Rachel Friedman's Blog

I’m a big fan of Kate Thorman’s and Nora Chovanec’s show The Innocents Abroad. They travel. They eat. Then they travel and eat some more. What’s not to love?

In their latest episode, they visit San Francisco’s State Bird Provisions, which, as luck and hard work would have it, just won the 2013 James Beard Aware for Best New Restaurant. Check it out!

And happy Monday.

Vela publishes fantastic nonfiction inspired by place. The site was established as “a space for women writers to write without worrying about adhering to the often male intelligences and styles of the publishing world or catering their writing to the narrow concerns and markets of “women’s magazines.”

Now they’re seeking nominations for great female nonfiction writers.

Here’s your call to action:

“We want to know which women writers you like “best,” who you think belongs on those reading lists and what works you wish got more attention. Sure, we all love Joan Didion, but who are her literary daughters and granddaughters writing the essay? What actual memoirs by women – opposed to essay collections – speak personally to the universal experience? Who is your favorite woman writer this year, and who of all time?”

So go on. Nominate away!

Hope you’re all having a great start to 2013. I’m ensconced at a writers’ residence in upstate New York and the break from Manhattan is doing my work wonders. As much as I love the city, sometimes a girl needs some trees and deer and snow to clear her head – and I’ve got all three in spades here.

There might be no better way to start a new year for a writer than with a piece in The NY Times so I present to you this brief love letter to Redfern, a neighborhood in Sydney that I absolutely adore. I spent a lot of time there over the summer, uncovering awesome new restaurants, bars, and galleries – not to mention drinking countless perfect coffees that have possibly ruined for good the American stuff for me.

Happy 2013 – and happy writing

I’ve got a feature article on female travel writing/writers out in the current issue of Bitch. You can’t get the goods online but head on over to your local bookstore for a copy of the magazine. You’ll be supporting an awesome publication – not to mention you’ll get introduced via my piece to a whole host of awesome female travel writers, plus the colorful fictional writer Impulsia Gushington. If that name doesn’t intrigue you, I just don’t know what will.

Happy Wednesday.

A really smart lady over at Creative Nonfiction recently sent me some great questions about my writing. You can read my hopefully as intelligent responses here.

Check out my Bon Appetit story on two new breeds of apples coming (relatively) soon to a grocery store near you.

Happy Friday!

I’m so excited that to tell you that my essay, “Discovery,” has won Creative Nonfiction‘s Down Under essay contest. I adore the literary journal CNF and being included in it twice in one year is writer heaven. The contest was in collaboration with Tashmadada - an awesome Aussie organization. Check them out.  The winners were announced at this year’s . Sadly, I couldn’t be there but I got to record myself accepting the award, which is probably as close as I’ll ever get to being a celebrity.

As the title of the competition suggests, the piece is about Australia – a place I consider my second, much hotter home. You’ll be able to find it in CNF’s next issue, out in a few weeks.

There are two Christopher Hitchens quotes I’ve recently come across thanks to the NY Times Sunday Book Review (and via a very smart editor friend of mine) that strike me as particularly poignant insights about friendship.  Do with them what you will.

Happy long weekend.

“For me, to remember friendship is to recall those conversations that it seemed a sin to break off: the ones that made the sacrifice of the following day a trivial one.”

“If there is anybody known to you who might benefit from a letter or a visit, do not on any account postpone the writing or the making of it. The difference made will almost certainly be more than you have calculated.”

I’ve been added to Rolf Potts‘ awesome archive of travel writers and I couldn’t be happier about it. Below is the interview. Or go here.

Rachel Friedman is the author of The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends, and One Unexpected Adventure (Bantam Books, 2011). She has written for The New York Times, New York and Bust magazines, Nerve.com, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. She is a contributor to the The McSweeney’s Book of Politics and Musicals (Vintage, 2012).

How did you get started traveling?

My brother was stationed in Germany when I was little and my family took a few trips over to see him during that time. We did a super quick, super touristy, 10 cities in 10 days kind of route, and all I really remember is sleeping a lot in the rental car. But then when I was fifteen I went to Israel with a temple youth group for six weeks. No parents. No rushing about. A hundred other crazy teenagers. I think that’s when I started associating travel with freedom. I returned home with wanderlust and a tattoo. I’m not sure which my parents were more upset about.

How did you get started writing?

I have early memories of writing in journals (always the locked kind, apparently I was a pretty paranoid eight year old) and recall how expressing my feelings that way felt good. Then later on in high school I wrote short stories and in college I started with personal essays, which might be what all that early journaling was leading up to. I’ve always been a reader (I’m the progeny of two English teachers so it’s in the blood), and when you read a lot I think it’s only natural at a certain point to want to give writing a try. You want to know if you’ve got any magic of your own.

What do you consider your first “break” as a writer?

I’ve done my career a little bit backwards. I published a book before having any freelance career to speak of, so getting my book accepted while I was in an MFA program was my first big break. Or maybe I should consider getting into that MFA program as the break.

As a traveler and fact/story gatherer, what is your biggest challenge on the road?

Feeling like I have enough time to really know a place. I tend to want to stay for days on end meeting people and wandering around and just generally losing myself to wherever I am. This is not an efficient strategy, as it turns out.

What is your biggest challenge in the research and writing process?

Scores of daily distractions. See: the Internet. Living in Manhattan.

What is your biggest challenge from a business standpoint?

Coming to terms with the financial realities of being a writer has been a struggle. How to make ends meet while having enough time to write is on my mind often. And I find myself wondering if I should do freelance work related to my skills as a writer or just do something totally unrelated in order to pay the bills. If anyone has ideas for undemanding but totally lucrative side jobs, I’m all ears.

Have you ever done other work to make ends meet?

I’ve been an editor, a university lecturer, an extra (that was short-lived, they pay extras terribly, it turns out), a waitress. Not in that order.

What travel authors or books might you recommend and/or have influenced you?

I love Susan Jane Gilman’s Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven. Sarah Turnbull’s Almost French. Shutterbabe by Deborah Copaken Kogan. Anything by Bill Bryson, J. Marten Troost, or David Sedaris.

What advice and/or warnings would you give to someone who is considering going into travel writing?

Travel. Write. That’s not very helpful, is it? How about this: realize that although you will be very rich in experiences you will not be actually rich. Or even close to it. I’m currently writing a magazine article about travel writers and have been informally collecting data on which ones are able to make a living solely from travel writing. I’ve only come across one so far and this person lives a existence of extreme frugality. The word monastic comes to mind.

What is the biggest reward of life as a travel writer?

Getting to experience the world. Being a travel writer (being a nonfiction writer in general, actually) is pretty great for someone like me — who is both shy and curious. Writing about a place gives me an excuse to investigate it exhaustively: to ask people endless questions about their city or their meal or their job or their clothing. So I guess the biggest reward is actually the people you meet while getting to experience the world.

I’ve got a fun piece up on Gadling inspired by the six weeks I just spent in Australia. Looking at the accompanying photo of the ocean made me miss Sydney today, especially since Manhattan in July and August gives new meaning to the term “sticky.” Still, it’s good to be home. Hope you are all having a great summer!