I’m back from my travels and feeling much lighter in spirit. And that’s useful because said lightness is currently off-setting the weight I gained from all the amazing food I ate.
On assignment for a national newspaper, I spent a week in the outer islands of the Seychelles, on a wonderful atoll called Alphonse Island, learning about their conservation and sustainability programmes.
Lurking below the surface of the Indian Ocean was a truly beautiful and diverse rainbow-coloured eco-system.
And yes, that’s me! At one with the coral, fishes and turtles.
I travelled with a merry band of fellow writers and we almost didn’t make it back from the tropics. Our flight from Mahé to Dubai landed at 2am on the morning of the 16th; the very same day that Dubai suffered its worst storm in history. It was apocalyptic. Two years worth of rain fell in just one day.
Our connecting flight was due to leave for Heathrow at 7.45am but we sat on the tarmac for the best part of three hours watching lightning treacherously pepper the grey expanse of sky. Thank goodness I’d bought an overpriced (half-stale) croissant and coffee before boarding as my stomach was gnarly - and you wouldn’t like me when I’m gnarly.
Not quite understanding the situation we were all disgruntled to the max as it had been a very long and sleepless night milling around the terminal. Eventually, we took off after a handful of passengers from another connecting flight filed on board looking pretty glum. Early hours air travel is a pretty soul-sucking experience at the best of times.
It was only after we landed in the UK that we discovered how bad the weather was and that we were - miraculously - the last flight to leave Dubai. The airport didn’t open again for nearly two days.
Our team speculated that we must have had a VIP on board, so if anyone asks I’m telling them it was Beyoncé.
By the time I got home after 34 mammoth hours of travel, I think I could have passed as my own diverse eco-system. I needed two showers to feel human again and it took a long sleep and another 48 hours for my brain to whir back up to speed.
I’m now in the process of writing my travel story but it’s very hard to distill a trip of such epicosity (new word?) into less than 2,000 words. But try I shall.
I could have done with another week on Alphonse to write in tropical solitude. Of course, that wasn’t possible but I did a little bit of scribbling and will be sharing a post on the laconic wonder of writing in a hot climate.
In the meantime, I thank my lucky stars that I get to enjoy trips like this. Being a journalist isn’t easy in today’s world; it hasn’t been my full time job for many years now but I still get to do some travel writing, and I’m most grateful.
It was a rejuvenating trip that shook off a long wintery gloom. Actually, in hindsight, I think I sweated off the wintery gloom.
On the island, once you stepped outside the Arctic a/c of your room, within five milliseconds you were wet through. And don’t get me started on how to look after curly hair in that kind of humidity. The struggle was real, I can tell you. In the end, I scraped it all back and perfected the infamous Croydon facelift.
But enough about that, let’s crack on with today’s curated feast of fabulousness. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been on assignment but this week’s The Write to Know has a strong journalistic accent. Enjoy!
IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW
I’m in a very silly mood today, and that’s all the excuse I have for sharing this.
LONG AND WORDY
You know how much I love a long read. Well, if you’re working on one of your own, here’s where you may be able to place it.
Longreads, the publication, are open to pitches. Here’s their blurb: Longreads accepts submissions and pitches for original work from writers and journalists around the world. We currently do not accept fiction, and are not considering investigative or deeply reported features at this time.
Essays and columns typically run between 2,000 and 6,000 words. Pieces may be longer or broken up into a series depending on the length and subject matter. We work with established, emerging, and unpublished writers and journalists.
Rates start at $500 with the fee depending on the reporting and research required, as well as the total word count. No AI or ChatGPT input allowed. Tsk even to the thought of it!
Find out more here.
A LOAD OF BOLOGNA
Those in the biz will be up to speed with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which was held last week, in Italy.
Happily, it seems that the world of children’s literature is thriving. Click here for some number crunching.
The rather brilliant Justine Solomons, founder of Byte The Book, wrote a great blog post about her trip there this year - despite the fact that she was without her phone for 36 hours!
Her organisation is a vital resource for authors, so you should check out the website. They’re currently offering a great discount on membership until April 30.
UK-based, they hold amazing events, author surgeries and agent round tables.
THE WRIGHT STUFF
Because I lived in LA for a few years I became obsessed with the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. There is something oddly-ominous yet splendid about his designs and I found out why by reading this rather beautiful post by Jeanine Kitchel, aka Mexico Soul. She dives into his obsession with the Maya and how it helped him process (or try to process) the violent loss of his free-thinking lover, Mamey.
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT
Fancy some journalistic derring-do?
The Richard Beeston award, in partnership with The Times, is offering £6,000 for an aspiring British or UK-based foreign correspondent to spend six weeks abroad, researching and reporting on a foreign news story, in association with The Times newspaper.
Where was this offer when I was a young reporter dashing around town like Lois Lane (with a brunette power bob and excessive shoulder pads)?
Applicants should have at least two years experience working as a journalist and be under the age of thirty on the application closing date. Closing date is June 24.
BROADCAST MUSE
Whilst trying to find something to illustrate the above story, I stumbled upon a wonderfully chunky list that ranks movie journalists.
Compiled by Kate Knibbs, for The Ringer, there’s everyone you can think of from Woodward and Bernstein, in All The President’s Men, to Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and more random choices such as Drew Barrymore, as Chicago Sun-Times copy editor, Josie Geller, in Never Been Kissed.
Broadcast News comes in at number 17. I’d put it higher. I loved that movie and thought Holly Hunter, William Hurt and Albert Brooks were all sublime. Spotlight, with Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams, is a movie I’ve watched a handful of times too and it always blows me away. Both get the newsroom energy spot on but I can’t argue with the top two choices.
Click here to find out what they are.
THREE OF A KIND
As you know I reprised my Ten for the Ten interview with Mark Tungate last weekend. He was the subject of my first Q&A back in January and I was right to give it another airing as many more of you read it, so thank you.
Mark mentions a few authors but one, Marcel Pagnol, piqued my interest, so I did a little digging.
Also an influential filmmaker, the French-born auteur achieved a singular milestone when he became the first movie director to be elected to the prestigious Académie Française, in 1946. Ooh-la-la!
To this day, he is widely recognised as one of France's foremost writers of the 20th century, and is celebrated for his ‘Marseille Trilogy’, which consists of three novels: Marius (1929), Fanny (1931), and César (1936). These novels are set in Marseille and depict the complicated lives and relationships of the inhabitants (and are obviously now also on the ever expanding to-read list).
Pagnol died in 1974 but last year the Guardian published a story about there being some question as to who should own the Marseille chateau where he lived until his death. His grandson, Nicolas, is fighting to keep control of the property, which was once requisitioned by the Nazis. Seems it’s all become a little messy.
WANT THE DIRT?
This article from The Dirt - a newsletter publication that isn’t Substack (shhhh, don’t tell the higher ups!) - talks about the reality of earning money as a writer in 2024. It’s always interesting to have a nose around other people’s finances. Looks like it’s going to be a series, so click here to read The Money Diaries.
AND FINALLY…
Thanks a million for the shout out, Lisa, about my Frank Lloyd Wright post, how the Maya influenced him and his LA commissions. Really appreciate it.