'Tis the season to travel, even if it's a staycation or a trip to Dillon Beach to walk the pooch. Last week's article discussed the art of unwinding. Now, let's find your voice. Tell your travel tales to your awesome Le Pen in the style of Eat, Pray, Love.
Among my fabulous, talented, kick-ass friends, there are a few that have become "famous" (in quotes, mind you). Well, famous is relative, I know, but outwardly famous, like on the cover of magazines (hello, Anne and Ginny) and including my friend, Lavinia Spalding, author of many books and most recently featured on a TEDx video presentation (click above). I spent 6 weeks with Lavinia in Boulder, Utah (not a typo, it was Utah) while working at a destination restaurant, Hell's Backbone Grill. Patrick and I joined her and +/-4 other women, +/-3dogs, and +/-4 cats in a multi-room house (referred to as a Mormon house because of the scads of rooms) while Patrick cooked and I hostessed.
Fast-forward to today, and Lavinia has written 4+/- books and has a TEDx talk. You can see all her success at her website. Anyways, besides writing and editing books on travel writing, especially by women, she writes for Yoga Journal mag. Her TEDx talk is inspiring and I want to encourage you to watch it and find your voice and with Le Pen in hand. Start writing.
"Stories are the way we connect to others as humans", says Lavinia. Our individual stories have the power to make us care. And caring is what it's all about, don't you agree? Caring is the seed of change that just needs to be watered. And you can be the beautifully designed OXO Indoor Pour and Store Watering Can. Are you willing?
So, we all know you're taking some type of vacation. It can be just a day at the oh-so-nudie-scene at Harbin Hot Springs or a yoga retreat with Anne O'Brien in November. You have an opportunity. Oh, I know, you're too busy touring museums and perfecting your downward dog to spend time with "others", but I'm suggesting that you change the way you approach travel. You can decide you're a travel writer. You can make other people care about other people. Yes, through your travel stories. As Lavinia says, "the next time you go anywhere . . . I challenge you to meet someone amazing and write a short story about them."
Lavinia knows. She's read more than 600 articles before choosing the ones for her book The Best Women's Travel Writing. The stories that made the cut were ones that made her care. It's not about the writing or putting a comma before or after the quote, it's about the connection you provide between you, your experience, and others. Start small, bring a journal, write a short story, and then share it. Send it in an email to your 10 closest friends or put it on Facebook.
Listen to Lavinia tell it in her TEDx presentation: "It's never been easier to write down our stories. Invite connection, reflect on the meaning and then share it with others. We are becoming a more disconnected society. If we want to make a real difference in the world, we need to become more connected. We have to look for and initiate the connection, maybe even manufacturing them."
So, here's your assignment, as Lavinia puts it. "Pretend you're a travel writer, like an ambassador for your country, not just an average tourist, but an engaged global citizen. . . There are 7 billion people in the world, and each one has a story, I hope that the next time you travel you'll listen to one and then you'll tell it."
I hope you'll give Lavinia's talk a bit of time and that inspires you to write. I don't care (obviously, if you've been reading my articles) whether you got an "A" in English grammar or the tense, tone or titillation is correct. It's about making a connection. We all know that's what it's all about. Find an experience and share it. Really. And then don't forget to share it with me.
