Notes to Self

Pam over at Nerd’s Eye View is going off to TBEX, a conference for travel bloggers in its second year. She wrote a post about going to this year’s event in New York City, why she wants to go, and she’s also been wondering what makes her fellow travel bloggers tick. She asked the following questions of herself and her readers:

Who’s your favorite travel writer?
Henry Miller. He is hands down my favorite American writer who was also an expatriate both inside and outside his homeland.

What’s your favorite blog for reading about travel?
I rarely read other people’s stuff. For the same reason that I don’t look at other people’s artwork very much. I get too inspired in the moment, and I tend to absorb other people’s ideas and concepts and then it changes my work – but usually not for the better!

What percentage of your travel is sponsored trips?
None, or maybe 1%. If I could find sponsored trips around the subjects that I like to write about – art, language, culture, food – I would make more of an effort to go on them.

Do you have a day job, supporter, other source of income?
I am so lucky in that I have a room in a house in Berkeley that was given to me in trade for pet sitting. I also petsit for other people. In my day jobs I have both a huge tech and print publishing (separate experiences) background and am looking for my next job. It’s been tough. I think it’s tough because I’m older now (wink), and also because I have my own site on my resume and people really don’t understand why I would want another job.

What’s the last travel book you read?
I don’t read travel books. I do read novels and non-fiction that give a strong sense of place. I’ve started Ross King’s Judgment of Paris.

Where do you come down on Eat Pray Love?
Absolute garbage. It might make an ok movie, but I’m not holding my breath.

Do you think blogging and writing are the same thing?
I like to think so, but it isn’t. Everyone can string words together but not everyone can do it well.

But I will say that a blog is defined by it’s owner, so if you want to write narrative in it, then why not? That was the intention of artist-at-large.com when I started it – it was going to be all narrative, creative non-fiction, with a sense of place mixed in with needed travel information. Now though, with the feeling of trying to keep up, I write narrative when I can and write blog posts when I have to. I’m doing that all over the site, but specifically in the Tuscany blog right now. I’ve been writing down my memories there.

Why are you blogging?
My friend K. in Paris asked me that once when I was visiting. Actually she asked me why I write – which I actually equate with my online stuff because that’s where I put everything.

I told her I write because no one ever listens to me.

I also come from a family of storytellers, so it just seemed like the next logical step to put my stories online.

Who have you met at TBEX that surprised you and why? [TBD]
Since I haven’t been to TBEX yet, I haven’t met anyone. But I have met a few travel bloggers here in the Bay Area. I can’t say that anyone really has surprised me in any way. Maybe it’s a bit surprising that none of them are as jaded as I am …

What have you learned while at TBEX? [TBD]

I’m not getting to go to TBEX this year. Someday I will be in the same town at the same time as the conference, but it didn’t happen this year.

Tags: blogging, tbex, Travel, writing

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.