Ok, so I've been a little quiet. So what, I'm working. Thanks for all of your emails wondering how I feel, what I’m doing, where the hell I am, etc.
Life is good, and I am busy. Belgium has been surprisingly laughless, but I’m getting it back. I found a bunch of great books while I was in London. Then I got the TT package of submissions and am going through them. It’s going to be another very fun book. I still need more big names, so please forward if you have any. And if anyone wants to skim Ellen’s latest book, or send it to me on the fly, feel free. Sarah Vowell’s latest didn’t do anything for me, comically. But it did give me that, I-can-write-about-whatever-the-hell-I-want-and-somebody-will-read-it, empowerment. And I mean that in a good way. She just talks about what she’s interested in, and I like that. So, you know what you’re going to get from my future books: Love, lust, and mishaps on the road.
When I edited Sand in My Bra there were a lot of stories in the slush pile that had to do with long flights, painful taxi rides, and misleading hotels. I tried to steer people clear of that during Q&A at my summer events. This year, there seem to be a lot of run ins with horny and aggressive men. Yes ladies, I’m sorry this has happened to you. But guess what? It happens to a lot of women on the road. Almost all of us. Personally, I think that part of growing into a woman is learning to say no. At least it was for me. Shit, I was already an adult when I lost a potential hottie because I didn’t say no when his friend grabbed my ass. Anyway, straying from the point. It has felt like a lot of submissions in that category. I know that often that attention is uncalled for, and I’m sorry about it. Especially when it goes way too far. It is a serious topic and difficult to make it funny. I guess you could say that the stories that I’ve been enjoying the most are the ones that are truly unique.
In other update news…
HotelChatter.com was featured in TIME magazine this week. That’s the website that asked me to be their first featured editor. I haven’t been churning out as much content as we’d hoped, but I’m making sure to keep it going until I do. Still, it is very exciting to be reviewed in TIME. You can even read the blurb online.
But it gets better…
One of their senior editors liked the writing I was doing for them and asked if I’d be interested in writing some travel pieces for TIME. Why yes, Mr. TIME Magazine, I think I would. It just goes to show you that you never know where one assignment is going to take you to next.
THIS WEEK: I’m keeping my eye on the STA BREAK Magazine page. The BREAK editor said that the Spring issue would be coming out the first week in Feb. If you find it, check out my piece, “KEEPING THE PEACE:Travel partner driving you nuts? Avoid bloodshed — beginning with a pre-departure checklist.”
NEXT WEEK: I’ll be speaking to the American Women’s Club in Brussels. It’ll be fun to read from Sand again and hopefully sell some books. If I don’t, I’ll be shlepping them in train stations or something.
Ok, that’s it. Back to my box. Gotta get a TOC turned into Travelers’ Tales for Whose Panties Are These?
Congrats on the TIME article Jen. Everyone in PDX is stoked for you. Yahoooooo
T e r r i f i c ! ! Jen.
I am clapping – standing and clapping. Time is just fine, very fine indeed.
Thanks you PDXers. But lets not get too excited, yet. I still need to see an assignment, then do it, then wait for it to come out, before we can really start whooping it up.
I can whoop it up now, whoop it up later and much, much later, if need be. Plenty of excitement stored up for the future, and there *will* be a future, heh, Jen?