This weekend I was showing my friend Susan the sights around Eugene. We went to Coburg, a small community outside of Eugene just across the McKenzie river. The town of 996 is known for it's antique row, and as we shopped I couldn't help but think weekender article for a local travel section. I whipped out my notebook and started recording what I saw, what distiguished the different shops from each other, merchandise, prices, and introduced myself to shopkeepers. They were thrilled to hear that I was a travel writer and handed me over their newsletter which described the main stores in detail as well as gave me the tip off to a big event they were having in September.
So, what’s next? Query a few local mags and newspapers, start calling for quotes, researching supporting destination info, and go back with a camera.
Always keep your article hat on and your byline antennae tuned in no matter where you are. It’s good practice and if you can’t follow up immediately you have something in your files for next time.
This post of yours was fun to read, since this is what I’ve been doing daily for the past four months. Coburg sounds like my kind of town, reminds me of something I posted on Berlin, MD, a few days ago at boston.com. Catching up a little with reading here now. I have online access for a couple days. I’ll still be back in CA for BEA. Greetings from Tennessee 🙂