BootsnAll Travel Community

I just signed up for an Adult Ed 1-day travel writing course for this Saturday. Cost is $56 for residents of the county. It's 6 hours. It's being taught by an author who writes for The Washington Post, LA Times and Baltimore Sun.

I was just curious if others have taken community classes such as this and if so, whether they found such a short seminar useful?

I'll let you know how it goes!

I have not actually taken one, but have signed up for one once. They did not have the prices posted, but I thought what the hell. Then the bill came in, around $600. So we did not take it.

Sounds like fun though, let us know how it goes.

The class was great! I wrote a longer review of it on my blog. The teacher was Jerry Haines, a former lawyer and college journalism teacher. There were 9 others in the class - 7 women, 2 guys. There was a wide range of ages - from 20's to 40's.

Much of the accommodations referenced were hotels, so not much in the way of advice geared specifically to the random hosteler/vagabond (me), however that didn't seem to matter. With the exception of a few too many personal tangents resulting from student questions, I learned a ton, and gained valuable insight into what goes into travel writing , structuring an article, non-professional tips for selling photos, marketing to publishers, and what to expect when working with editors.

The surprise came after our lunch break when he let us know that he has a side business where he'll critique people's writing at a rate of $25 per assignment he gives you, including edits mailed back to you, and a follow-up phone call. I jumped on the chance to get the opportunity to establish a baseline on my writing skills.

An example tip: novice travel writers are best off trying to submit works to major newspapers with travel sections, or small community papers where the piece may work as a feature. The middle size newspapers tend to use syndicated pieces. Magazines seem like the territory of the more experienced writers/photographers.

Go here for the full review of my experience. I even used a few of his tips for the review!