Welcome to the sixth edition of Writing Festival Friday here at Perspectives on Writing. This week’s interview is with a seasoned travel writer and feature article writer living in Europe, Annie Duguid. She’s also a novelist!
The winner from last Friday is Devon Ellington! I will contact her for an interview soon. As I’m running a week behind right now, it will probably be two weeks before I can post her interview.
Before we get to the interview, here’s a reminder of how Writing Festival Friday works. This is an opportunity for writers to be interviewed so we can get to know you and what you love to write. Any writer is welcome to participate by leaving a comment – see the comment link at the end of this article. Each week I choose one author to interview – it will be one of the people who commented on the most recent Writing Festival Friday.
Writers of all genres are welcome to participate in Writing Festival Friday, and you do not need to be a published writer – I can always think of something to ask an unpublished writer as well. You can leave your comment at any time during the week, from Friday until the following Friday. Right before I post the next Writing Festival Friday article, I’ll pick a new interview winner.
When you leave your comment to this article, you’re welcome to post your links to your blog, site, books, or whatever you want to share. Let’s get to know one another better!
Annie Duguid
This is a fascinating interview. Annie has a lot of writing experience, and advice to share with aspiring writers.
Linda: How did you get started as a travel writer?
Annie: Travel writing is something I have done sporadically for newspapers in the past but was afraid to specialize in. This year I broke through the fear barrier and pushed myself out there. I am lucky that my visits to Eastern Europe give me an edge at a time when European investors are looking to buy property in countries like Bulgaria. More and more holidaymakers are going there because of the wonderful scenery and low prices so editors are interested in first hand up-to-date information.
Again luckily, I love traveling by train and with the emphasis on green travel, this is now a popular angle.
I’m not a photographer. The larger newspapers source their photos from libraries but my happy snaps from disposable cameras have even made it into local newspapers. I have invested in a much better digital camera now as using my own photos gives me a larger market and better fees.
Online travel writers at Travel Writers and Media Kitty have offered lots of encouragement, leads and advice for which I shall be ever grateful. I read guidelines carefully and try to find unusual seasonal angles six months in advance. Travel writers are remarkably generous in sharing market recommendations and warnings. The British Travel Trade Fair provided more contacts and leads for stories than I can ever use in a year
When I am going somewhere, I pitch storyline ideas to online, magazine and news editors before I leave. I write up everything I do whether it is pre-sold or not. An unsold article used in ten or more low-paying markets still brings in useful money.
And of course you can always be a travel writer without leaving home. I wrote an emergency guidebook on the Isle of Wight (UK) this summer and have another due out next Spring specifically about a local harbor town.
Travel Writing by L. Peat O’Neil is a brilliant book for anyone interested.
Linda: What were some of your most memorable experiences while doing feature writing for newspapers?
Annie: Interviewing the Beatles was fun and I met many celebrities. People who are deservedly famous are invariably thoughtful in their answers and incredibly patient and kind. Some celebrities, however, just think being themselves is enough to entitle them to be rude and arrogant.
One of my favorite stories came from attending a weekend fair in a small French village whose all-bachelor population advertised for single women to marry. I like following up tales of the supernatural too and met families living with poltergeists, ghost hunters and even a composer of well-known TV theme tunes whose home in Portugal was haunted by a ghost that had followed him from a previous house. I had nightmares for months after that.
Nowadays I look for local people who have hidden talents or back story. I find that much more satisfying than hanging about “doorstepping†a celebrity. One elderly neighbor had developed an improved form of wireless communication in World War 2, another had fought as a teenager in the Spanish Civil War.
Linda: What are your writing goals now?
Annie: As a child I dreamed up countless happy-ever-after fairy tales and always expected to write romances. This is far more difficult than I anticipated but I aim to have two completed by the end of the year. They are already first and second drafted. It is still a possibility.
The travel writing and the personal features produce regular writing income. The fiction is my luxury aspiration. I can’t pretend I’m writing a bestseller.
Linda: What advice do you have for other aspiring authors?
Annie: Write every day even if it’s just a letter to a friend. See where your stream of consciousness takes you. If you feel yourself flagging, try another genre or writing discipline just for fun. Push yourself into publication. Even if what you write only appears in a local church magazine or freesheet at first, it will give you some cuttings and spur you on.
Be open to your heart. Ask for advice when you need it and listen. Listen to everyone. Note the tricks of speech that bring them alive on paper.
Join an inspirational writing group with similar aims and ambitions like the Muse Online Writers’ Conference or Freelance Writing Organization International.
Linda: Are you still in Bulgaria?
Annie: I go to Bulgaria two or three times a year and hope to spend longer there next year. There is so much to research and write there. We share the house with a family of chinchillas which have spent most of summer 2007 stripping the wallpaper –perhaps it’s a hint I should be an interior decorator rather than a writer?
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Annie Duguid is an Associate Editor at Freelance Writing Organization, International and can be found at Garden and Hearth – Travel Europe She has umpteen blogs in various stages of disarray and her own jottings website at Personal Features. She also moderates the weight watching Writers’ Support Group at Spark People.
Hi!,
A belated reply to Lea’s question. Sorry Lea, bitten by the procrastination bug again.
For me, I think you have to do the traveling, smell the spices and the drains, meet the quirky people who hang out in cafes and the workers in the shops. It makes the difference between a travel article and a tourism promo. You will not use all the information you find but you have the confidence that everything you write is accurate. You have not just the vision but the feel of the place. You have seen the sights, experienced the weather, talked to people.
Books are often out-of-date by the time they are printed. On the Internet you are reliant on someone else giving you the facts. I find that risky although I can see the potential of a researched article focusing on a particular aspect of a place, historic or geographic for instance.
That said, the best travel article at any one time has to give readers the info they want and as we know there are many readers who are happy with the database format of the new generation of guidebooks. A researched article couild well be the best for a particular market.
I have writen travel articles from interviews and facts gleaned from research and other travelers but it takes me a long time to bring them to life, if I even manage at all. I guess for me, places are people.
I do hope someone else will add comments on this. It is such an interesting question.
Thanks Lea for that and Beverly, Vivian. Margaret, Natasha for the interesting comments I’d love to follow up on, and of course Julie for taking the time to pop by to say such nice things.
And wow! a comment from the lady who’s the real travel writer–L. Peat O’Neil. Inspiration indeed to work even harder at the craft.
Thanks again Linda for choosing me for Writing Festival Friday. Perspectives on Writing is certainly top of my bookmarks 🙂
Annie
Annie,
You are such a gem! We are blessed to have you on board with us at Inkwell Newswatch. What fascinating wisdom and experience you’ve shared here in the interview with Linda. You’ve inspired me!
Linda,
Thank you for interviewing Annie, giving us all the opportunity to get to know her even better.
Sincerely,
Julie A. Pierce
Senior Editor
Inkwell Newswatch
Published by:
Freelance Writing Organization – Int’l.
– A Writer’s Digest Top 101 Site
– #1 Writing Resource Site – The Writer
Annie’s comments are useful and inspiring. And thanks for mentioning my book about travel writing!
Good luck with publishing the fiction, Annie. Like you, I write romance mysteries and historical fiction to grow new tendrils and explore other channels of the written word — no novels published yet!
L. Peat O’Neil
Thanks for this interview Linda, and your answers Annie. While I’ve mainly written fiction and poetry in the past, travel writing is something I’m just getting into – perhaps because I’m now living half a world away from the country where I grew up!
Thanks again for your advice and inspiration.
Natasha
http://www.natashajudd.com
http://www.webstuff4writers.com
I really enjoyed the interview! I have done a fair amount of travel but my middle son, the one who is now in the army, has me beat all hollow. He spent last summer biking across Europe with three of his best buddies. By the time they reached the end of the road, he was really biked out! They kept a blog and it was really fun to read.
Linda and Annie, I thoroughly enjoyed this interview and especially that you had met the Beatles, I believe they were ahead of their time.
I don’t have a comment as much as a question for Annie: Do you feel the best travel articles are done by those who actually travel to these destinations or can one write an article just as good with research?
Lea Schizas
http://leaschizaseditor.com
I’m envious. I like traveling but no longer can go far from home since my husband is unable to travel far.
This interview made me want to go and see and write about what I see. Good interview of a good subject.
Vivian
What a great interview, Linda. It must be fun traveling to different countries to research the settings and people. I enjoy seeing how other authors work. Thanks for a good one.
Dear Linda,
Thankyou so much for asking such interesting questions –you certainly made me take stock and reevaluate what I am doing and why.
Writing Festival Friday is a brilliant idea –it also means that at least once a week I catch up with all the other writing news and opportunities here. 🙂
Already looking forward to next week and reading Devon’s interview –and maybe I’ll have won a slot on Holly’s teleseminar……
Thanks again
Annie