Thanksgiving in DC

We drove from Raleigh, NC to Washington, DC for Thanksgiving and were very lucky with the weather and the traffic.  It was my first trip there in three years, which is the longest break in the 15 years since I moved from DC.  I didn’t notice anything of any significant difference from the last trip.  The city has marked bike lanes on most of the major roadways, cleaned up a few of the eyesores, and cracked down on the panhandlers.  We stayed with a friend near Dupont Circle and spent one day touring three of the museums on the National Mall.

There is the mall, which is maintained by the National Park Service, and there is the rest of DC, which is maintained by the city.  According to my friends, the city government is still as dysfunctional as ever, and the police aren’t much better. We didn’t have time to visit all of my old haunts, but we did see a few.  I lived in Adams Morgan, just north of Dupont Circle, for three years in the 90’s, and it also seemed as though it had changed little.  It still contains a large assortment of restaurants and sidewalk cafes on 18^th Street NW and also along Columbia Road.  We sampled one Spanish restaurant that hadn’t changed in 30 years, and unfortunately their food also looked and tasted like it needed to be updated.

From all the reports that I had read in the Washington Post of problems on the Metro, I was pleased to find that it was operating as efficiently as it used to do.  Of course, they were working on the escalators, as they have been for the past 25 years.  I saw more new gas-powered buses, and the city had less traffic because of the holiday.  It is still a very walkable city with wide sidewalks and level ground.  I used to go down on the mall on the weekends just to walk and watch all the people.

We toured a few exhibits at the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of American History.  You could spend an entire week just touring the Smithsonian museums.  They offer excellent web sites for each, an online tour guide, and helpful hints and/or sites accessible from smartphones.  The museums are still free even though many of the major exhibits are now funded by major corporations rather than the Congress.  The magazine covers many subjects beyond the museums, as does their television channel, so their various web sites offer more specific guidance for tourists.

Most tourists stay out in Arlington or Alexandria in less expensive hotels, park their cars, and take the Metro into the city.  In addition to the Metro and the regular commuter buses, the city now offers a low-cost connector bus service that runs only on K Street and Massachusetts Avenue.  Most tourists don’t get beyond the monuments and museums along the mall between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial, but there are so many other attractions throughout the city and the neighboring suburbs.  If you are making your first visit, you need to allow at least a week or 10 days.

Number one tip for visiting the museums: go early in the day before they become too crowded.

 

Blue Ridge Parkway

Although I had checked the weather reports frequently and looked at the weekly reports at North Carolina Tourism, I was correct on choosing the right day to avoid the rain.  But I was a week late in choosing the right day to see the peak foliage, at least at the areas we toured in October on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  A storm the week before had brought wind and rain that defoliated most of the trees around Grandfather Mountain.  We saw more color as we drove down the parkway on October 17^th to Mt. Mitchell, but we didn’t go far enough west to Cashiers to see the peak color that day.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time on this overnight trip to add that many miles on our motor tour.

Friends who lived in Boston for many years tell me that trying to pick the peak period to see the New England foliage in peak color is equally difficult because conditions vary from year to year and from week to week in specific locations.  It’s a gamble even with the best information currently available.

So, was it worth the effort?  Yes, I had never seen either of the peaks. Mt. Mitchell offers the best view and has a much better road. The narrow switchbacks with no guardrails Grandfather Mountain are literally cliffhangers, and if you make a mistake you could plunge hundreds of feet down the mountain.  If you want a thrill, then I guess it’s for you, but it was the worst road I’ve ever been on.  Plus it was extremely windy at the observation deck, which we were told was only a moderate and clear day.

On the other hand, our stay at the Little Switzerland Inn was delightful.  The lodge has been modernized recently, and a first class facility even though the rates are moderate.  It is right on the parkway and has a great view as well as an excellent restaurant. They were getting ready to close in a few weeks for the winter.  The only other inn directly on the parkway is the Mt. Pisgah Inn south of Asheville, where we stayed five years ago on a trip to the Brevard Music Festival.

The Triangle is situated where you can make weekend trips to the mountains or the beaches. Ralph Grizzle’s 2002 book Day Trips from Raleigh-Durham by The Globe Pequot Press offers several sample trips, and Don Vandeventer’s 1995 book North Carolina Getaways: A Guide to Bed & Breakfasts and Country Inns from Down Home Press is still available from Amazon.  You also can search a half dozen local web sites as well as the massive site of the National Park Service that includes the parkway.

If you like the old-fashioned country cafes, then try the Blue Mist Café on US 64 between Asheboro and Ramseur where you can find a complete lunch and tea for only $7.  It has been there a long time as was noted by a plaque for a waitress who retired after 33 years!

Well, we just got back from Washington, DC for Thanksgiving, and I will report on that trip next month.  It will be impossible to give even a sliver of the many attractions there, but I will report on some of our museum tours.

Yadkin River Valley Wine Tour

In the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina lies the Yadkin River Valley.  The pastoral countryside is marked with fields of vivid colors of yellow, brown, and greens that vary with crops like a giant quilt of nature’s patterns.  Nestled among the soybeans, corn, and tobacco, an increasing number of fields are vineyards.  In fact, the valley has been recognized with an official wine appellation, or recognition as a wine-growing region.

On a bright, sunny September day we toured four of the vineyards and wineries in the area sampling the varieties of wines they produced.  The beauty of the countryside was enhanced by the elegance of their ordered rows of grapes highlighted by grand tasting rooms and restaurants with gorgeous views.  I’ve never toured the Napa Valley or the Russian River of California, but my companion said the area reminded him of the rolling hills of Pennsylvania even though they don’t have the vineyards.

We visited in the middle of the harvesting season but unfortunately missed seeing any of the actual operations since we came either on the day before or the day after they had been harvesting.  The winemaker determines which grapes are ready for harvest, and the crews are called out only then and it varies with the type of grape and the weather conditions.  You really can’t plan it advance because they don’t know that far in advance when they will be in the fields.

Some of the vineyards do allow volunteers in the fields, and others do not.  Most have harvest festivals, or special events including concerts, special tours, and family activities.  These are usually scheduled on the weekends, and we traveled mid-week just to avoid the crowds.

Vineyards are springing up all over North Carolina to claim the productivity that North Carolina had prior to Prohibition.  The wineries in the Yakin Valley grow European variety grapes, but the Duplin Winery down east grows only the native Muscatine and scuppernong grapes.  You can tour the wineries any time of year, but late summer or early fall is the most scenic time of year.

Several helpful guides and web sites are available:  A Guide to North Carolina Wineries, second edition by Joseph Mills and Danielle Tarmey published by John Blair gives a detailed history of most of the wineries.  The bi-monthly magazine North Carolina Winepress can be found in most wine shops and also online on their web site: North Carolina Winepress  The NC Wine & Grape Council of the NC Dept. of Commerce has a printed brochure of a guide and map to North Carolina Wineries that is also available at Discover North Carolina Wines.  The Yadkin Valley Winegrowers Association also has a map and a web site of their wineries at Yakin Valley Wineries  The web site Yadkin Valley Vineyards also lists all of the vineyards as well as the wineries.

Transitions

I never did have much traffic on this blog, and I was surprised that it still had a trickle of visitors after I stopped posting in mid April.  There was a drop-off, of course, but apparently some people still stumbled across it.  I am resuming posting, but on a different topic and a different schedule.  I stopped posting because I abandoned freelance writing.  There just wasn’t any money in it for me as my income continued to decline even though I was sending queries.  I am retired and not dependent upon writing for a living so it no longer was worth the effort, time, and expense I devoted to it.

So now I will share some of my travel experiences on a monthly basis (rather than the 10-day schedule before.)  I also am no longer traveling to Europe and only making short trips in the US, usually just a few days within the region.  That is less expensive, but it still provides the opportunity to “get away” more regularly  and offers the opportunity for a change of pace. In August some friends and I drove up to southwestern Virginia, and a report of that trip follows.  I made a wine-tasting trip in September and plan a trip in October to see the fall leaves change color in the mountains.  I’m scheduled to go to DC in Nov. and Richmond in Dec. so I have several short trips already all lined up.  I was in Fort Lauderdale in February and Richmond in April, but those are too old to write about since I’ve forgotten the details and don’t keep a journal.

So come along for the ride.

A Summer Weekend Getaway

 

Raleigh is fortunate to be only a few hours drive from the coast or the mountains.  In August to escape the heat we drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in southwestern Virginia.  It was still hot there but not as humid.  We took the interstates going up and a more circuitous route coming home.

I’ve traveled parts of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia since I was a child but had never visited the campus of Virginia Tech at Blacksburg.  The sprawling 650-acre campus features limestone buildings in the traditional style with acres of trees, lawns, and ponds to soften their features.  Unfortunately acres of black asphalt parking lots also cover the campus so cars are a prominent feature.  But the buildings are not stacked on top of each other as they are in many more crowded campuses.

One other unique features of the campus is the 18th Century Smithfield Plantation that is home to three successive generations of Virginia Governors of the Preston clan.  The house contains many of the original furnishings that were returned after Preservation Virginia restored it in the 1960s.  The white frame exterior does not belie the interior size that is laid out in an L-shape with a porch across the back.  The home is surrounded by a working farm of VA Tech so it appears that little as changed through the centuries except for the hidden air-conditioning.

We returned to the modern world in a striking new, high-ceilinged restaurant of wood, stone, and glass overlooking the New River in Radford, home of Radford University.  Their terrace overlooks the college and the town with a pastoral view.  We ended the day with a twilight tour of the private homes along the ridge of Ingles Mountain, which unfortunately does not provide any public access to that view.

About 25 miles to the east along Va. Hwy 8 lay the small town of Floyd that has undergone a renaissance in recent years and become a hub for country music festivals.  The new Hotel Floyd sits at the center of a new park, office mall, shops & condos along with two old general stores and the Bank of Floyd, which I was surprised to learn is a public corporation listed on the NASDAC stock exchange.  The small country inn of 22 rooms is decorated with furnishings and art works from local artisans and features unique double-door entries for cold winter protection.  This is not a ski area so I imagine they don’t get many winter visitors.  The traditional small town Blue Ridge cafe is still the gathering place of locals and suffers southern cooking at reasonable prices

For such as short trip there was time to sample only a couple of sites directly on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The large fieldstone winery at the Chateau Morrisette also features a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the valley below and the Alleghany Mountains to the west.  It was the only cool spot we found on the entire trip.  Just a few miles to the south we toured the 1911 Mabry Mill and outbuildings to see mountain life in the age before electricity.  We made the unfortunate decision to return from the parkway down to Hwy 8 to cross the mountains, and it was a long winding road of about 90 miles before we reached Winston-Salem, NC and got back on the interstate.

It was a short, 3-day, 2-night excursion that seemed a world away from the hub-bub of the Triangle. (See my photos at My travel photos.)

New web site

I have set up a trial with a new version of my web site at http://www.johnsuddath.biz

It has the same information as my old web site, but in a different format.  This one was designed and hosted by web.com on a speculative basis without a contract.  I’m tracking both using Google analytics.  But my objective is no longer just to get a higher page rank or clicks or click-throughs.  Higher traffic supposedly should generate more leads, but that has not been my experience in the past.

I am currently using the old site

http://www.johnsuddath.com

more like an online brochure that includes samples of my writing a links to sites for my photographs and this blog.  Rather than attach samples to a query, I simply list this link.  Neither site has a business link in order to buy anything, except for a link to my book site that includes a link to Amazon.  I’m no longer actively promoting the book, and the online tour guide of Raleigh is available only through Visual Travel Tours’ site.  Eventually all of their guides will be available through Kindle.

Aside from the early leads when I first put up my sites, I’m not getting any business from them in spite of advertising using Adwords and promotion on all my marketing materials.  I’ve had some discussion of whether or not I should list my rates since that my scare of some prospects.  Although they are negotiable to some extent, I’m not willing to work for free as some writers will do simply to get more clips.  Aside from the terrible market for freelancers currently, I think the distinction between offering products on a site and offering professional services is a major factor.  If you’re offering services to the public, that’s different, but if you’re offering services to a narrow niche market other networks seem to work better than the web.

 

 

 

What is the difference between journalists and writers?

What is the difference between writing and journalism?  The simple answer seems to be that writers work in a longer form and journalists basically just serve as reporters.  In other words, writers analyze, frame, and feature either in magazines or books, while journalists report (just the facts, M’am) for newspapers, radio, and television.

Well, those distinctions have become blurred, particularly with the rise of “citizen journalists” and mass production word factories that crank out millions of words without regard to quality or factual basis.  Where is the diminishing role of the “professional,” and how do we adapt to the rapidly changing technology and expectations of society?

I’ve mentioned several books in previous blogs and some radio and television shows.  This time I would like to highlight CNN’s “Reliable Sources” with Howard Kurtz and NPR’s “On the Media” produced by WNYC radio.  Even if you consider yourself a “writer” and not a “journalist,” I think you need to look for reliable sources of information in this cluttered world of information that we call the Internet.

I used to have a boss who was very reluctant to be quoted in print because he thought that if you saw the words it print that must mean that it was true.   After his words appeared in print, he couldn’t weasle out of them.  While most people no longer have that naive notion, we are susceptible to accepting as fact whatever is published on the Internet when it may be entirely fictional.  Bias and objective points-of-view are classic discussion points in J-schools, but most writers don’t give them much consideration.  We’re more interested in being “creative,” or at least “marketable.”

But the cliché of “write about what you know” is extremely limiting in today’s world economy and political hegemony.  When I can watch Aljazeera TV in English live from Tripoli, Libya on my iPhone, I can experience a world that a previous generation would never have known.  That is not a first-hand experience, granted, but neither was reading a book about some other time or place. That also was part of my knowledge, background, and experience that influenced who I am and what I write about.

Is it too much of an overstatement to say that as citizens of the world we have a broader experience and understanding of the world than previous generations?  I think not.  Except for the very powerful and wealthy who had the options for extensive travel and contacts with influential people across the world, most folks simply didn’t have that kind of access to what was really going on in the world.  We only got glimpses of what was filtered through the media and the powerful shapers of public opinion, such as advertisers and movie producers.

Years ago when I used to travel outside of Texas I always was amused by the impressions of what people thought Texas was like.  Based upon the TV series “Dallas” and hundreds of western movies combined with the humorous stories of Molly Ivins, they had a vision of big oil, big money, and big hair, which was only partly true.  That certainly is a big part of Texas and reflects some of the more colorful Texans, but it is only a snapshot in time of a small piece of history.

I sometimes wonder if I’m wasting too much time on the Internet, or am I taking advantage of opportunities hither-to-unknown.  I certainly don’t have the energy or money to experience as much first-hand as I might like so if I can’t see it, feel it or touch it does it mean that I can’t write about it?

 

 

Travel writing

Last year I focused on trying to break into travel writing.  I attended a Media Bistro workshop in DC that was excellent, and I spent a lot of time on web sites featuring travel writing (see table.)  Unfortunately, it isn’t easy even though Media Bistro offers an 8-week online course that goes into the process in much more detail.

My process was simple and direct.  Make a pitch to a travel publication (primarily print magazines) and send a query (usually via email) and wait for a response.  I really fell down on the follow-ups since it’s entirely possible that the appropriate person never received those emails.  A lot of magazines now have online forms for you to use in making submissions and won’t accept email or snail mail submissions.  I’ve explored some of the online ezines but not the online versions of the print magazines (that appear to have different staffs.)  The online versions are not just repeats of the print versions and often have original content.

Since I travel fairly regularly I had focused on trips I had planned and sent my queries based on those future trips.  I researched the back issues of the magazines to see if those destinations had been covered recently.  I didn’t consider that perhaps they weren’t interested in those destinations or that my angle or spin didn’t fit their style.  Anyway, the only response I got was from Budget Travel that my article (not just a query) was close but not quite right.  They later published an article by another North Carolina writer about the barbeque trail in NC of well-known restaurants.  That seemed old hat to me, but apparently they considered it unique.

Here is the list of web sites related to travel writing:

Best Travel Writing http://www.besttravelwriting.com/

World in Focus http://www.worldinfocuscontest.com/indexnew.shtml

AWAi Travel Writing http://www.freelancetravelwriter.com/

Visual Travel Tours http://www.visualtraveltours.com/

Travelwriters http://www.travelwriters.com/

Specialty travel http://www.specialtytravel.com/stories/index.shtml

Rough Guides http://www.roughguides.com/website/aboutus/WorkForUs/Default.aspx

Magazines & Tourism Directory http://www.traveltourismdirectory.com/Publications/Magazines-and-E-zines.html

Travelblather http://www.travelblather.com/2010/07/destination-guides-travelwriting.html

Ytravel blog http://www.ytravelblog.com/

Non-fiction course http://non-fiction-writing-course.thecraftywriter.com/freelance-travel-writing/

150 Top Travel blogs http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank/General_Travel

Allwaystraveller http://allwaystraveller.com/

Media bistro http://www.mediabistro.com/Travel-Writing-Basics-Embrace-the-Locals-91-ondemandvideo.html

Opportunities for assignments for professional writers

The Freelance Writers Connection on LinkedIn’s groups has had a long- running discussion about the dismal opportunities for professional writers today.  The questions and comments have been all over the place.  The basic question is whether the real problem is with the overall market or just the marketing practices of individual writers.  Beginning writers always have been willing to work for less, but experienced writers have used their reputations to demand higher fees.  The flood of people who are writing blogs, for content mills, and those who have been laid off have increased the supply of writers while the demand from traditional publications has declined.  Is the market for writers moving online or are there still opportunities in traditional print media?

My experience is that prior to the 2008 recession I was able both to get assignment leads from my web site and to write for other web sites as well as local print publications.  I’m putting less emphasis on my web sites and blog now and focusing on making new personal contacts.  Although I had been a writer and editor, I was new to freelance writing and was not established with a reputation in the national markets.  I started by attending the traditional networking at writers’ conferences, where editors and agents often attended either as speakers or to recruit writers.  That seems to have declined the past couple of years.  They’re just too busy or don’t want new writers.

The discussion on the Folio Group on LinkedIn seems to focus on the business and technical aspects of magazine publishing with almost no consideration of editorial needs.  It’s almost as though content doesn’t matter or at least it isn’t a concern of those who post.  Perhaps they are primarily involved in the business end and don’t include editors.

In my opinion, it is a difficult proposition to try to monetize a blog.  It is a means to attract attention to you and to promote yourself.  We had a discussion on our local Triangle Area Freelancers Google group discussion about the Huffington Post and those who contribute to it for free.  The consensus seems to be that because of its huge readership, it is a great way to get exposure. To use the cliché, it is part of your “platform,” just like public speaking, email newsletters, etc.  I know people who sell “products” from their blogs, but they must have huge readerships and can survive on 3 – 4 percent returns similar to the old-fashioned direct mail print promotions that are still around and successful.

One of the issues that I’ve been researching is whether or not including photography as part of your pitch helps the odds or not.   Selling stock photography appears to produce very little income either, but there may be some benefits on a specific long distance assignment.  The North Carolina Professional Photographers Association is meeting in the Research Triangle Park this weekend, and I gather that things are tough for them also.  Of course, most of them focus on local markets and don’t promote themselves to national magazines.  I declined a National Geographic Traveler photography workshop in DC later this month.  Although it seems like the perfect opportunity to get an inside tract with that magazine, right now I’m just too pessimistic to make that effort and put out that expense.  I’m more inclined to just try and ride out the recession for a few more months.

 

 

Middle East Revolutions

The vaunted effectiveness of the Internet services Facebook and Twitter appear to be not equal to the guns and aircraft strafing being used in Libya along with the media blackout.  We have only rumors and few facts so we really don’t know what’s going on except from debriefing of refugees and defectors from the Libyan military and diplomatic corps.

I have been following the events in the Middle East with great interest and have noted the differences of how things have played out in each country.  In Egypt and Bahrain, where the US has more leverage and therefore clout to impose restraint, we have seen a more moderate revolution.  In Libya we have less influence and more conflicts with strategic interests because of their oil wealth.  Tunisia was the first and seems to be ignored by the media now that the unrest has spread.

I have continued to periodically monitor Tweetdeck and Aljazeera/English.com on my computer and get much better coverage than what is presented in the US newspapers and TV news.  Of course, much of the internal communication within those countries is via cell phone traffic, which the NSA presumably is monitoring.

The US government is struggling to adapt its 50-year-old policies favoring the Arab sheikdoms and puppet kings that the colonial powers and the oil companies put in place.  Commentators have noted that the rise of democracy in the Middle East may remove one of the trump cards in Al Qaeda recruitment that bred on resentment from poverty, inequality, and class distinction.  They have been able to blame the US for the policies of these repressive regimes and for the stalemate in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the root cause of terrorism in the Middle East.

My focus on analyzing the political situation has not distracted me from my New Year’s resolution to analyze my marketing strategies and to evaluate my web sites, blog, and queries.  I’m still trying to find the right niche for my style of writing that I think will be more of a determination in future success than my background and experience and extensive use of the Internet.  I’m meeting with an experienced writing coach to review all of my marketing for 2010 to see where and how I might change direction in my approaches to potential clients.  I will post later what we conclude.

 

 

Facebook Revolution

The revolution in Tunisia was credited at least in part to Twitter, and now it appears that the spark that lit the revolt in Egypt was a page on Facebook originated by a Google employee organizing a demonstration starting on January 25th.  To everyone’s surprise, the people not only showed up but the crowds kept growing for each of the past 18 days.

Of course, the linchpin in this transfer in political power was the forbearance of the Egyptian military.  Egypt has existed under a military regime since 1952 so it was not clear that they would support the demonstrators or turn and fire on them as has happened so many times in autocratic nations without any other process for protest.

At this point no one knows the mind of Mubarak or what went on behind closed doors in the Presidential Palace, but the results speak louder than all of the conflicting speeches for the past two weeks.  This truly was a non-violent civil rights revolt in the spirit of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, and the United States was not in its usual role of manipulating behind the scenes.  We have a long and unfortunate history in the Middle East of propping up dictators to secure oil rights ever since the British protectorates following WW I.

The CIA, the State Dept., and the Dept. of Defense were all following events on television although we presume that they also had some other resources available.  But they were caught off guard just like everyone else and were reacting rather than being ahead of the game.

So what does this have to do with writing and citizen journalism?  Well, the game has changed.  The American television networks also were behind the game with Aljazeera way out in the lead all the way.  I followed their daily English language broadcasts on my computer since they were not available on my cable TV provider.  They were broadcast live from Cairo (and occasionally from Alexandria) without commercials and with professional reporters on the scene.  I had a personal interest in events since I have a friend in Alexandria who is an American citizen.  I still don’t know what happened to her.  I did not follow events on Facebook or Twitter, and she doesn’t use a computer.

These events overshadowed the acquisition of the Huffington Post by AOL.  I’m still trying to sort out the business potential of blogging, and one friend who blogs for the Huffington Post enlightened me and others in the Triangle Area Freelancers Google group on what he has accomplished contributing to that service.

Are the days of print media and broadcast television ultimately doomed?  It is too soon so say whether it may become an incremental process such as happened from the changeover from radio to TV, when each medium found its own niche market. The rapid evolution of the WWW 2.0 and wireless networks in the past decade appears to be a complete game changer with many developing nations leapfrogging over the developed nations who aren’t as nimble and held back by entrenched economic interests.

Stay tuned for rapidly evolving market developments in media, markets, economies, and nation-building efforts.