Eight years ago Rob McFarland was an IT consultant who had never been published. Now he's one of Australia and New Zealand's leading travel writers, with seven writing awards including Travel Writer of the Year. He's proof that you don't need to have studied journalism or worked on a newspaper to break into travel writing.

Rob will be running an intensive two-day travel writing workshop for aspiring travel writers.

Content

During the course, you will learn how to:

• Recognise good travel writing
• Generate story angles
• Write compelling openings and closings
• Structure a feature
• Apply a specialised toolkit of travel writing techniques
• Edit effectively
• Pitch to editors
• Take great travel photos
• Operate as a freelancer
• Market yourself

Most importantly, you'll get detailed feedback on your writing during the course plus the opportunity to submit a feature to be critiqued after the course has finished.

You'll also join a network of course alumni who receive ongoing support and have regular meetups.

Results

Previously unpublished participants have gone on to have their work appear in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, the Sun-Herald, Get Lost magazine and Signature magazine.

Writing credentials

Rob is a regular contributor to a wide range of publications in Australia, New Zealand and Asia including the Sydney Morning Herald, Sun-Herald, News Ltd's Escape travel section, West Australian, NZ Herald on Sunday, Dominion Post, Luxury Travel, Air New Zealand's inflight (KiaOra), Let's Travel, Men's Style, Maxim & GQ magazines. He is a member of the Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) and is a judge for the annual Gourmet Traveller and Hotel Management awards.

Teaching credentials

Rob has lectured at Sydney University, taught at TAFE and worked as a corporate trainer for the learning and development specialist TP3. He's a qualified trainer with a Cert IV in Training and Assessment and has extensive experience of developing and delivering training programs.

Details

When: 2 sessions - 10am-5pm - Sun 10 & Sun 17 Feb, 2013

Where: Pullman Hotel, cnr Waterloo Quadrant & Princes Street, Auckland

How much: $NZD399

How many: Limited to 12 spaces

To reserve your place, email robmcfarland@yahoo.com

Read participant feedback at http://robmcfarland.org/travel-writing-course