Well you may not be Shakespeare, but you have a writing style all you own. Those who choose to write about their travels can find it very rewarding. Whether it is a personal diary of memories for you to cherish or a vivid account of your adventures to share with others, keeping a journal can be very satisfying.
From my experience, looking over large numbers of Trip Journals, everyone has their own voice and there can be vast differences in writing styles. Some choose to write in more of a narrative style, while others are descriptive, some will write in the first person, while others will choose to write in the point of view of their dog. There really is no right or wrong way to record your memories (although some pesky folks will always try to correct your grammar and/or spelling).
Different Approaches
I would like to share a few different Trip Journals with you that I think have unique or interesting writing styles. This week I thought I would share two journals of a narrative style that are written from the perspective of something other than the author. One is that of The Rogue Roamers (or Bill and Pixie) who write their journal from the point of view of their cat, Pita, pictured below. Check out Pita’s Trip Journal!
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| Pita, the Narrative Cat |
Another is the journal of Kent and Fran who write about the adventures of Chummy, their 1982 Airstream trailer. You can check out Chummy’s trip here. These two examples are just two of the great journals found on MyTripJournal.com; we have many other journals written from fun and unusual points of view.
How to be the “Best”
Many people ask how to be shown in the “Best of MyTripJournal”, seen at MyTripJournal.com/explore and on our partner sites like Good Sam Club and Woodalls. There we hand-select what we consider to be journals that go above and beyond, and will be a valuable read to other travelers. We typically tend to select journals that have more focus on the particular destination a traveler is visiting rather than those that are a more narrative account of their travels without specific details about the location.
This is not to say that journals that cover the daily details of your life are not fabulous and will not be a great memento of your travels. I feel that you should write in which ever style you decide suits you best and forget any critics.
Next week I will discuss more about different writing styles and techniques used in people’s travel accounts…
Dan Parlow
Personal Travel Websites by RV.Net ; Online Travel Journals by MyTripJournal.com ; Explore Good Sam Club Trip Journals ; Woodalls Trip Journals ; Travel Journals by Trailer Life Directory ; Traveling USA Travel Blogs
Rick Vogel
Dan: I have an ol-Army Buddy live’s at the Lucky 7 trailer court on the Roque River out-side of gold beach Oregon His cat Buddy Jet black was eaten last winter by a Cougar that roamed into the Trailer park looking in people’s trask-can for a free meal well he found Buddy out for his nightly stroll well Buddy never came Home that night of ever again! When we Camp we Have to take good care of our Family My Yorkee is like family! I have a small first aid-kit & a Large one with a de-fibulator just in case! I have a Emergency G.P.S. Locatof where my Friend’s can follow my progress of my trip’s for $120:00 it was a great investment it act’s like an Emergency beacon also You can send a Emergence Distress message & It will Bring Help to whithen 3 Meter’s of you! Plus i use G.P.S. Navagation so i dont make the wrong turn into the campground’s also but R.V. came equiped with that My Rule is Never Tie my Dog out-side-Coyote bait! Plus How do’s one submit a article to this R.V. Web-site i never see a place to give my point of View just a list of all there author’s? Tahk care & Thank’s for listening! Rick Vogel Army Retired & well trained on Surviveing off the land from Wash. State to Panama! good day sir!
Bob W
Dan, I’ve really enjoyed reading your comments about using a digital camera. I’ve also read some of your comments about how to write a Blog. I notice that all your comments are for Trip Journal. Can you offer any comments for those who use BlogSpot? Thanks Bob W.
Alice Zyetz
Dan,
Thank you so much for encouraging RVers to write about their journeys and not worry about the school-type basics, but just write. I’ve been helping people get over that obstacle for years in my workshops at Escapees rallies and last summer at The Rally. In fact I have a list of prompts to help people get started that I’m happy to share with you and your readers. The price is right–it’s FREE! Just contact me at [email protected] and I’m happy to send them to anyone who wants them.
Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak and I collected those very stories from 52 women a few years ago and published them in the book, RV Traveling Tales: Women’s Journeys on the Open Road.
Once again, thank you for your support of writing.
Best,
Alice Zyetz
http://rvhometown.typepad.com