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

REGISTER HERE