Interview With…Jason Demant

Today we have an interview to share with Freelance-Zone readers. Jason Demant is a writer and traveler who has recently founded UnAnchor, a travel itenerary site. Enjoy!                          - Catherine 

Jason Demant

1. What is your background in writing and travel?

My background in writing is little to none to be honest. It’s been an interesting experience the last year realizing how much time I now spend writing. To my surprise though, I’ve really enjoyed it. In addition to blogging, I’ve started writing occasionally for other blogs and writing travel itineraries as well.

In terms of travel, I’ve spent the last 10 months on the road across Asia. I’m starting to have a passport that I’m really proud of. Before this big trip though, I did the standard American corporate-life vacation thing. Once a year, I took off one to two weeks (two, only if I was lucky) and saw as many cities and countries as possible. Always returning more exhausted than when I left. I was able to visit the Middle East, South America and Europe twice.

2. What is UnAnchor and how did the idea for it come about?

UnAnchor is a site to find specific, do-it-yourself travel itineraries. I like to think of it as an “app store” for travel itineraries. However, UnAnchor is also quite new. So, while that’s the eventual goal, right now a lot of my focus with UnAnchor is finding the experts to write itineraries. All itinerary writers set their own price on the itinerary (starting at $0.99) and keep 75% from each one they sale. However, for the first 50 itineraries written, we’re jumping that to 90%.

The idea initially came from a previous co-worker, now friend, of mine and has been further refined through my own travel experiences. It’s been frustrating figuring out how to use public transportation, how to do an activity without joining an expensive tour, and choosing what to do in a city with hundreds of tourist options. The idea is that a detailed itinerary will solve all of these frustrations. It will explain how to use public transportation and give you a detailed map to show you how to drive or walk to a destination. If you only have 1, 2, or 3 days in a city, it will tell you the things you absolutely must see.

3. Can you share any savvy travel tips with readers? … Continue Reading

“And The Plot Thickens” Weekend Novel Writing Workshop

Today we are excited to bring Freelance-Zone readers an up-close look at “And The Plot Thickens”, a novel writing workshop in Rhode Island taking place later this month…

1. How did the idea for the “And The Plot Thickens” workshop come about, and when is it?

‘And The Plot Thickens… How to develop a novel’ is held on August 28 & 29 2010.

The idea came about because we are passionate about the Arts. From the regular RISDA exhibitions we hold in our lobby, our series of arts inspired events and the local arts society we support, it shows in everything we do…We wanted to help people discover their own passion and writing their first novel is a dream that many of us have. We also realized that with people taking shorter weekends because of the economy, they wanted to do something more worthwhile with their time away – this workshop allows them to pursue their dream, share experiences and make new friends while spending the weekend in a wonderful hotel in a beautiful city.

2.  Who will be leading this workshop and what are that person’s qualifications?

Joanna Howard is a published author and holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Denver, and MFA in fiction writing from Bowling Green State University. She currently teaches fiction at Brown University. Joanna is the author of ‘On the Winding Stair’ (Boa Editions, 2009) a collection of short stories which Publisher’s Weekly described as “14 tales of startling description and beauty.”  She is also the author of ‘In the Colorless Round’ (Noemi, 2007), a short collection of prose with artwork by Rikki Ducornet . Her publications also include numerous book reviews in Review of Contemporary Fiction and American Book Review, and she has worked as a co-translator on Marcel Cohen’s Walls (Black Square 2009) and on Frederic Boyer’s Cows (forthcoming from Noemi Press). Her stories appear in anthologies and journals including Conjunctions, The Chicago Review, Quarterly West, and American Letters and Commentary. Howard is a fiction editor for Tarpaulin Sky magazine, She has also edited for Denver Quarterly and other journals.

3. What will be covered in these two days?

Each day will be structured by a series of morning and afternoon sessions, which will include a range of writing exercises, workshops, and seminar style discussions.

Budding writers will learn practical skills for how to shape their ideas into a novel, discover how to create memorable characters and compelling narratives. They will examine their favorite novels and dissect what makes them great pieces of fiction. Reading-out exercises will give them the opportunity for feedback on material they have already written and advice on how to develop and shape their drafts. Joanna will share her experience and advice on how to talk about and present ideas to an audience and how to get that first novel published. … Continue Reading

Writers: Up Your Income–Add Photography

This post is sponsored by Outright — Your Livelihood, Right Now.  Getting your taxes right with free bookkeeping.

by Catherine L. Tully

If you are looking for ways to up your income as a writer you may want to think about adding photography to your skill set. These days digital pics are the popular choice and if you are somewhat “tech-savvy”, you can make some extra dough.

I’m not saying this is a totally simple thing to do, but if you already own a decent digital camera or have interest in learning, it’s well worth it. I have made good money sending in pictures with an article. What a magazine will pay for it varies, and that is where this handy book comes in–Photographer’s Market.

Photographer’s Market is full of listings where you can sell your pictures, and th 2010 version has all the latest and greatest markets. It is set up similar to Writer’s Market, so for most writers it will feel familiar.

If you don’t want to get into doing the photography yourself, perhaps you may want to team up with someone who does. Check into a local photography club to see if there is anyone who may be interested. While this will mean they will make the extra money, it will also help endear you to editors. Most of them love it if you can provide pictures to go with a piece you have written.

This post was sponsored by Outright — Your Livelihood, Right Now.  Getting your taxes right with free bookkeeping.

Take Better Photos

by Catherine L. Tully

As we march into the holidays, why not take a bit of time to improve your photography skills? Grab your digital camera and head over to the family celebration to try and brush up on things such as composition and setting your subject at ease. HP offers a few photography tips for how to avoid common mistakes such as red eye and underexposed photographs. Work at this time of the year tends to be on the slow side, but it doesn’t mean you can’t use the time to get a bit ahead.

Purchasing A Digital Camera

If you are looking for a good digital camera but aren’t sure what to buy, try checking out the reviews here on CNET. Compare features, get ratings and find out what is in your price range. Do your homework and find a camera that will take pictures that look good enough to publish with your articles. That way you’ll be able to make more money–as well as be in demand!

Photography Magazines

If you are interested in taking your own photos to accompany the articles that you write, one of the best things you can do is invest in a magazine subscription. You can read up on techniques and gear as well as get terrific tips that will help you take better pictures.

There are many photography mags out there, so deciding which one to choose can be a little difficult. You can always go to the bookstore and browse, but you can also take a look at this list for an idea of what the various publications cover. I get several, including Outdoor Photographer, American Photo and Popular Photography. Each has its own niche, and I learn a good deal of information from them. The more you can learn, the better your chances are of getting quality photos to go with your articles.

Tips For Taking Portraits

So you’ve gotten an assignment and want to try your hand at taking a picture of a particular person for the article. If you aren’t really a photographer yet, how do you go about gettting a good shot? Here are a few tips that are based on my own experience:

• Natural light is generally the most flattering, so take a picture outside if you can. Just make sure that the sun isn’t casting weird shadows on the person’s face.
• Get the person to relax a bit before taking the photo. Talk to them about hobbies, kids, etc. If they are tense, it will show in the picture.
• Take tons of different shots. You never know which one you’ll wind up using.
• Try different angles. Do full length shots and closeups. Variety is important.
• Count down so that they know when you’ll be snapping the picture.
• Look at the review screen to see if the person’s eyes are open. (This is assuming you have a digital camera.)
• Don’t get too close or the camera will not focus.
• Watch your background. Try to avoid things such as trees growing out of the person’s head or a lot of distracting clutter.

There is no reason you shouldn’ t be able to take a photo like this, so give it a go! Here are some more tips for shooting portraits to help round things out. Remember, confidence is key, so don’t let on that you’re a novice!

Apogee Photo Magazine

Writers….if you are interested in learning more about photography, check out Apogee Photo. This online photo mag has a host of helpful articles and information for all levels–whether you are a beginner or have been at it for a while. Learn more about travel photography, or get some pointers for starting out. The best part is, you can do this right from your computer. Take a break from writing and invest a little time in photography–it’s a great skill to pick up for the New Year!

Photography: Know Your Rights

This is a “quickie”….

If you take photos for your articles — or if you want to start doing so, you might get hassled when taking them in a public place. Do you know what your rights are? You’d better! Look here for the skinny in the US, and here for info on rights in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Now, armed with that information, go forth and conquer!

Is There A Rookie At The Keyboard?

Regardless of whether you are a newbie or seasoned pro you can find some good information here. This resource, put out by the Naval Safety Center, gives great tips on a wide range of subjects that are of value to writers. Here are some titles of the individual pages:

• How To Tell A Rookie Is At The Keyboard
• To Cut Or Not To Cut
• What Makes A Photo Effective
• Making The Most Of Verbs

Although this is geared for writers who work for their publications, it offers terrific advice!

Photography 101

If you need some information about photography, you are likely to find it here. Professional Photography 101 has a ton of articles and information about the subject, and you can spend hours looking through all they have to offer. Read up. Learn. Get qualified to make more $$$~!

Photography For The Writer: How To Send Digital Files

OK. So you have gotten the assignment and you are going to try your hand at taking photos yourself–but you have a major issue–how do you send in the files? If you are new to this type of thing, here’s a little help:

• First and foremost, ask the editor to send you photo specs and how they want the files sent. Here you may hear terms such as dpi (dots per inch) and photo dimensions.
• Some editors like to get a CD or DVD of the photos. It is worth your time to learn how to do this, and it isn’t too difficult to learn if you have a burner in your computer. Investigate what your capabilites are so that you know what you can deliver.
• Some editors will ask you to upload your photo files to an FTP server. For this you will generally need a web address, user name and password. Getting the files on the server is very simple and usually a matter of just opening them and uploading. FTPs are all just a bit different but I’ve never had one that was too complex.
• Some editors will ask you to e-mail the photos. If this is the case, don’t shrink the files down too much. Refer to the photo specifications before sending. This can get complicated if you aren’t photo savvy, so it may be easier to send a CD or DVD if you don’t have a photo editing program or decent digital camera.
• Large files can be zipped and sent via e-mail as well. I’ve never done this, but basically it means that the files will go through e-mail because they are temporarily compressed. WinZip and YouSendIt are sites that offer this type of thing.

Now. You absolutely need to know a bit about your camera. Make sure you are taking photos on the higest quality setting. You should be able to find out how to do this by reading your manual. (We will have more info about what kinds of cameras work well for beginning writers later on, so keep your eyes peeled…)

There is more to this in terms of learning how to tell what dpi your photos are and re-sizing photos, but this should at least give you an idea of how files can be sent. We’ll have more coming on this subject as we go along…but this should help prepare you for your first conversation!

Photo above: Copyright 2008, Catherine L. Tully

Photonhead

 For those of you who are trying to make headway on the digital camera front; this is for you. Photonhead will give you some information on things such as buying a camera, controlling flash, camera modes and more. Browse around–you’re likely to learn something useful!

If you learn how to take your own photos–you can really add to your income. Big time. Take my word for it!

Photography Tips From Fodor’s

Get some good photography tips from the experts at Fodor’s. Their site has quite a few helpful links and they are specific; things such as: exposure and metering modes, creative camera filters and controlling depth of field. This is a great beginner resource for taking better pictures.

Smithsonian And More…

Add this to your list of resources….Encyclopedia Smithsonian offers a super search on a wide range of subjects, both general and specific. Want to know more about the Hope Diamond? What about photography? Why wait? It’s all here at your fingertips…