Even when we aren’t traveling, we can still travel through our memories of past trips. And there’s never been a better time than now to reflect on a journey you’ve taken and put it on the page.
In this six-session virtual workshop, you’ll write and revise a personal travel essay, from vague idea to final draft, and take steps to get it published. Along the way, you’ll learn the essentials of narrative travel writing, including structure, setting, characterization, and story arc. You’ll develop and strengthen your writing voice, awaken your senses, and come to recognize your juiciest, most compelling material. In addition to writing and revising your own essay, you’ll have the opportunity to study published pieces and discuss what made these essays shine. You’ll learn not only what an editor looks for in a story submission, but also gain the invaluable skill of viewing your own writing with an editor’s eye in order to make difficult but essential revisions. We’ll discuss the business of travel writing and the ethics of creative nonfiction, and we’ll go over tips for submitting writing and working with editors. You’ll come away with a list of print and online publication outlets, plus plenty of ideas and inspiration for future projects.
If you’ve ever aspired to being a travel writer--or if you're already an established writer who just needs a spark and a deadline--consider this your passport! Essays written in prior sessions of this course have been chosen for anthologies such as Lonely Planet’s An Innocent Abroad, Harvard Bookstore’s Around the World, and Travelers’ Tales The Best Travel Writing, The Best Women’s Travel Writing, and Wake Up and Smell the Shit.
This class will meet on Zoom
TUESDAYS, JAN. 5 — FEB. 9
Contact: lavinia@laviniaspalding.com
Number of sessions: 6
Dates: Tuesdays, January 5, 12, 19, 26; February 2, 9
Time: 6:00 pm-8:30 pm Pacific Time
Course fee: $395
For more information:
Dec 8 | 2020 | Virtual Book Launch for The Best Women’s Travel Writing, Volume 12 | Corte Madera | CA | Info > |
Aug 20 - 23 | 2020 | The Annual Book Passage Travel Writers Conference | Corte Madera | California | Info > |
Jul 1 - 31 | 2020 | Paris American Academy Summer Creative Writing Workshop | Paris | France | Info > |
Aug 8 - 11 | 2019 | The Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference | Corte Madera | California | Info > |
Aug 7 | 2019 | Deep Travel Anthology launch | Corte Madera | California | Info > |
Mar 31 - Apr 8 | 2019 | Deep Travel Morocco | Fez and Moulay Idriss | Morocco | Info > |
Dec 14 | 2018 | Book Celebration | San Francisco | California | Info > |
Dec 11 | 2018 | This Immeasurable Place, Food and Farming from the Edge of Wilderness | San Francisco | California | Info > |
Dec 10 | 2018 | Reading & Signing: This Immeasurable Place: Food and Farming from the Edge of Wilderness | Corte Madera | California | Info > |
Oct 20 | 2018 | Litcrawl with AFAR | San Francisco | California | Info > |
Oct 16 | 2018 | In Conversation with Apricot Irving | New Orleans | Louisiana | Info > |
Aug 9 - 12 | 2018 | The Annual Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference | Corte Madera | California | Info > |
Jul 29 | 2018 | On the Detour | Washington | Connecticut | Info > |
Feb 26 - Mar 8 | 2018 | Turning the Wheel | the Khatmandu Valley | Nepal | Info > |
Nov 7 - 9 | 2017 | Storytelling in Writing: Workday, Inc | San Ramon | California | Info > |
Aug 8 - 12 | 2017 | The Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference | Corte Madera | Info > | |
May 15 | 2017 | The Best Women’s Travel Writing Book Launch Party | San Francisco | CA | Info > |
Feb 5 | 2017 | How to Get an Editor’s Attention | New Orleans | Louisiana | Info > |
Jan 18 | 2017 | Cultivating Compassion through Intentional Journaling | New Orleans | Louisiana | Info > |
Aug 11 - 14 | 2016 | The Annual Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference | Corte Madera | CA | Info > |
Apr 13 - May 18 | 2016 | Writing the Travel Essay: From Inspiration to Publication | San Francisco | CA | Info > |
Oct 23 | 2015 | Interviewing the great Don George | San Francisco | California | Info > |
Oct 6 | 2015 | “An Evening with Travel Writer Lavinia Spalding” | Palo Alto | California | Info > |
Aug 13 - 16 | 2015 | The Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference | Corte Madera | California | Info > |
Apr 8 | 2015 | Adventure Travel Stories With an All-Star Line-up | Mill Valley | California | Info > |
Mar 1 | 2015 | Women’s Travel Fest 2015 | San Francisco | California | Info > |
Jan 8 - Feb 12 | 2015 | Writing the Travel Essay: From Inspiration to Publication | San Francisco | California | Info > |
Dec 13 | 2014 | Launch for Lonely Planet’s An Innocent Abroad at Book Passage | Corte Madera | California | Info > |
Dec 5 | 2014 | The Best Women’s Travel Writing Comes to Half Moon Bay | Half Moon Bay | California | Info > |
Nov 20 | 2014 | The Best Women’s Travel Writing, Volume 10 Reading at Diesel Books in Oakland! | Oakland | CA | Info > |
To pay attention is our endless and proper work.” –Mary Oliver