Hackpacker

Seconds after telling anyone you're a Lonely Planet author, they'll ask how you got the job. Sometimes it's just polite curiousity other times it's because they think it sounds like a dream job, but mostly it's because they believe there's an arcane ritual that you have to pass through be annointed by guidebook brahmins. If there was a ritual then I missed it and the truth is it requires an odd collection of skills. If you're looking to get a job as a guidebook author the first place to check is the Lonely Planet's own instructions on becoming an author . For the last year there's been a hiring freeze, but word is that this will soon be thawing as they begin refreshing the pool of around 300 authors. There's no secret to the recruitment process. As well as normal material like a CV and examples of previous work, new authors can be asked to write a sample chapter to show how you'd write a guidebook. You'll get some instructions on how

Later this year I'm teaching a Travel Writing Bootcamp . It's a slightly ridiculous name I know, but it should sound like a way to kickstart your writing while sidestepping the traditional workshop model. Not that there's anything wrong with the traditional workshop. I still have a great creative writing workshoppping group and use workshops in most of my classes. But as Louis Menand points out in the New Yorker article, Show or Tell , we've been using workshops as a method of teaching writing for more than 50 years. In all that time shouldn't we have evolved some new tools for writing? Menand's essay tackles questions like can you teach writing succinctly ('What is usually said is that you can’t teach inspiration, but you can teach craft.') and gives a romping history of how creative programs grew up in the States throughout the 1940s and much later in the UK and Australia. Workshopping as a technique isn't really discussed in depth, but essent

Another challenge with writing a guidebook is word count. There's an art to narrowing a hotel or restaurant down into two or three sentences, but sometimes you feel like you're not doing a place justice. Just as some ideas are bigger than haiku, some places surprise you and will need more verbage. And so it was with Espoo - there just weren't enough words. It gets dismissed as a satellite of Helsinki, but officially it's Finland's second-largest city and yet maintains its campus feel and boasts the Nokia headquarters. Perhaps all the telecommunications cash has funded the excellent museums housed in the Weegee Centre . The warehouse-like building is the former printing house of Welin & Göös (hence WG and WeeGee) has enough room to host the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, which is better known as EMMA . The industrial-sized space can hold a big exhibition such as the huge paintings of Enzo Cucchi's current exhibition that toys with ideas of scale with tiny i

The old story about teaching actually having a few lessons for the teacher is true. Recently I've been teaching web writing and the students regularly raise things that I've been taking for granted or never would have stumbled on. On Monday, a student suggested this blog by George Orwell . Despite being dead for more than 50 years, Eric Arthur Blair has had his diaries serialised using the blog format. The posts correspond to 1938 entries which begin with the writer in a sanatorium in Kent before making for Morocco. Sounds like gripping boys own stuff right? Except so far it's been a little drab. Orwell has heard about a snake being killed and had a a few problems with his snuffbox . One reader went off on a symbolic tangent, theorising that his mention of blackberries ripening was a reference to a communist uprising. Nope, it's just an interest in berries. Readers seem divided. Some condemn the blog as fairly dreary reflections in a blogosphere already crowded with

This weekend marked the first Melbourne Travel Writing Festival . Melbourne is glutted with festivals from Melbourne Film Festival to the Bicycle Film Festival . Do we need another festival? Judging by the strong audience numbers, we do. Both days were well attended and there was no shortage of speakers. With one of the world's largest guidebook publishers based here and boutique publishing houses like Transit Lounge also setting up shop, it makes sense that Melbourne would have such an event. This also means there's a depth of talent. My favourite wagger of chins was Brian Thacker , though I had a clash for his excellent session on couchsurfing . I caught his double act with Tony Wilson where the pair shared their collective love for Bill Bryson. A good guest for next year maybe? But don't just take my word for it. Here's what Thomas Swick thought .

The very first Melbourne Festival of Travel Writing is on soon and has a great program from Brian Thacker dossing globally with couchsurfing to Tony Wheeler tackling the ever-thorny issue of Burma .

What is hackpacking? It's hard to put a finger on. More one of those "know it when you've seen it" deals. Wondering if you're a hackpacker, then then take this simple quiz: - Have you ever found yourself at a laptop at 4am typing up notes that you wrote only four hours ago yet still cannot read? - Are most of your memories of great world cities about their photocopying shops or free wi-fi hotspots? bonus points if you've ever taken photos of particularly good internet cafes. - True or false: rental car companies are the devil's work and will try to stick you for a dint in the beverage holder if you don't watch them and triple-photocopy every piece of paperwork. - Ever found yourself swiping jam sachets from a B&B dining room because they might come in handy when evoking the atmosphere of the place? - Do most of your friends have to be reminded who you are with prompts like "Y'know the guy who sends you the postcards" or "I'm