days ago our new associate editor Candice Walsh sent me an invite to try Google Wave, and it reminded me of the brain machine, or at least the spirit of the brain machine concept. If you haven’t heard about it yet, here’s an overview.

The best way I can describe it (admittedly after just messing around), is to compare it to Twitter. You invite people to join in a new “wave” (kind of like a timeline) and everyone can add updates / ideas / photos. The whole thing is then collected in a kind of live document known as a Google “Wave.”

The reason why I compare it to Twitter is that the creation of the wave happens in real-time, and you can actually go back and use a control panel similar to a MP3 player to ‘replay’ it.

This ‘live’ element makes Google Wave particularly interesting for applications like group brainstorms, the kind of thing we do a lot of here at Matador. You can actually ’see’ people typing, which gives a uniquely transparent look at how they work / think. Until they come up with the Brain Machine, I think this is potentially the most exciting aspect of new technology, (and one that should interest writers in particular), the ability to work with other people to create multimedia content in real time.

Also of interest to writers and journalists will be using Wave to create more in-depth back-channel conversations, a form of ‘augmented reality’, during media coverage of events. Earlier this month, freshnetworks blogged about using Google Wave vs. Twitter at conferences, pondering the future of both, and asking if “augmented reality” (a term which honestly seems to fit a stoner’s lexicon better than social media) – will be the next “major influence?”

The one drawback that I see so far is that Google Wave does not seem intuitive at all. Basically most of us are used to thinking linearly when it comes to writing emails, chatting, and using the computer in general. You go from one line to the next. Google Waves are organic, non-linear, more like a map (the Wave engineers were the same who created Google Maps). The conversations can sprout multiple branches, each leading in different directions.

If you’ve received an invite and are having trouble getting started, an excellent resource is Get Started with Google Wave.

Community Connection

Travelers, writers: what experience have you had so far with Google Wave? How do you see being able to use it as a writer?

Let us know in the comments below.

AS WRITERS, any tasks that take away from writing time can quickly become tedious and frustrating.

None, at least to me anyway, seems more of a time-suck than dealing with social media.

It’s taken me forever, but I’ve finally started using something that Matador Video Editor Joshywashington clued me into several month ago, Ping.

Ping is a dead simple way to update literally dozens (most likely all) of the new media and social media apps and even blogs you’re writing by sending whatever text / photos / tags/ html via an easy to use dashboard. You can choose to update blogs (at Tumblr, Blogger or Wordpress.com, among others) or update status (at Twitter, Facebook and dozens of others) and also add to YouTube, Vimeo and other content sharing sites.

For people just getting started with social media, updating multiple blogs / apps might seem strange or unnecessary, but for spreading your message and building your brand, each one of these little updates and posts helps to further increase your internet footprint.

Ping is super easy to get started using. Try simply opening your account and then adding a test post to your blog or twitter account. From there you’ll get the feel.

Community Connection

For recent tips on social media and branding for travel writers, check out How to Develop a Personal Brand as a Writer as well as becoming a Twitter Ninja: Understanding Rewtweets.

Also, does anyone have any particular tips or expertise for using Ping? Please share with us in the comments below.

My new barrio (Arrayanes), Piltriquitron in backround.

Admittedly crappy photo (Malbec, cold hands).

AFTER 6 DAYS I feel like I know at least where the sun rises.

This time of year it comes up over the northern flank of Cerro Piltriquitron, just north of the most jagged comb ridge.

Arriving in a new place there’s that need to ubicar, to locate, and not just external things like where they sell homemade bread or empanadas or bed sheets, but to actually be ubicado, to feel yourself located in the place.

For me it always begins with place names and terrain features of the surrounding foothills and outlying ranges, any water–rivers, oceans–as well as prevailing wind or weather directions. In places where the urban or suburban landscape is so sprawled that none of these landmarks are available (Buenos Aires) getting located seems more an act of trust.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. I woke up in a semi-funk, a new reality seeming to set in that (a) in all my time traveling (probably 3 years combined) I’ve never really thought of myself as an ‘ex-pat’ but I sort of felt like one now, and (b) I have no real emotional reference or precedent for any of this. My default reaction was to head up into the mountains.

Chacras below Piltriquitron. Image: Tetsumo

I took the road past our land then cut north on Camino de los Nogales. This is the most desirable land in all of Patagonia, and chacras, or farms (most of them organic) run along both sides of the road all the way to the foot of Cerro Piltriquitron.

Except for the Caranchos (Polyborus plancus), these kind of South American hawks that have wings shaped like condors’, there seemed to be no movement or people anywhere. I realized it was siesta.

Up the road were broad fields with rows of raspberry bushes and hops for the local breweries. All along the edges grew lupine and other wildflowers. It was hot enough, finally, that I took off my polypro shirt and moved under the shade of the Nogales (walnut trees).

After a while I found a horse trail which veered away from the road and along a forest preserve. At one point I saw movement, which turned out to be two horses. One had his head down feeding, then raised his neck up and transfixed me with ultra pale blue eyes. Then they both disappeared into the woods.

Another 10 minutes of walking and I found an easy place to duck through the fence wires. This wasn’t necessarily the high mountain access I was looking for, but then it seemed like this hidden patch of woods was actually better–out of the sun, out of view.

When I’m feeling depressed it helps to temporarily disappear (ideally inside a wave but that’s a different story), and I realized that in some ways this was as off the map as I’d been in a long time. In what guidebook or any book was this little patch of native Cypress forest?

Later I walked back to town and bought a couple folding chairs and my own little Thanksgiving dinner, a thin carving of bife de lomo with mashed potatoes, which I intended to prepare later with emotionally bolstering doses of raw garlic, fresh parsley, and Malbec.

That evening I was on my pre-dinner wine-stroll through the neighborhood, trying to get a good picture (seemed impossible), and on the way back, there was the moment, finally, where I officially met all the kids who live next door (13, somehow all under the ages of 15).

The way you interact with the local kids in a new place is probably the single most important (and revealing) situation you face as that privileged mofo now living in their neighborhood. No psychoanalyst or therapist can ever give you a more honest or dead-on assessment of who you are than the kids who seem to be playing all day in the dirt, but actually have their eyes on you all the time, and see through fronts.

What soccer in Patagonia looks like. Image: jaytkendall

Anyway, I had a cup of wine in my hand. The whole crew was in the area between our two houses, the two oldest boys with a soccer ball. One of them saw me coming and meant to get out of the way but then realized I was actually coming for the ball.

He tried to dribble past me then but I shot in and got the ball (saying something which came out, I think as, Huaa!) then dribbled around in the dust holding my wine-cup above our heads (both of us laughing) until he, of course, got the ball back. Little dude actually had on cleats.

“What’s in your cup?“ the kid asked.

“Wine,” I said. “Today is a holiday where I’m from [this seemed like a good justification] Thanksgiving.”

“Where are you from?”

“Georgia. Los Estados Unidos. Te ubicas? It’s the state right above Florida.”

The whole circle of the kids closed in then, three other boys, and four girls aged from 5 to maybe 10, each carrying on her hip a different dirt-faced and hugely-smiling baby.

I simultaneously thought (a) if only I could take a picture of these faces right now, of how stoked they are, (b) if my mom saw the picture she’d probably see first how dirty they are and then every other potential emotion / perception would likely be blocked out except for fear and anxiety over my choice to come down here, and (c) how stoked is Layla going to be to meet this crew?

The girls wanted to show off the babies to me. The boys wanted to know if I had a car (I pointed to my shoes.) I explained to everyone that my wife Lau and daughter Layla were coming next week along with our fat cat Lulu and our dog Julio.

I asked about their dogs, which one was the most bravo, and then as if on cue there was some kind of movement in the bushes down the street and all 3 of their dogs took off with their cat taking the opportunity to escape out the back of the yard. Immediately all of the boys started hollering and running after them.

After this I slid back home and skyped my parents for Thanksgiving. The stoke level which I had guarded rather shakily all day seemed to evaporate instantly as I listened to my mom’s plaintive voice describing the ‘concert’ performed by the cousins’ kids. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to listen to that, it’s just that the questions we should’ve been asking each other–how are you–were caught up somehow, unable to flow.

I know they’re suffering because to them I’m no longer ubicado. Seattle was far away from Florida but still essentially on the map. Patagonia is an abstract concept, someplace unimaginably distant (even if it’s not), even though we’re still talking right there on the phone.

The Sun is past morning angles now, high over the valley, although this house has yet to warm up. To locate and be located, not off in some dream or illusion but right at ground level, wherever you are when you finish reading or writing, wherever you are when you fall asleep or wake back, blinking there for a few minutes as you look out your tent or window: you just want to keep telling yourself, your family, everyone, “Don’t be afraid, be stoked! This is all of us together, just moving downstream, you see?”

Community Connection

How do you reconcile traveling in totally different directions than you your friends and family? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo: Laura Bernhein

Ben Polansky

1. Love of my family
2. Company of my friends
3. The touch of my girlfriend
4. The cool side of the pillow.
5. The smile from the woman at the bakery on my way to work.
6. Playing music with my friends.
7. The sunny side of the street on a cool day in San Francisco.
8. The tickle of a cue tip in my ear.
9. Listening to old Blues records on a rainy day.
10. Surfing at sunset.
11. My goddaughter’s curly hair.
12. Sticking my face in a warm pile of laundry.
13. Napping in a hammock in the sun.
14. A hard day’s work.
15. Watching young people learn.
16. Watching old people learn.
17. Ice cubes in my orange juice.
18. Listening to Barack Obama talk about hope and change
19. Teaching someone something new.
20. Reading people’s travel blogs about adventure and discovery on Matador.

Julie Schwietert

21. A stack of books brought home from the library, even when I know I’ll never finish them all.
22. The memories of listening to people’s stories as I traveled this year.
23. Watching weavers crush moss, berries, and nuts in Teotitlan del Valle, Mexico, as they make natural dyes.
24. Cooking with my husband.
25. The warmth of my dog as she jumps into bed in the morning.
26. Reading articles written by people living the Matador vision.
27. Reading a line that resonates so deeply it makes me see something in a new way.
28. Guessing the spices and ingredients in the food we eat.
29. Dreaming about going back to places I’ve been.
30. Making plans for the after-school program in Colombia.
31. Having found long-lost friends this year.
32. Thinking about learning a new language online.
33. Waking up from a good sleep.
34. Knowing the day will be incredible when the morning coffee is just right.
35. Pulling up the window shade and seeing a brilliant blue sky.
36. Receiving a real letter.
37. Checking the mail.
38. Leaving home.
39. Going home.
40. Having the opportunity to meet up in person with people I’ve met online via Matador– in Mexico, in the US.
41. Knowing that Matador members went to Cuba this year and saw things for themselves…and had an amazing experience.
42. Thinking back to election night and seeing images of people around the world gathered together, in communities, dancing in the streets.
43. Wandering markets in Mexico.
44. Thinking about January 20, 2009.
45. Feeling better after you’ve been feeling bad.
46. Reading blogs of Matador members outside the Matador community: www.bigsweettooth.com, www.miller-david.com, and others
47. Reading what makes other people grateful.

Al

48) Competition
49) Running really fast
50) Building, supporting, and maintaining a family
51) Fathering
52) Bob Marley tunes anywhere anytime
53) Kisses
54) Health
55) Cool breeze on a hot day
56) Warmth of a fire at night
57) Homecomings
58) Barefeet on grass
59) Barefeet in sand
60) Taking off your shoes and socks after a long day
61) Mixed couples
62) Biracial Children
63) Dancing
64) A Fresh Haircut
65) Summertime
66) Stretching in the morning
67) Last, but not least: New Socks and New Underwear. I know they cost money, but come on…There’s really no better feeling.

Hard not to give repeats.

Kdeez

68. My beautiful wife who is a strong, intuitive, loving mother and who understands and loves me for who I am.
69. My joyful son, Raja, who is smart, always smiling, outgoing and brave.
70. My mother who is gentle and kind, and who I am continually able to learn from.
71. My brothers and sisters who are creative and intelligent and a joy to be around.
72. My friends who are fun to spend time with and who are true to themselves.
73. My business where we are able to work with friends and family and contribute to open source communities.
74. My coworkers who are smart, dedicated and know what needs to be done and do it without having to be told to.
75. Our clients who are open to using open source software and choose to work with us.
76. Open source software communities and the developers that make them possible by contributing their code and free time towards sharing and openness.
77. Drupal. It’s a great tool and framework to use for building all different types of websites and web applications.
78. The universe that always provides and brings the right things to us at the right times.
79. The sun that provides light and warmth and allows us to have rain and support life.
80. The earth that provides nutrients and soil by which food can be grown as well as many other natural resources.
81. The air which we breath, allowing our brains and bodies to function.
82. The water, the most fulfilling and important substance on this earth.
83. Mother nature and all that she encompasses, plants, animals, the mountains, valleys, oceans, and more.
84. The people that grow our food.
85. The people that make our clothes.
86. Having a roof/shelter over my head.
87. Having food in my belly everyday.
88. The waves and rythm of the energy by which all things move.
89. Music, dancing sound waves that fill our soul with emotions and happiness.
90. Memory that allows me to remember my childhood and allows me to learn from the past.
91. Yoga, passed down from ancient times, that allows us to keep our mind, body and soul healthy and in harmony.
92. Exercise, keeping our body in good health and shape so that we’re able to live happily.
93. Meditation, helping to focus our minds and connect with who we really are internally.
94. The good health of my current body.
95. The hiking and biking trails all over the world which help us spend quality time with nature.
96. For the ocean, wind, and surfable waves which help me to get out in the ocean, recharge my batteries, surf, and experience being free.
97. That George Bush is out of office and that we have a new president that has some intelligence and actually cares about his job and this country.
98. That there has been a wake up call for the economy and irresponsible corporations who have been leeching the people and nature for all they have.
99. Almost being out of debt.
100. Thanksgiving Day, for reminding me to think of the things I’m thankful for and for getting friends and family together to share in thanks.

Ross Borden

101. My three amazing sisters
102. Mi mum
103. The Pacific Ocean
104. Powder snow
105. California redwood forests
106. Singing in the shower
107. Battle dancing
108. Being a dork with my little sisters
109. Lucy’s ninja-ness
110. Clara’s sense of humor
111. Reading stories to little billies
112. People watching in hilarious circumstances
113. Bouldering outside with the homies
114. TAPAS in Granada (free with the purchase of a beer)
115. The rights we enjoy as Americans
116. Thanksgiving – the only holiday where someone isn’t trying to sell you something
117. The culinary genius that is Tex Mex
118. A wagging greeting from a happy dog
119. Wrestling with the girl I love
120. Laughing with old friends about our antics in high school
121. A breath of fresh air, por las montañas
122. Being proud again to be an American!
123. My hippie friend, Ben Polansky
124. The superstokeinspiration that I get everyday from reading what you’re all up to out in the world!

Hal Amen

125. Dreams (nightmares included)

Nick Polansky

126. Laughing with friends.
127. Dancing with friends.
128. Dancing with family.
129. Watching family and friends dance.
130. Making furniture out of junk.
131. Selling furniture made out of junk.
132. A ripe persimmon from the garden.
133. Hard work.
134. A saliva smeared sketch on a napkin.
135. Hand-me-down overalls.
136. Toe stretches.
137. Head rubs.
138. Getting a hair cut from a roommate.
139. Walking the dog.
140. Water.
141. Rain.
142. Fire.
143. Hummingbirds in the tree outside my kitchen.
144. Samples at Trader Joe’s.
145. Labor.
146. Cycling.
147. Walking.
148. Riding the bus on Spare the Air Day.
149. Lying down in first rain.

Carlo Alcos

150. My ears
151. My eyes
152. My nose
153. My sense of touch
154. My wife
155-157. Our freedom, resourcefulness and health to travel where an when we want
158. All the animals of the earth. Can humans please stop thinking we are above them? And realize that we are all part of the big picture?

Debi

159. I am grateful for… my health above all; it is my army in life.
160. My blessings and good fortune.
161. My beautiful, healthy, intelligent son.
162. My husband’s health and love.
163. My strong, intelligent, hard working, healthy parents who made my great life possible.
164. The support, trust and loyalty of friends and family.
165. That everyone gets home safe everyday from school and work.
166. The best cafe au lait every morning, better than in any coffee shop, made at home.
167. I am grateful for the peace within.
168. Also for the peace that surrounds me; I live in a stable environment, untouched by war or ravaged by corruption and evil.
169. Daydreams, and the fact that I remember night dreams to analyze them, which helps me solve some of the problems that come up in my life.
170. Long hot showers on a cold day.
171. Cold showers on hot summer days.
172. That I live in a part of the world with 4 seasons.
173. I am grateful for the fact that I take nothing and no one for granted, and I am conscious of this from the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep.
174. The evolution in my own life.
175. Chocolate
176. Croissants
177. Days on the beach
178. Staying toasty warm indoors on cold winter days
179. Another day
180. My hyperawareness of everything around me, I smell the flowers and the coffee, breath in the fresh air and I’ve always been at one with life like this – it’s a blessing to add to all the blessings.
181. I just love brushing my teeth and that clean feeling!
182. Listening to all kinds of commercial free music on satellite radio.
183. And so much more, I could be here writing a book….:-0

Alan Velasco

184. Toilet Paper
185. Laughter
186. The awesome feeling of walking into an air conditioned building in the summer.

VagabonderZ

187. Coming home after a few drinks with friends and finding Revenge of the Nerds on the telly. “No one is really free until nerd persecution ends”

Eva Holland

188. Staying up too late laughing with my mom.
189. Jumping the fence at the football stadium late at night (in high school) and climbing up to the highest row.
190. Rollerblading by the Ottawa River.
191. Full moons.
192. Walking the boardwalk at Halifax Harbour after dark, and hanging out by the tugboats.
193. Free samples at the bagel shop.
194. Snow angels.
195. Snow forts.
196. Snowball fights. (Got winter on my mind…)
197. Thunderstorms.
198. My friend’s fat cats falling asleep on my legs.
199. Long walks, wherever I am.
200. Good conversations with strangers – on trains, planes, in hostels, wherever.

MountainJedi

201.Receiving a hug and a kind note from a friend, unbidden.
202.Tabula rasa
203.Belonging and not belonging all wrapped up into one.

Becky

204. Slow dancing in the kitchen with my boyfriend
205. Hellos
206. Sand in between my toes
207. Holding hands
208. Diving into the same book twice because it’s that good
209. Naps in the park
210. People watching after New Year’s and Halloween
211. Dreaming
212. An ample amount of dehydrated marshmallows in my hot chocolate
213. Every Tuesday when the florist brings in a new flower arrangement
214. Surprises
215. Summer nights
216. Uncontrollable laughter
217. Kisses
218. The smell of burning candles
219. Memories
220. Love stories
221. Hugs
222. Running into an old friend
223. Loving and being loved
224. Productive days
225. Lazy days
226. Sharing
227. Complements
228. The smell of fries
229. Sex
230. My beautiful family
231. My forever friendships
232. Waking up next to Ben
233. Stretching in the morning
234. The job I have
235. The house I live in
236. Smothering myself in warm towels
237. Movies in the park
238. Sunsets
239. The smell of fall
240. My health
241. Sleepovers with my younger siblings
242. Music…im so thankful for the sound,lyrics, and meaning!

Abram

243. Playing basketball.
244. Beautiful women.
245. Good friends.
246. HBO’s “The Wire”.
247. Sleeping in.
248. Home cooked meals.
249. My girlfriend’s smile.
250. The internet.
251. A good book.
252. Being alive.

rebeccacate

253. Hugging and holding my grandchildren.
254. Waking up in the morning.
255. Sunshine.
256. Not answering to a boss (retirement).

Sarah Menkedick

Not sure how the numbers are going here, but I figure the more free things to be grateful for, the better, so I’ll start at 236:

236. the smell of pine trees
237. reading a book on a park bench all afternoon
238. finishing a project and feeling a rush of exhausted satisfaction
239.. the way my dog “shakes” by slamming her paw down on my palm
240. the feel of a hot shower after a long run
241. the ache and burn of my muscles after a long run
242. the first sip of coffee in the morning in the breeze from the open window
243. my husband and the way he and the dog are my family
244. my family
245. the taste of rajas made by Oaxacan nuns
246. fetching with the dog at sunset on the Cerro Fortin
247. the smell of winter in Ohio
248. the smell of summer in Ohio
249. the woods
250. rain

jetsettin

281. Trees and flowers
282. My kitten
283. Nature and wildlife
284. Art and music
285. My books
286. My intellect
287. Discovering my coaching, teaching, and leadership abiliity
288. My writing ability and other artistic abilities
289. Being able to be a part of my niece and nephew’s lives
290. Trips taken to the UK.
291. Writing for Travel-Writers-Exchange.com and Baja-Fun.com; was given the chance to showcase my writing talent; someone took a “chance” on me and believes in me.
292. Developing confidence and self-esteem; believing in myself even if no one else does
293. Moving to AZ — hiking the mountains
295. Waking up from unconsciousness — was sleepwalking through my life
296. Meditation
297. The ability to workout

Adventure Kid

298. A deep breath of clean foreign air while looking out across the Alps.

marisateschl

299. the smell of the earth after it’s rained
300. using a bag you last used when on the beach and finding sand and a postcard you never finished writing in it

Anonymous

281 Water pressure
282 My job
283 My brother
284 My independence
285 A thumbnail moon

aki.claire

301. Smiles
302. Legs to walk
303. Internal photographs
304. Love!
305. Laughter.
306. All the lessons you’ve learned by helping other people.
307. The feeling you get when a friend cheers you up
308. Knowing that the sun will rise soon
309. Seeing shooting stars from your rooftop
310. Watching the transition from day to night.
311. Puffy clouds.
312. Seeing the pale green buds sprout in the spring.
313. The caressing of cherry blossom leaves caught in the spring breeze.
314. The help of a complete stranger.
315. The dreams that motivate me.

Tinydancer

316. Discovering just how many different kinds of sunsets there are
317. Reunions with best friends, no matter how short the time passed
318. Falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing
319. Having been in love
320. Hope of a new, different love
321. Random encounters with strangers on my bus
322. Knowing my opinion is valued at work

daniellas

323. Fresh coffee in the morning
324. Laughing to tears with my sister
325. Finding magical places in my neighbourhood
326. Freshly washed bedlinen
327. Sea breeze in my face
328. Watching Amelie again and again
329. Getting things done and being proud of myself for doing that
330. Falling in Love
331. Charlie playing the piano on a sunny morning under a beautiful tree
332. Cooking with my friends
333. Taking beautiful photographs
334. walking and laughing
335. Nature
336. The feeling of freedom

trader

337. Brushing your teeth on the beach, looking out over the sea and the mountains on the opposite side of the bay reflecting the sun which has not yet reached you.
338. Reading poetry to the waves while standing on the bow of a traveling boat.
339. The burn in my legs as I climb the slope of a mountain too steep to descend and the knowledge that another way must be found.
340. The subtle realization of true happiness as I sit at a plywood desk in a remote cabin, accompanied only by a notebook and a pen.

jclum3

341: the smile you get after traveling 5,000 miles to see the woman that you love.

vera alves

342. Tulips
343. Talking to friends and not noticing time passing
344. My family’s love and support
345. Hugs
346. Closing your eyes while lying on the beach
347. Knowing that, no matter how long it takes, I’ll hug my family again
348. Making plans
349. Reading a book and loving it so much you don’t want to get to the last page
350. Fresh sheets
351. Postcards or letters from friends

vapintar

352. That I always have a family to return to
353. Forgiveness
354. That laughter really is the best medicine
355. That things do change, for the good, the bad, the in between
356. That all these people have written posts
357. The simple things
358. People who believe in me
359. Hope
360. Love
361. Smiling is catching
362. Potatoes

Apocalisp

363. High Fives – Seriously try and be sad during a high five, it’s impossible

elizabeth.zito

364. The warmth of my dog when she curls up next to me every night.
365. The things I learn each day
366. Always having the option of WALKING.
367. When hands touch
368. The fact that my mom still gets upset that I don’t let her do my laundry when I visit home.
369. Imagination
370. How happy my roommates are
371. The fact that people cannot hear rhythm without subconciously tapping, dancing, moving in time.
372. Youtube. Just sayin’.
373. The way Pennsylvania smells in September
374. What this painting conveys: http://jerseystylephotography.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/masterbedroom.jpg

hungrytravel…

375. Riding downhill on a bike
376. Vintage performances on Youtube (James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Soul Train Lines)

Ryukyu Mike

377. Sea breeze

Joanna Haugen

378. Mornings where I can sleep in.
379. Mornings where I get up early to walk my dogs before anyone else is up.
380. Quiet.
381. Imagination.
382. Skies dark enough to see all the stars.
383. Sunshine.
384. Spending time with people I love.

Image: mfinleydesigns

ONE OF THE best ways to move information around Twitter by “retweeting.” Retweeting allows you to echo the tweet of another user, plucking the message from their home feed and sending it out to their followers.

Retweets are sweet. But retweets are also sloppy and cumbersome.

OLD RETWEETS

Since times unremembered, retweeting has been a laborious, manual task. One has to copy and paste a tweet and add the “RT” and “@username” attributes. Because of the 140 character limit for each tweet, retweeting content can mean editing the original tweeters text so you can include “RT” and “@username”. Retweeting took time if you weren’t using a RT button, and follower overlap can lead to scores of redundant RT’s in your home feed.

NEW RETWEETS

In the spirit of progress, Twitter revealed a completely new retweet system to make for easier, cleaner RT’s.

RT’s now have their own special icon and come straight from the original tweeter’s feed. This makes retweeting as easy as a mouse click, no more “RT” or “@username” required. Each tweet has a RT icon to the right of the reply button. Whats more, the new Retweet feature groups together identical RT’s, so if many of us RT the same tweet it doesn’t show up a million times but rather has a list of who retweeted the post.

HOW IT WORKS

Now, if you mouse over a tweet a “Retweet” button will appear next to the “Reply” button. To retweet the tweet, all you have to do is click on the link and then click update. Then the tweet you just RT’d will post in the timelines of your followers, whether they follow the original tweeter or not.

In your right hand nav bar there is also a “Retweet” link that opens page with 3 tabs: Retweets by Others, Retweets by You and Your tweets, retweeted. This new feature easy allows you scan all the RT’s from your followers, check your own RT’s and see who retweeted your tweets.

OK Twitter ninjas, get out there and RT all your favorite Matador tweets!

For more Matador / Twitter love check out:
Be a Twitter Ninja: Twitter Lists
20 Interesting Expats To Follow On Twitter
Twelve #Travel Tweeps Twittering

For more

Photo by sskennel

THERE’S NO DOUBT the world keeps getting weirder. As always, what matters is how you respond, which as Hunter S. Thompson indicated, means “going pro,” getting paid somehow to jump ass-first into the river.

This isn’t, as they say, without sacrifice, which for me has meant among other things, being away from friends and family and querencias (Southern Appalachian Mountains) during this time of year. For the past decade I was either traveling or living out West, and when November came I’d invariably look at the cloudforest or the aspens and see instead the white pines and tulip poplars (with predictable leaves-floating-down scenario) I was missing back home. In stronger moments of reflection (depression) I could actually smell smoke / hear rivers flowing.

For the first few years of exile my Jewish guilt was also cranked up in the mix. Lord I wouldn’t be there again for the Thanksgiving family roll-call! (Plus pop quiz on college / career trajectories with and bonus exam on any gadget, clothing, and vehicle purchases.)

Certainly I wasn’t thinking about the food which had taken a severe nosedive over the years (butterball), an inverse function of our family’s levels of affluence. This unfortunately is the general trend vís-à-vís time spent cooking versus the default mode of ‘ordering,’ however, it should be noted that my mom’s pumpkin bread and Momo’s gravy always delivered.

I can’t pretend that on some levels the guilt isn’t still there (‘hardwired’ as the phrase goes), or if not guilt then just a feeling of ‘damn, I wonder how everyone is.’ Is it enough then, for me to celebrate Thanksgiving like this, remembering them, writing about them, all the way down here in Patagonia?

I wonder what Uncle Rob, himself an inimitable pro (who ended up moving to Hawaii, where, now that I think of it, I could totally see a Thanksgiving feast of wild pig someday) might say. He’d probably just want to see Layla, and maybe later throw the football, as good a response as any.

In a call last night with TV producer Misty Tosh and Matador jefe Ross Borden we tried to describe that element in Matador that inspired us the most, and somehow locked onto the phrase “people breaking free,” perhaps another way to verbalize what Hunter S. Thompson was advocating.

Yesterday a family of Mapuche Indians stopped me in the street (addressing me, damnit, as Usted Señor) and asked me if I lived here. I realized that as of 3 days (long enough for me to stop pulling in on the front gate to go out) this was technically true.

I didn’t know the address they were looking for, but for a few seconds I was somehow both in the scene and watching it from somewhere else (that future place you go in your mind when you think ‘I’ll write about this?’) as the old man pointed through the rain and said he’d heard it was más p’allá.

Of course this scene shouldn’t ‘stand for’ anything more than itself, as this way of thinking has led people to do weird and evil shit (like decimate the very people who helped them survive their first seasons after arriving in the Americas, then set up a national holiday “giving thanks”) since the beginning of time. This was just one man asking another for directions as has happened and will continue to happened in stadiums and forests and bus terminals and above rapids and in muddy streets everywhere in the world forever.

Try to ‘draw out’ this direction-giving into a spiritual thing or a religion or anything else and you’ve gone from pro to amateur. Keep it at ground level and just give the man directions or smile and tell him you don’t know but you’re sure he’ll find it up there más p’allá.

Community Connection

Going back through the archives the other day I realized the Notebook has now been around just over 2 years. I think from the very beginning, helping people go pro was part of the vision. Giving people info and stories. Of course you still have to make the jump yourself.

And if you’re still at home, offer to help this year in the kitchen. Learn a recipe from your mom. Then go write about it. Happy Thanksgiving.

Photo courtesy of author.

“WE’LL GO get it.” I yawn when my mother says she needs an onion and butter from the grocery store.

She smiles and hands me a twenty. She wipes her face with a towel and turns up the AC. Mom does not like to delegate any task that could ruin Thanksgiving and we have already peeled the potatoes and set the table. Sending us to the grocery store is safe.

We borrow the Benz and my sister and I creep slowly out of the garage onto our tree lined street. Before we turn the corner onto Buckalew Ave, we wave at Mr. Scarpeti. He is sitting in a lawn chair in front of his open garage, smoking a cigar. “I hope that cute boy is working at the Starbucks” my sister says.

“Where is there a Starbucks?”

“At Stop N Shop.”

My family lives in the older part of town. I think I noticed a change, a creation of “older” and “newer” parts, as I entered middle school. It seemed as if there were a lot of new kids who lived in big new houses in developments named “Heritage Chase,” and “Deer Path.”

Our house was once the home of a legendary local gangster who disappeared in a plane crash in the 1970s and may or may not have left money or a body buried in the back porch. The home across the street belonged to a cop who was investigating him at the time. My siblings and I learned these stories sitting on the floors of pizza parlors and listening to our Dad talk New Jersey history with the owners.

In the early 1900s, a hotel, a railroad and the small town of Jamesburg grew up to accommodate tourists visiting a lake there. Homes grew out and away from that downtown.

When my parents moved here 30 years ago, they bought a home in Monroe Township a half mile from the lake. Everything beyond our neighborhood was farmland and woods then. The old residents didn’t like my parents for being young and “new.”

Now we are the old timers and Jamesburg is no longer a vacation town. I guess everyone discovered the Jersey shore.

“He is working!” my sister whispers under her breath once we reach the grocery store. We walk through the automated doors that I once saw someone get stuck in before Stop N Shop took it over and put in a Starbucks. “Buy something.”

“We only have a twenty but ok.”

I buy something sweet and expensive. My sister bats her eyes at the barista. We walk away.

“He’s not that cute. It doesn’t even matter; I’m getting out of this small town next year anyway.” I guess she’s right, but that feeling is coming back to me; It’s not a small town anymore.

We forget to buy the onion and butter and instead use what is left of the $20 to buy life size Pilgrim and Indian balloons. We can’t wait to show Mom.

Community Connection

Please submit notes to david at matadornetworkdotcom.

Photo Austin Kleon

WITHOUT NOTES taken in the moment it can be hard to find the inspired words to describe your journey.

Notes jotted in the moment can be drawn upon later to revive a visceral sense of place. Your notes can remind you of emotional and circumstantial elements that were relevant to your overall experience. If taken well, they’ll be the bridge back to the moments you wish to capture in your writing.

TAKE NOTES WITH YOUR 5 SENSES

Visual descriptors are good. But remember to take notes with all of your senses. What does the air smell like? What is that fainter smell carried on the wind? What does the scene sound like? When eating, how does it taste? What is the texture? Since good storytelling requires a balance of showing and telling, taking notes with your 5 senses will enrich your writing once you settle in from of your computer many weeks or months after the fact.

Any one of these senses can trigger a greater recollection when you finally sit down to write. Remembering the smell of potent, teeth-staining coffee can bring the whole sidewalk cafe scene rushing back.

TAKE NOTES WITH YOUR EMOTIONS

Remembering how I felt, what frame of mind the circumstance put me it, is valuable information to have gathered when I sit down to write. Whether your travel experience brings elation, nostalgia, terror, or triumph, it is important to take notes in the moment to catch that emotional subtext. Those feelings can be the heart of your travel writing.

TAKE NOTES ON SPECIFICS

The name of your tour guide. The guesthouse you stumble into at 3am. The name of the street where you were pickpocketed. You don’t have to be writing a city guide to relish in the specifics of your travel experience. Taking notes on the little details gives depth and authenticity to your writing.

TAKE NOTES THAT ARE NOT NOTES

Photos, audio recordings, video…use whatever technology you have available to record your journey and supplement your note taking.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

THE BOTTOM LINE is this: in today’s media revolution, each moment seems to bring yet another opportunity for citizen journalists, backpack filmmakers, travel writers, and virtually anyone with a creative vision and a willingness to find and document interesting stories.

One of the central tenets we teach travel writers at MatadorU is that to publish, it’s necessary to develop a “publication mindset.” In other words, to look at publishing not from the perspective of a writer but from that of the person receiving your work.

With this in mind, look at how YouTube’s new platform YouTube Direct is going to facilitate the search for and incorporation of user-generated content like yours for media websites around the world:

Knowing this, ask yourself how you can develop your portfolio, presence, and reach as a citizen journalist or filmmaker. Here are several resources to help get you started, or to build on knowledge you already have:

*4 Tips for Shooting Better Travel Videos
*How to Use Voice Over to Tell a Story
*Tips for Travel Video: The Elements of a Story
*Citizen Journalism Publishing Standards [A straight up guide to the elements journalistic storytelling for those with little or no training.]

Community Connection

How do you plan on utilizing the continually unfolding opportunities for citizen journalism? And for editors of media sites: what is your experience so far with YouTube Direct?

Please share your comments with us below.

Photo: Rutger de Moddertukker

IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD YET, new FTC guidelines will be going into place beginning Dec. 1. These guidelines include, among other things, a mandate on disclosing any and all paid sponsorships or endorsements.

From the FTC Guide:

“The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. . . . Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.”

While many bloggers such as Marty Dickinson are bemoaning the impending regulations, some of us in the travel writing are looking at them as a step in the right direction. With full disclosure now being federally mandated, there seems to be more of a chance that current industry policies forbidding travel writers from taking comps will be revised, giving travel writers more freedom in looking for / accepting stories, and perhaps more to the point, earning a living.

How you answer Dickinson’s question about the regulations–”why would it be important for people to know that you’re getting a commission payment for a referral?” will probably determine how you feel overall about the issue.

The point is less about money and more about about transparency. After looking at this issue (or at least trying to) from all sides, I came up with a manifesto of sorts called Material Transparency.

I argued that bloggers and writers not only embrace the impending FTC regulations on material connections, but expand the concept into an overall aesthetic of transparency in their other connections, their crew, their companies, all as a way of defining and helping exhibit / promote their personal brand.

In what ways, if any, will these upcoming regulations affect your work as a writer or blogger? Please let us know in the comments below.

Photo by Kim Grant for Hawaii: An Explorer’s Guide.

I come at this issue from two different sides of two different coins: as a 25-year veteran travel writer and as an Acquisitions Editor for a national print publisher and iPhone travel app company. Every day, in many ways, I massage my brand and am pitched by other writers who have (or have not) polished their image with varying degrees of efficacy.

1. Be clear, simple and consistent in your message.

Whether you are posting on Facebook, engaging with other bloggers, spreading snippets via Twitter (which I confess to not pursuing much), writing a guidebook or speaking informally to colleagues at a professional gathering, decide who you are and stick to the message. Are you a fun-loving raconteur with a lively nightlife? Are you a resort reviewer who knows the value of a $650 a night room at Amangiri? Both are fine, but it’s tough to convince the world that you do both well. I’ll probably hire both writers at some point, but these two hypothetical people are not right for the same job.

Now in its 8th Edition. Buy it here.

2. Narrow your scope of expertise.

Skimming the surface of many topics, while perhaps personally exciting, might brand you a dilettante in all those topics – which is fine if “dilettante” is your brand. I became an expert on Boston, New England and Cape Cod, and then I moved outward into regions I frequented and was passionate about: the Southwest, Hawaii and Florida. By spreading myself too thinly, though, I stopped having time to exploit my expertise in all those areas. By cutting back to a few areas, I created the space to pitch myself again.

3. Write a book and then parlay it.

Think of yourself as an entrepreneur rather than simply as a travel writer. It probably won’t pay well, but the book will brand you as an expert and provide a launching pad for better paying and (potentially) more prestigious work. You probably won’t be an expert before you write it (even though you will have to pitch yourself as one), but you will be afterwards. For about six months, you will be the expert on that topic. Exploit the heck out of that window of opportunity while it is open. It will open other doors and windows; keep leaping from one to another before they close.

4. Not every gig is a perfect fit.

The Universe abhors a vacuum, but don’t seize everything that falls into your lap. If you don’t leave time and space for the right project, it won’t appear. (I know, that’s a very “Northern California” concept, and you know what I mean because Northern California has a very strong brand.) Be like Northern California; be instantly known. There isn’t time for anything but an instant, strong impression.

5. Question yourself unrelentingly.

Who and what, professionally, are you? (Skip the metaphysical answers for this exercise.) Make and continually scrutinize a 12-month plan. Be patient and persistent. Assess which jobs are furthering your path and which are not.

Craft your brand icon.

6. Image matters.

Once you build it, guard your reputation. Of course I would say this: I’m also a photographer. But presentation matters: from design and font selection to paperweight and PDF headings; from associations with colleagues and organizations to your revolving weekly update on LinkedIn. It all matters; build it with care and attention. On Facebook, I belong to the Change This fan page but not The Soup. There’s nothing wrong with The Soup, but the signal it sends doesn’t fit my brand as a travel writer who works in new and social media.

7a. Don’t necessarily use every means of communication available.

Choose your weapon(s) wisely and push each to the hilt. Develop wide circles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media outlets. If you don’t have time to maintain them all, pick one or two. Post frequently to your own blog; keep your web site up to date with clippings, radio interviews and upcoming appearances. (Yes, this presumes you have those to begin with.) Build an author page on Amazon; get friends and colleagues to comment on your books and blog posts. Give them talking points to stay on message – your message.

7b. Don’t ignore low-tech methods.

Print and distribute thousands of postcards promoting your books and website(s). Wear out some proverbial shoe leather by going door-to-door – virtually or literally. Print a dramatic business card that clients will keep for one day instead of one hour.

8. Be passionate about what you do.

People will notice when you are passionate, when your ideas almost sell themselves. How many people have you talked to today who absolutely love what they’re doing? We remember the ones who do (and I hire them). I love what I do, and I prefer to work with like-minded people. It’s a privilege to say this and mean it. It takes some luck – and more work – to get to this place.

9. Ultimately, you must produce a superior product.

No amount of branding will render you immune to what’s important: you must be an exceptional writer who knows how to research, organize and communicate your thoughts, provide value to your editor and reader, deliver on time and be pleasant to work with.

10. Use All the Great Resources You Can.

Here are a few to get you started:

a) TomPeters! – The Brand You
b) socialmediatoday, including “A Framework For Branding Through Social Media”
c) ChangeThis
d) Seth Godin’s Blog
e) SEO Traffic Spider
f) HubSpot Marketing Resources
g) “25 Social Media Sites For Entrepreneurs”

Community Connection

For more notes on how to make it as a travel writer, check 6 Tips for Making the Most of a Writers’ Group, Video Portrait of a Travel Writer, Do Freebies Undermine Honesty in Travel Writing?, How are Writing Conferences Relevant to Travel Writers?, and The Importance of Connecting with Travel Writing though History.

Other branding ideas? Comments? Give us a shout below.

Photo mark sebastian

Most of my ideas for stories, videos, articles and projects-yet-to-be come when I am either on my bike or running.
It is precisely when I am not at the computer, trying to think and be creative that I am able, with the help of my 3 ingredients, to get real creative work done.

MUSIC: Listening to music puts a tempo to my footfall and my racing heart. The melodies distract my thinking mind, lulling me into deeper channels of intuition and non-thought. Music is often a story and keeps me more focused on the moment at hand by active listening.

EXERCISE: Exercise is a key component in how creative and good I feel. I go to the gym several nights a week but I prefer riding my bike around the city to plodding on a treadmill. As I ride the landscape slips past me. Thousands of people cross my path. Infinite scenarios play themselves out. The physical toil of exercise allows my mind to exist in a simpler, more watchful state. I can release the tension that hours at the computer can build up and in this state my most productive thinking is accomplished.

NATURE: Communing with nature, whether it is a walk in the woods or on a mountain summit, lets my creative spirit free. But living in downtown Seattle I seldom have the option of wandering through unspoiled wilderness. That’s fine. I take the term urban jungle to heart and let the city be my forest. When I consider Man as an act of Nature then the city, with all of its pavement and neon, becomes a shifting natural landscape. Jogging through town I can watch the tides of human life ebb and flow as businessmen and transients share the sidewalk.

I know what works for me. When I am in a steady rhythm is when my mind flies beyond me and lives a imaginative life of its own. I reminisce, I day dream and start to mull concepts over in my mind. But something tells me these ingredients can be utilized by anyone who needs a creative kick in the pants.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

What are your ingredients for creativity? Share your tricks in the comments below.

As part of our efforts to celebrate and promote travel writing, we’ve launched a new video series offering a behind the scenes look at the life of travel writers.

Humbly shot and directed by myself, the first profile features the gonzo travel writer and tv host Robin Esrock, wandering around his current hometown of Vancouver, BC.

The idea is to offer a realistic take on what it means to be a travel writer: the good, the bad, and sometimes…the ugly. Each profile is presented on behalf of MatadorU, where travel writers of all levels can advance their careers.

I hope you enjoy the video (and feel free to share far and wide!)

Do you know a travel writer who should be featured in an upcoming profile? Share your ideas in the comments!

Photo .:: LINUZ ::.

IN NORTHEAST LAOS, on one lane roads, we swoop through foggy forests. The driver of the bus strains forward, breathing a little stain of fog on the windshield. Outside the rain falls on sullen cattle.

The bus pulls aside and while the men step out to liberate their bladders, the glint off the barrel of a large machine gun catches my eye. The weapon is protruding from a young man’s denim coat. I stand and stretch, only now I have an electric current running from my toes to my testicles.

The kid, and he looks all of 16, seems to be trying to be inconspicuous. No one seems to heed him or his alarming semi-automatic secret.

We board the bus and the driver gives the machine gun kid a little nod as he takes his seat among us. My eyes won’t leave the muzzle or the angular protrusion of denim or the way he holds the barrel beside his leg. From the size of the gun it could well be an AK-47.

This is my third day in Laos.

The bus is full of sedate travelers surely carrying cash and cameras and all kinds of expensive gadgetry. We are sitting ducks. Oh God please don’t let me be the guy with a black sack over his face holding a newspaper for the unsteady camera. Of nearly equal gravity is the thought of the machine gun kid tearing through my bag to discover $2,000 cash.

We stop at a string of noodle huts waiting for us. Among the scraggle of hungry tourists there is a big lad in a tee shirt that says Vancouver. I need an ally in this unfortunate knowledge.

“Yeah, right there, um, twelve o’clock. He’s packing heat big time dude! And he doesn’t want anyone to see! See?”

“Holy shit, no way man. Look at him, he’s gonna rob the bus, you hear about it all the time. Why else would he be hiding a machine gun? What do we do?”

“Well I don’t know about you but I’m going to the bathroom and getting creative with my dough. I’m carrying, like, a lot of cash.”

In the bathroom stall I rip into my money stash. I duct tape some bills to the inside cover of my portable Steinbeck, making it a $400 edition. I tear into my travel pillow and stuff a few hundred in. The biggest chunk of change is crammed under my junk. I button my jeans and dozens of Vietnamese notes crunch in my underwear. If this is a full on strip-search-jungle-shake-and-bake, well, at least the money they steal will have touched my nuts.

For the next two hours the kid looks relaxed enough. I am sweating through my shirt. The Canadian fingers a serrated plastic knife.

Finally, the machine gun kid slowly stands and turns toward me. He steps forward, shifts his gun and strides quickly to the front of he bus. The bus slows down, but doesn’t stop as he hops off and waves us on. The driver smiles and slams the bus into gear. A queer disappointment contends with my relief. I was so set on being robbed that I’m…a little bummed.

The big Canadian leans close, “I have a plastic picnic knife.”

“You’re a better man than I. I have a fistful of dollars chaffing my naughty bits.”

“Oh, me too. Of course.”

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Have you had a close call? Or at least worked yourself up into thinking you were having a close call?! I would love to hear your stories of danger, real or perceived, on the road.

Please send to josh at matadornetworkdotcom.

Photo by a song under the sugar sugar

YOU DON’T MISTAKE travel writing for punk rock. Most of it just isn’t loud or raw enough. Publicly, at readings, travel writers tend to restrain themselves from smashing the podium or lighting shit on fire.

The process of creation itself (and the audience’s reception) is generally an ass-to-chair kind of deal, often with food and / or beverages nearby [writing these lines with a tomato and cheese sandwich + coffee in a cafe in Santiago].

Finally, as Chuck Klosterman observed, anytime punk rock tries to explain or justify itself, it’s finished. By contrast, most travel writing seems to be, at least on some level, a way for the writer to explain or justify whatever trip he or she is on. That’s the basic gig.

Still, I’d like to imagine a scenario where travel writing was 100% punk. Where you were all-out free to write anything about anyone or anyplace in any style you wanted, free to investigate and write the stories of what’s going on in say, the cruise ship industry, only from a deckhand, not a passenger’s point of view. Or with the Kalahari Bushmen. Or maybe the fucked up lady that lives right above you in your building.

The fact that we all actually have this freedom but so few of us choose to exercise it is partly a reflection, I’m guessing, on human nature (paraphrasing Saul Bellow: “We get as much truth as we have courage to ask,”) and part straight up bitch-slapping economics.

There appears to be no dearth of paying markets for stories that lend themselves to advertising, but far fewer options (and certainly far less sustainable options) for writers going after stories on people and their relationship with place, which, to me anyway, is what travel writing is. As Jim Harrison wrote “How could we disappear into ourselves and forget our subject matter, the earth?”

Obviously I recognize the need for other kinds of writing (and have actually enjoyed having a copy down here of the Fodor’s Patagonia that Tim Patterson and I contributed to last year).

But most of all I’m interested in reading the stories people write not out of a need to accomplish or get paid but just out of a raw need to tell the story. And unless or until someone is out there writing / editing / and publishing their work in real time as they’re getting shot at in Iraq or patrolling the mountains in Afghanistan, I guess that’s as close to punk rock that we as travel writers can get.

15 Vital Matador Narratives

So all of this blathered, I asked around our crew what we should include in a list of travel stories published at Matador which are the most punk rock, the ones that seem to keep reverberating:

- 8:46am, 9/11 Manhattan

- Huayhuash: A Convergence of Change and Resilience

- Notes on Los Pitayeros

- My Chinese Clown

- Another End of the Road: (Still) Searching for Surf in Centroamerica

- Carnaval. Darkness.

- What would you give for your traveler’s moment?

- The Ringer

- Golden Trout

- My Hometown in 500 Words: Lagos

- Wrestling, Pig Skin, and Beer

- Birth of Layla Miller

- Growing up in East Germany

- Notes on Not Being Able to Pray at the Wailing Wall

- Hiking the Chacaltaya Glacier

Community Connection

What and who are you reading? Who is producing vital travel narratives right now–either famous or unknown?

Photo: vancouverfilmschool

WRITERS LOOKING to ramp up their knowledge, receive feedback on work, as well as share information and insight may find a writing conference is the way to go.

But for writers searching for a more consistent and supportive environment, a writers’ group may be a better fit.

I’ve been a member of a women writers’ group and facilitated a children writers’ group over the past few years and found that while certain topics and genres gain and lose popularity, the overall success and dynamics of a group ultimately depends on its members. To be a productive member in your writers’ group and to get the most out of your participation, I suggest the following:

1. Find a group that meets your needs. Don’t settle on a group just because it’s the first one you find. There are many different options both online and in-person, so take your time to find one that makes you feel comfortable and supported.

You should leave your writing group feeling energized and inspired to write. If you feel frustrated, upset or unmotivated, move on and find a different group.

2. Give in order to receive. Writers’ groups are places where everyone involved should benefit from the interaction. If you hope to receive feedback on your work, you need to provide feedback to others, and this means saying more than you like or dislike something.

Be specific by pointing out passages or sentences that stood out. Provide suggestions on resources you’ve used that may help others. The more you engage in the conversation, the more people will reciprocate that engagement by providing you with suggestions, resources, and feedback.

3. Provide constructive criticism, pointing out both strong points and areas for improvement. Nothing is more unproductive than a writers’ group where everyone says they love what everyone else has written. If you are concerned about providing feedback on areas for improvement, work your feedback into a criticism sandwich by providing constructive criticism between positive feedback and words of encouragement.

4. Be timely. If you are expected to deliver a critique on a piece, follow through on your commitment to do so. Don’t leave your fellow writers waiting. Time is scarce for everyone, so if you’ve promised someone that you’d take a look at their work by a certain date, make sure you keep your promise. You are much better off by under promising and over delivering rather than the other way around. If you don’t think you can follow through on a delivery date then don’t commit to one.

5. Come prepared to participate. Turn off your cell phone and have a pen and paper handy. In order to get the most out of your writers’ group, you need to engage completely in the topic. Listen when others are receiving feedback on their work; you may be able to apply some of what you hear to your writing. Take notes on the feedback you receive. Ask questions. Speak up if you have something to add to the conversation. If your group invites a special guest, take the time to introduce yourself and always have a few cards handy.

6. Make it a routine. Be accountable to yourself and others by attending writers’ group meetings on a routine basis. Schedule them into your busy day and consider attending meetings as part of your job as a writer. If you participate in an online group, login to forum discussions and check comment boards on a frequent basis. A writers’ group is only as strong as the people who are committed to them, so prove to yourself and your group members that you are serious about your writing by making a point to attend and be engaged each and every time you attend a meeting.

Community Connection

What experiences have you had with writers’ groups? Please let us know in the comments below.

Feature photo and photo above by the_toe_stubber.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I’m a total beginner when it comes to photography. I have virtually no skills. I’m totally humbled when I see someone’s work like Trey Ratcliff or Matador’s own Lola Akinmade.

That being said, I feel like I do have an appreciation for form, composition, color, and a good idea of how to select an image for a story I’m writing or editing. Basically, I think like a writer. What I’m looking for are pictures that tell a story. This shot above is a good example. [Original photo link.]

In trying to learn more, I thought I’d share what I like about this picture, what its narrative elements are, and then hopefully people with more skill / knowledge can add their expertise.

1. The setting and the subject are both specific and universal.

Where is this photo taken? I’m not sure, but it’s obviously an urban environment. From the reflection in the glass it seems like the woman is in front of a store, which, if you look in the background, might be a sex shop?

What’s important is that she’s not just ‘anywhere’, but in a specific and immediately recognizable place. This is also a key tenet of good travel writing: no matter what the storyline, the place itself is always underpinning everything. You should get (and ideally, ‘feel’) where the characters are as soon as you start reading.

Similarly, the emotions conveyed are specific to this woman, to her style, but are also familiar and perceivable to anyone. The way she is sucking on her cigarette, the look in her eyes: all of it seems to exude lasciviousness, fearlessness (or maybe feigned fearlessness?), defiance. Because it is so universally recognizable it all invites our imagining a story.

2. Every element in the image is balanced to create an aesthetic unity.

From the colors (the warm red of her sweater and pink bra of the woman [mannequin?] behind her, the cooler blues and greens of the wall) to the way her face in the foreground balances with the woman’s body in the background, everything seems to reinforce the overall aesthetic.

Similarly with writing, the best stories seem to do everything at once. The description flows into the plot which flows into dialogue which flows into the narrator’s reflections. Everything is balanced.

3. Subtle details keep leading your eye around the picture.

Pictures that tell stories make you want to keep looking at them and imagining more. The more I look at this image, the more I notice things like:

• She has one ear covered and one exposed.
• You see almost none of her body in the picture, whereas the model in the background is almost all body but with no face.
• Her hair looks like it hasn’t been combed very well, and she wears no makeup or jewelry.

The best stories have subtle and unexpected details throughout (and especially at the beginning and ending) that keep us moving along and leading us in new directions, ideally, adding more depth each time we go back and read.

Community Connection

What elements do you find in pictures that tell stories? And how can you apply this knowledge to your own photography? Please let us know in the comments below.