January 2015 BCATW Buzz

From Our New President, Ruth Kozak

Ruth Kozak at the Egyptian Pyramids

Happy new year!

As the newly-elected President of the BCATW, I’d like to welcome newcomers, associates, industry members, and established travel writers to our site and encourage you to participate in all the things we have to offer. We also invite suggestions for new resources, topics for our Meet Ups and travel-related activities.

I have been a member of BCATW since it first began under the leadership of the late Vic Foster, and I’ve served on the Board under various positions over the last couple of years. 

As we being our new year as a growing travel organization, I look forward to working with the team of newly-elected board members and the symposium committee. 2015’s symposium theme will be Eco-Tourism. A date and location will be announced soon. Meanwhile, we have an exciting new program of Meetups planned so please mark them on your calendar and participate.

My hope is that we can inspire new membership and invite a broader scope of potential travel writers, including young adventure travelers. We welcome new associates and full members as well as Industry members to our organization and encourage your input.

2015 Dues Are Due

Your 2015 membership dues must be paid by January 31, 2015. We offer two ways to remit:

a) $48.00 by cheque payable to BCATW and mailed to: K. Cullen – BCATW, 1153 56 Street, PO Box 19029, Delta, BC V4L 2P8
b) $50.00 via PayPal on the Payments page (there is a $2.00 PayPal fee).

A condition of full membership is the submission of proof of publication of three paid travel articles published in 2013 – 2014. Please send your clips/tear sheets/links via our membership form to both Chris Millikan  and Ruth Kozak.

An associate membership cannot be renewed, but is upgraded to full membership once evidence of one paid, published travel piece is submitted. For example, those new associate members who joined last May, must pay $48.00.

When you send your proof of publication of one paid travel article (you have until May 2015 to do so), your status is upgraded to full and a new press card is issued.

BCATW Find A Writer Directory

Our new online directory, Find A Writer, has been launched and is slowing taking shape. So far, nine members have posted their listings. We’ve also had a few non-members submit their listings, and they received polite responses that pitched membership in order to get their listing published.

The directory is an on-going project and your contribution and ideas are welcome. Once we get a majority of members listed, we’ll make a PR push to editors and publishers.

Please take 30 minutes to upload your information there. Please see the instructions here.

We are also seeking background images of Vancouver cityscapes for the directory as well as this site. If you have something, please post them on our Facebook page.

January Meetup

What to Shoot for on a FAM Trip – Thursday, January 15

Kerri-Jo Stewart

Kerri-Jo Stewart will show images from her recent travels, including FAM trips to Turkmenistan and Argentina. Kerri-Jo will also go over expectations and experiences from her trips. And of course some travel photography tips and tricks will be covered so you can improve your images for your own articles!

Kerri-Jo Stewart, BPE, MSc, MPF, was awarded the prestigious title of Master Photographer in 2014 by Master Photographers International and the Professional Photographers of Canada BC Photographer of the Year 2013. Other major achievements include PPOC-BC Fine Art Award 2014, the PPOC top press photo, Canada 2013 and the top editorial photo, BC 2013, as well as representing Canada at the World Photographic Championships in 2014 and two CAPA Gold Medals, 2013, 2014. Her work has also been displayed in galleries both locally and internationally.

You can find her books and contact her through her website at Kerri-Jo.com.

BCATW members are Free, Non-members pay $10.

RSVP now at Meetup.com

Member News

Rick Neal had a travel story published in a recently-published travel anthology, Chance Encounters: Travel Tales From Around The World. Rick’s story is entitled, “The Perfect Gift.” It recounts an unforgettable experience he had while visiting the northern highlands of Guatemala. The anthology is available to purchase at WorldTravelerPress.com.

Ruth Kozak had an article about Salamina Island (Greece) published in Travel Generation and another about Corinth published in EuropeUpClose. She has just finished work on the Athens Guide e-book for Hunter Publisher US and sent it off.

Ruth will be featured in BC BookWorld in January and will celebrate the launch of her historical fiction novel SHADOW OF THE LION: BLOOD ON THE MOON at the Hellenic Community Centre on January 14, 7 pm, sponsored by the Greek Consul. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Joan Boxall‘s creative non-fiction story, They’re All Wet appears this month in Senior Living and Bayeux & Beyond on Travel Thru History a travel tale of bicycling to Normandy’s D-Day beaches).

Joan’s been writing poetry on Kauai.

Irene Butler and her husband Rick relived last year’s “Christmas in Cartagena – Colombia’s Seaside Haven” featured in Travel Writers Tales, and in their affiliated newspapers – The Delta Optimist, Kamloops This Week, and Vernon Morning Star.

Fishermen at Colva Beach, Goa, India

India was the Butler’s “home away from home” all of this December. Starting out in the wonderful chaos that is Mumbai, they then moved on to Colva Beach, Goa to spend Christmas, where locals flock to the Arabian Sea, and where fishing villages abound. Their visit to Goa coincided with the exposition of St Francis Xavier’s body which is brought up from the crypt every 10 years. The Butlers were in the long line of pilgrims to view the over 400-year-old mortal remains and hear Xavier’s fascinating story. Leaving Goa for Chennai, on the opposite coast, they sipped chai tea deciding where in the world to go next.

Mari Kane had a story published in Wine Enthusiast that tells the inspiring story of Judy Kingston of Naramata’s Serendipity Winery, (featured at our Taste of Travel Symposium in May 2014) and how she got her mojo back by starting a winery.

Social Media Reminder

BCATW has an active Facebook page and if you are not part of it, you may be missing something. Our Facebook group, B.C. Assoc of Travel Writers posts up-to-the-minute alerts about travel opportunities, media events and other tips to boost our writing. You can also post promotions about your writing and business activities. If you are not part of the group, please ask for admittance. It was an open group until too many non-writers joined so now it’s closed. But we want to see you there!

Also, follow @bctravelwriters on Twitter and help us build our numbers there.

And if you are not a member of our Meetup group, you are seriously missing out. Please join us there!

Happy New Year to everyone!
– Mari Kane, Communications Director

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” —Mark Twain