How I got here

Thanks for subscribing. I want to put a little flesh on the bones of why I created a website in the first place and started down this social media road.

In August, I attended the Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference in Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. I felt like I was going way out on a limb—the three-day conference is a highly regarded annual gathering of authors, journalists, bloggers, podcasters and photographers in the world of travel writing. In contrast, I have published nothing and didn’t know anybody there. But that was exactly the point: I wanted candid feedback on my writing from professionals in the field and from other objective readers.

I submitted four excerpts from my Eating Wind manuscript for review in various seminars and group readings. Each one received very positive responses. The highlight was winning Second Place in the conference-wide writing competition, which was announced with some fanfare at the event’s closing ceremony. I’m not gonna lie: It was a blast.

The Carpe Diem podcast

That alone would have made the conference a big success for me, but then on the final afternoon I was introduced to Teri Murrison, who publishes a blog and a podcast on her website at Terisdoingit.com. Her podcast focuses on carpe diem, or seizing the day, with stories about people who have taken risks to pursue their passion. I sent Teri part of Eating Wind and, next thing you know, I’m a guest on her podcast here.

One last point: Several people at the Book Passage conference told me—confirming what I’d heard elsewhere—that few literary agents or publishers will take me seriously if I don’t have an author website; better yet, have a website and attract subscribers, the more the better. It felt odd to create an author website when I’m not yet an author, but nevertheless I did what I asked my legal clients to do for 35 years: Take advice from the pros. Thus the website.

That’s how I got here (and, I guess, how you got here as well). Now, I’ll see what happens next. In the meantime, consider telling friends and family to subscribe, the more the merrier.

Cheers