Catching Up: August, September and October 2009 Stories

Oh how woefully neglectful I’ve been in keeping up with this, my portfolio blog! It’s definitely been a busy few months, I’ve traveled to Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon, Sweden and Mexico, and have been very busy working on stories throughout.  I also started to write a weekly essay for the most-excellent Perceptive Travel, while keeping up with my About.com work and of course, Luxist.com, in addition to handling several magazine pieces that are forthcoming.

So let me gather a few favorites here. My work for Perceptive Travel started in September, this tag stores all of my contributions. I’m particularly proud of these essays: Shanghai and the Surprise of Old Dreams,  Calling the Cows in West Sweden and Mexico and the Mean World.

I also started to contribute to the Atlantic’s Food Channel, with a piece about attempting to create my own medieval cold medicine.

Over on Luxist, where this tag marks all of my recent stories, I’m just realizing that it’s difficult to access my older posts, so I’ll do a better job of keeping up with them on this site. Here’s a selection of my favorite Luxist stories:

• The Quest for Porcelain White Skin in China
• Newport’s Cliff Walk Controversy
• A Spa a Man Can Love, about the determinedly non-frilly Lodge at Woodloch in Pennsylvania.
• Luxury Travel to Scotland: Affected by Lockerbie Bomber’s Release?
• The Nines Hotel and the Question of Design Moxie.
• The 1980s Redux at LAN Club in Shanghai
• Celebrating the Fall of the Berlin Wall
• The Social Media Detox
• Visit Kosterhavet, Sweden’s First Marine Park
• The History of Girly Drinks at Raffles Hotels

And over on About.com Culinary Travel, since I manage (and create) the entire site, it’s hard for me to play favorites. (Go have a look!) But I’m extra-pleased with a few pieces, so I’ll particularly highlight:

• A package of stories on Foodie’s Rhode Island, especially this piece on “gaggers”.
• Goodbye, Gourmet Magazine
• A review of Wine Uncorked at New York’s International Culinary Center
• A photo essay on Utah’s culinary delights.

Shanghai, Stuttgart & Outer Space: Selected Luxist Stories from July

Here are a few of my favorite Luxist stories this month.

• Vacation with the Obamas on Martha’s Vineyard 7/20/09
• Hot Cars and Red Wine: 4 Ways to Do Stuttgart 7/15/09
• Langham Yangtze Boutique Opens in Shanghai 7/18/09
• Four Reasons to Toast July 4th with Rum 7/1/09
• That Other Moonwalk 7/3/09

From Magazines to Web, or The New Media and Me

It’s been an interesting transition, moving from being what I’d describe as an old-school freelancer, with some on-going relationships and some one-off work, to being part of the editorial team at two separate ventures, About.com and Luxist, and still handling one-off work for magazines and websites.  (Although note bene, IRS, I’m still an independent contractor, as my pj’d and unsupervised status late this Monday morning definitely attests.)

At some point in the past few months, I realized that my job has seriously changed.  For the past decade or so, my days were entirely focused on magazine articles — my job consisted of pitching stories, frequently really long ones,  getting assignments, taking a few weeks of researching/reporting, writing for a week or so, going back and forth (and forth and back) with editors, and finally invoicing and getting a check.  That’s what I mean when I explain to people that “I come from magazines.”

I still visit magazine-land for a few assignments, but it feels like going back to college. (Oh, right, I need those extra-long dorm sheets.) These days, my writing efforts are  mostly focused on the web. The difference is not merely one of on-screen pixels versus print.  I no longer have to pitch ideas, I research and write what I think I should for my outlets.  When it’s done, I publish it.  That’s right, all you freelance writers following along at home, I have no editor to contend with. I cannot tell you how wonderful that is, to write what I think I should and not be second-guessed by anyone. (Well, besides my readers, more on this in a moment.)

In exchange for these freedoms, I have to do more. I’m now supplying photographs for my stories.  I program and code my own work, and for better or for worse, I am my own fact-checker, copy editor and proofreader. But these are all details, the major difference is, I’ve traded an editor for an actual audience. Although I never really thought about it this way, the truth was, I used to write first for my editors, since it was their opinion that mattered the most, it was their approval that I needed in order to get paid/published. Oh sure, there was talk about “serving the readers”, but other than the odd letter to the editor, who really knew what that amorphous reader-blob thought?   In fact, I used to be totally shocked when someone would tell me that they read an article I’d written, it just seemed so unlikely, even when I was writing for national magazines with huge circulations.

Now, every day, I can see exactly how many people have read my work, and I have a clearer of what they’ve made of it — do they comment, do they forward, what? It’s all measurable. And while I have no editor, readers are pretty good at pointing out mistakes — sometimes  they’re nicer than editors and sometimes they’re not.  It’s crazy to feel like I’m starting all over again after all these years. But I’m so glad that I’m a writer during this time of publishing upheaval, because the bottom line for me is this: it’s so so so SO much fun.

The Heat Seeker, Part 5: Into the Heartland — World Hum, 5/15/09

The grand finale, where I find my heat limit in a most unlikely place: Indianapolis!

The Heat Seeker, Part 4: Between Unseemly & a Little Slutty, World Hum 5/14/09

In this installment, I go to Honduras, get challenged into eating a raw chile, and get to test my poker face.

The Heat Seeker, Part Three: Spicier Please! — World Hum, 5/13/09

And here’s part three, which takes me into the backwaters of Kerala.

The Heat Seeker, Part Two: This Raita Will Be Your Savior — World Hum, 5/12/09

Here’s part two of my World Hum series, in which my quest for heat takes me to Mumbai.

The Heat Seeker: Eat, Sweat, Love — The Travel Channel’s World Hum

Today starts my five-part series for World Hum on my quest for the spiciest food I could take. (And there’s video of me talking about it too!) It’s a story that took several years to research and then a long while to write, but I’m pretty proud of it, so have a look!

Part One: Currywurst in Frankfurt

A Fresh Idea – Go, May 2009. (AirTran’s in-flight)

Here’s a story I wrote about the farm-to-table dining trend as it’s played out in Indianapolis.

About.com Culinary Travel Launches!

I’ve been quiet on here lately, because I’ve been buried with the launch details for my latest venture: I’m the new culinary travel guide for About.com.

It’s really the perfect intersection of two of my most favorite activities, traveling and eating — combined with the third, which is writing!

So go on, have a look, the site launched on Thursday, April 16th. There are a ton of stories on there that I’m proud of, and I’ll eventually start linking to a few of my faves here.