TRAVEL WRITING. -L. Peat O'Neil

 

My view of Honolulu from Sand Island

201408081209 (Friday) This checklist [via KPlan] is not just all about the creation of my very first eBook on the subject of clandestine travel but an in-depth course of study on the travel writing genre itself.

201408151100 (Friday) No movement in the direction of eBook writing for over a week now because I've been too preoccupied with basic survival issues. Maybe I'll start today. All I have to do is just dig into my rucksack, pull out the book, and get to work on the first exercise.

Okay, time to go to work!

EXERCISE 1.

• Q: What is your favorite destination?
• A: Sand Island, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawai'i.
• Q: Why? (Explain the appeal of the place.)
• A: It's [technically] a state park and public beach area. The place has free campground facilities like toilets, showers, and picnic tables with BBQ grills. The most appealing thing about Sand Island is that a person could stretch out in a hammock at one of the old, abandoned softball field dugouts at night -- or camp for free on the nearby beach -- and enjoy a fantastic view of the Pacific Ocean (not to mention the spectacular Waikiki  fireworks display on Friday nights).
• Q: Where have you returned time and time again? (The reason might be: climate, history, land- or seascape, architecture, food, or some other quality or special characteristic. Try to write specific statements. "Nice people, pretty scenery, friendly atmosphere" are bland generalizations and inadequate for saleable travel articles. To help you get started, write: I see..., I hear..., I smell..., I walk... and fill in the blanks with specific adjectives and nouns or prepositional phrases and finish the sentences.)
• A: I see small hills and mounds of red clay covered in wild, tall grass and thorn trees. I hear crashing surf upon sharp rocks and the jagged old iron of wrecks serving as breakers beyond the protected waters of the harbor where I go snorkeling. I smell charcoal grilling meat mingling with the salt air of the Pacific Ocean as I walk along the littered red clay path leading back to my breezy hooch where hammock awaits.