Welcome to summer! Here’s the latest BCATW Buzz from the BC Association of Travel Writers.
BCATW AGM
Please mark your calendars for the BCATW Annual General Meeting coming up on November 22, 2014.
As a non-profit Association, the BCATW is required to hold a General Meeting annually to review the year, make general plans for the upcoming year & network with colleagues over refreshments. All BCATW members in good standing are eligible to attend the AGM scheduled for November 22. Please plan to be there!
The Board will be developing the agenda and confirming venue details after the summer.
Got an idea? Let the Board know your thoughts. Contact info for all board members can be found on our board members page.
BCATW Meetups
On June 25, we held our first BCATW Meetup at Randi Winter’s Room which featured Ruth Kozak talking about Travel Writing Basics. 10 of 15 attendees were non members with interesting plans for becoming travel writers. They were so enthused, they coaxed Ruth into holding a travel writing intensive later this month.
The next meetup is planned for July 16. It will be a walking photo shoot downtown, with photographer Kerri-Jo Stewart. Check our Meetup.com page for details.
About BCATW Meetups
Anyone can speak at BCATW meetups. The only criteria is that the presentation be travel related and useful to our members. If the meetup is held at Randi’s Room in Yaletown, you can also give an audio-video presentation. The capacity there is about 25.
There is no payment for speaking at our meetups. The value is in promotion of whatever you are doing, i.e., courses, books or video sales, consultancies, etc. as well as getting online publicity.
Meetups are free for members and $10 for non-members.
Planning BCATW Meetups
First, contact Randi Winter with your idea, a location and date for the meetup at least 4 weeks in advance.
Once Randi has approved your meetup idea, please send BCATW a 50-100 word blurb with the who, what, when, and why of your presentation.That is, a bio about you, what your meet up will cover, the date, and most importantly, what attendees will gain from it. That information will be posted on the Meetup.com site and here in the monthly Buzz.
Meetup.com does all the work regarding RSVP’s and speakers can watch the RSVPs roll in there.
Although Mari is the “Host” on Meetup.com she may not always be the host of the meetup itself.
Mari will provide a download of the RSVP list to the designated host – who would be Randi if the meetup is at her Room – as well as to the speaker. The meetup’s host will be responsible for taking fees according to the list.
Refreshments should always be served so that needs to be arranged as well.
If you are not a member of Meetup.com, please join here. It’s free and easy, and it will open up a world of learning and networking.
Also, if you are not a member of our FaceBook group, please let us know and we’ll invite you.
BCATW Member News
Jett and Kathryn Britnell have two stories being published in July with Scuba H2O Adventures magazine. One story is about local diving in Queen Charlotte Strait called, “Descending Into God’s Back Pocket – Queen Charlotte Strait’s 10 Best Dive Sites”, and the other is about a Bahamas adventure Jett went on last November called, “Sunshine, Lollipops & Tiger Sharks.” One of Jett’s images is also to appear on the magazine’s cover.
As some of you may already know, the Britnell’s are now also Ambassadors for Matador Network. Matador Ambassadors are leading photographers, journalists, musicians, artists, educators and writers with a passion for storytelling, travel, and conservation and whose work intersects place and travel culture. Matador Network is an independent media company and nexus of travel culture worldwide. It is now one of the largest independent travel publishers online, reaching over 2 million unique monthly visitors.At present, there are only 50 Matador Ambassadors globally.
According to SkiftIQ, “Matador Network is the most successful media brand on social media. Although its numbers in any of the four categories that we track do not rise to the level of first place, its mix of activity and heightened level of interaction with users through conversations, retweets, and shares, gives it the edge over its peers.”
Darlene Foster is pleased to announce the launch of her fourth book, Amanda In Alberta -The Writing on the Stone, July 26, from 1:00 – 3:00 pm at Albany Books in Tsawwassen. Stop in and say hello to Darlene before her and her husband move to sunny Spain.
A little about the book: Amanda is delighted to show Leah around Alberta during her visit from England. They take in the Calgary Stampede, go on a cattle drive, visit Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, spend time with the dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell Museum and explore the crazy Hoo Doos.When Amanda finds a stone with a unique mark on it, she doesn’t think it’s important until everyone seems to want it – including a very ornery cowboy. Is this stone worth ruining Leah’s holiday and risking both their lives?Spend time with Amanda as she spends time in her own country and attempts to decipher the mysterious writing on the stone and keep it those determined to take it away from her.
Ruth Kozak had a story about visiting the Temple of Philae in Egypt published in EuropeUpClose and another article about Barkerville is due to be published in Travel Generation in July. Ruth’s travel plans this summer include a book-promo tour in England, Wales and Greece for her soon-to-be published historical novel SHADOW OF THE LION.
She already has a reading lined up at the Athens Centre for Sept 24 and hopes to have more as contacts are made. Ruth will be attending the Historical Fiction Novelist’s conference in London on Sept. 5/6. Ruth is currently working on an e-book guide of Athens Greece and getting more of her Egypt stories out to market as well as posting Travel Through History. Ruth recently presented a travel writer’s workshop outline for our first Meet Up. If anyone requests a more extensive 4 week course which she holds in her home, please contact her at ruthaki1@nullshaw.ca or phone 604-254-9711 There may be time to do a workshop this summer, otherwise one will be held in the fall after mid October.
Doris Ecker’s article “The Great Urban Outdoors” has just been published in print and online in the 2014-15 edition of The Essential, Vancouver.
Karoline Cullen has two articles appearing in new-to-her placements. “Newfoundland to France — By Ferry” was published in the June 2014 issue of Senior Living. Her “A Tale of Three Caves” was published on Travel Thru History. She is looking forward to gathering story material on her July trip to the Yukon and Alaska.
Rick Neal has a new article on the amazing Andean town of Otavalo, Ecuador, home to one of the largest outdoor markets in all of the Americas.
Irene Butler has had two stories published by What Travel Writers Say.com, a site that provides numerous videos on the place written about, and a full complement of information links. Please check out Galapagos Gallivanting and Ecuador’s Astounding Amazon Basin. As well as English, the reader is able to translate stories into other 10 languages, using the instructions the bottom of the homepage. Titanic Bandmaster Wallace Hartley’s violin and case was found strapped to his body after he went down with the ship…..since then it was lost and rediscovered. See it in the video following the story of “Titanic Belfast – the Birthplace of the Titanic” on “Day Trips Travel Guide”. The Butlers are on the move again… on July 7th Irene and her husband Rick are off to 22 European countries, if all goes well with their loose plans.
The Kawartha Voyageur, Julie’s home for ten days, docked for the night in Westport at the southern end of Upper Rideau Lake on the Rideau Canal.
Julie H. Ferguson has been exploring southern Ontario for a month, thanks to Tourism Ontario and Ontario Waterway Cruises. She found cruising on the Rideau Canal and the Trent-Severn Waterway a delightful at-home alternative to river cruising in Europe — informal, relaxing, fun, and packed with history. So was sailing on the St. Lawrence River with her grandchildren. Julie loved Prince Edward County too, a place with a reputation for fine, local food and a developing wine industry that will be better in a decade. Though she did find a couple of good drinking reds and whites. The residents here are charming, helpful, and welcoming, and some of the art galleries and studios are worth visiting. She was able to give a presentation at the Naval Marine Archive in Picton celebrating the Canadian submarine service’s centenary that was well received. Julie also visited her publisher and gave radio interviews in Toronto. Now her work begins with over 2000 images to edit and loads of writing to do. Julie is thrilled to be able to travel again and heads to the Western Isles and Iceland at the end of August for five weeks.
Mari Kane is seeking kittysitters to stay in her apartment from July 17 to August 2 while she and her husband travel to the US. Her beautiful one-bedroom apartment is centrally located near Vancouver City Hall and the Canada Line. They have cable TV, wireless Internet, great neighbours, and a quiet ‘hood.
If you are having your place reno’d or are looking for a place to put visiting friends, please email her.
That’s all for now. Have a great July!
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Hello BCATW people and friends, I probably won’t do another travel writing workshop until the fall and it will preferably be a 4 week workshop at my home. I’ll keep everyone informed. Meanwhile I have a full program this summer writing more travel articles, finishing the final prepublishing edits on my novel and a lot of other exciting this like music festivals. If you want copies of the handouts for the lecture I gave at the Meet Up please email me for them at ruthaki1@nullshaw.ca