Larry Habegger

Speaking Spanish

Larry Habegger — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 03:38:34 +0000

“Perrrrrrrrrrrrrrrro,” I stuttered, failing completely to roll the r’s as my seven-year-old daughter laughed with glee.

“No, it’s perro,” she said in a perfect Spanish accent. “Like this.” She twittered like a bird demonstrating how to do it. “You need to practice.”

“Do you think I can learn?”

“Yes. Practice all the way home.”

So I did, spewing spittle left and right as I tried to trill my r’s to my daughter’s delight. All the way home, which meant about a ten-minute walk, I was a blithering idiot cut loose from some overcrowded psych ward, but Érne loved it. She couldn’t wait to tell her sister and mama.

My attempt to learn to roll my r’s using the Spanish word for dog had less to do with my desire to speak Spanish and more to do with my daughter’s love for animals—at the moment, the dogs of Puerto Vallarta. There was the fluffy mutt whose head appeared through the bars of the balcony railing on the second floor almost every time we passed, day or night. There was the nervous poodle that hung out in a doorway and usually had a yelp and a growl for us as we lowered hands for her to sniff. And there was the family of Chihuahuas about as small as dogs can be at the combination piñata shop and home of a couple seemingly old enough to have ridden with Pancho Villa.

We couldn’t walk past the open doorway on Aquiles Serdan without stopping to pet the mama, daddy, and pups that lived in a cardboard box under a chair just inside. After several days of our getting to know the neighborhood of Colonia Emiliano Zapata where we were staying, the ancient couple inside smiled in recognition. Their faces wore the ruts of a long, hard life, dark and brown as the parched Mexican soil. Their fingers never ceased working with the colored crepe paper they fixed to forms to create the piñatas that dangled from the ceiling—burros, sombreros, stars, bulls, other creatures large and small. Our conversation through the open façade couldn’t travel beyond “hello, how are you?, nice dogs” because of my pitiful Spanish, but it was a lesson for the children (and a reminder for me).

What could they have told us about their long lives? Had they always lived here, in this home open to the street, making piñatas for the neighborhood families? Did they settle here late in life after other adventures, struggles, pursuits, dreams? Was this a longstanding family business or something more recent? How did they view the world from this vantage point, inside a cool room open to the heat and noise and smells of the street and the sea breezes?

Of course I couldn’t get answers to these questions without speaking adequate Spanish. I was a tourist, on a short vacation with my family, and none of us were prepared to get beneath the surface of things.

“It’s nice that the houses are open and children play outside with each other all the time,” Érne said early in our visit. “I wish we could do that at home.”

Things were different here, and the girls were noticing.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to talk to them?” I said.

“But we don’t speak Spanish,” Érne replied.

“You’re learning in school. That’s where you learned to say ‘perro’.”

She giggled. “Not like that, like this.” And she rolled her r’s perfectly again.

“Perrrrrrrrrro!” I sputtered, and we made our way up the street looking for dogs, cats, blackbirds with giant boat-like tails that squawked all day in the trees, practicing all the way home.

Writers’ Workshop Sailing off the Turkish Coast

Larry Habegger — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:34:41 +0000

Learn How to Craft a Travel Article, Write a Memoir and Publish Your Book

I’ll be leading a seven-day writers workshop on the personal travel narrative aboard a traditional 82-foot gulet (a Turkish yacht) September 20-27, 2008. Come join me!

On this seven-day intensive workshop sailing on the Aegean Sea you’ll learn the ins and outs of crafting a superb story and how to bring your work to print, whether it’s a short essay or a book-length memoir. I’ll help you develop powerful stories with simple tools and plot the course to successful publication.

For information about sailing along the ancient shores of Turkey with me, contact Robin Sparks at robin@robinsparks.com.

In this workshop you will learn how to:
• Unearth kernels of inspiration
• Find the right way in
• Create the ideal structure to give a story maximum substance and meaning
• Access memory to add depth and texture
• Use techniques of fiction to add drama and suspense
• Craft the perfect ending
• Edit to make the story a page-turner
• Develop the kind of book proposal publishers are eager to see
• Create the perfect marketing plan so your book will sell
• Write like a poet but think like a publicist

Daily writing exercises will help you find the focus of your story, and discussions will provide guidance for shaping and polishing. Participants will gain confidence about what makes a story work and how to make it shine in the marketplace.

The group workshop will be structured around our tour of the Turkish coast and will include:

• Maximum of 12 participants
• Emphasis on personal travel narrative and memoir, but open to other forms
• Hour-long group workshops each morning
• Daily one-on-one consultations with me
• Writing assignments to prime your pump
• Afternoons devoted to writing and exploring the Turkish coast
• Evening group reading and discussion of participants’ work
• Write about your Turkish experience, craft journal notes into compelling stories, develop material you’re already working on
• Come ready to write, share, learn, and have fun

And Much More…
We’ll begin in the internationally renowned resort of Bodrum and work our way down the Aegean coast and into the Mediterranean. You’ll see turtles nesting, sail past and hike among ancient ruins, visit Turkish villages, natural hot springs and a mud bath, explore inner waterways, and learn to write and get published. All while reveling in a classic Blue Voyage of legend. Turkey is a beautiful country, and Turks ooze with hospitality. Don’t miss this chance of a lifetime!

Want to know what the trip might be like? A few years ago John Flinn wrote a story for the San Francisco Chronicle about a journey on a similar vessel in the same area. Read it for the full flavor, sans the travel writing workshop.

Price: $2500 usd
Includes:

• Two hours minimum of instruction per day and private consultations
• Three delicious meals per day and all drinks
• All land and water excursions
• Use of a jet ski, kayaks, snorkel gear, and fishing rods
• Full use of a luxurious classic Turkish yacht constructed of African teak and brass, and shared with a maximum of 12 students and 3 Turkish crew members
• Shared accommodation in a large double cabin with a private bath
• Three Turkish crew members to make sure that the only work you do is write and play
• Airport transfers
• One night’s stay in the plush Marina Hotel in Bodrum, Turkey
• And last but not least, laughter, exploration and camaraderie galore

The price does not include round trip airfare to Bodrum, Turkey from whence we will depart on our boat on Saturday, September 20, 2008. We have scheduled the workshop during the travel “shoulder season” so that students may benefit from lower airfares. If you would like assistance booking an airline ticket, please email workshop organizer, Robin Sparks at robin@robinsparks.com.

This is a small intimate class of no more than 12, so don’t delay. Reserve your spot by sending your first installment of $1250 via PayPal.com to robin@robinsparks.com. Final payment of $1250 is due by June 1, 2008. Please purchase travel insurance as we are unable to issue refunds unless we can fill your spot.

For information about sailing along the ancient shores of Turkey with Larry, contact Robin Sparks at robin@robinsparks.com.

The Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism

Larry Habegger — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:18:47 +0000

I’ll be a speaker on various topics at the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism in Boston March 14-16, 2008. The conference is produced by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. I’ll be part of a panel discussion on editing titled “Behind the ‘Blue Pencil’: Editors talk about the long form” with Vanessa Mobley, Jon Marcus, and Peter Davis. I’ll also teach in the “Craft Round Robin: Small group sessions led by writers and editors” helping participants craft their work. Check out the schedule.

A Travelers’ Tales TeleWebcast

Larry Habegger — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:24:30 +0000

Travelers’ Tales is doing something fun for its book, Antarctica: Life on the Ice. Working with Cheryl McLaughlin at 360 Book Buzz we’re producing a Virtual Book Tour with the cornerstone being a LIVE FROM ANTARCTICA TeleWebcast with writer and editor Susan Fox Rogers and contributors penguinologist David Ainley, IT expert Karen Joyce, and researcher Katy Jensen, who will be joining in LIVE FROM ANTARCTICA. This free TeleWebcast will happen Dec. 13 at 5 p.m. PST. Take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put your questions about this fascinating, forbidden place to these Antarctica experts. Register now to be a part of this free TeleWebcast (you can participate through the web or through any phone). Click here http://www.SusanFoxRogersBookTour.com.

Lit Crawl in San Francisco on Saturday Night, Oct. 13

Larry Habegger — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:25:42 +0000

I’ll be MCing a powerhouse literary travel evening—Border Crossings: Travel Writers Share Stories of Adventure—on Saturday, Oct. 13 in San Francisco’s Mission District during Lit Crawl, part of the annual Litquake festival. Performers will include authors and TT contributors Richard Sterling, Tanya Shaffer, Ken Matusow, and Lucy Jane Bledsoe, and author Georgeanne Brennan. The show begins at 6 p.m. at Casanova Lounge, 527 Valencia Street (between 16th and 17th Streets). Other lively events will follow. This is the fourth year of the crawl and features more than 200 authors reading in 35 venues. For the full schedule, see the Litquake website.

Travelers’ Tales Wins Lowell Thomas Awards

Larry Habegger — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:01:23 +0000

Two Travelers’ Tales books won honors in the prestigious Lowell Thomas Awards sponsored by the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation. 100 Places Every Woman Should Go by Stephanie Elizondo Griest took the Gold Award for Best Travel Book of the Year. The Best Travel Writing 2007 edited by James and Sean O’Reilly and me took the Bronze in the same category. Read what the judges said about these two fine books.

One Spot Open in Advanced Travel Writing Workshop in San Francisco

Larry Habegger — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:09:24 +0000

I have one spot remaining in my advanced personal travel writing workshop that starts tonight in San Francisco. The class is a series of seven meetings, all but one on Wednesday nights, beginning Oct. 10. Instead of meeting on Halloween we’ll meet that week on Thursday, Nov. 1. We’ll also postpone our meeting on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (Nov. 21) and instead have our final meeting on the following Wednesday, Nov. 28. All meetings run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 4th and Townsend Streets across the street from the Caltrain station, a short block away from the Muni Metro stop and several bus lines. For those who drive, there’s ample free parking. The group will be a minimum of six people and a maximum of ten. Cost will depend on group size.

In the first session we’ll get to know each other, talking about your experience, your goals, what you’d like to get out of this class, and, of course, the material you’re working on. We’ll also read and discuss some examples of superb writing. In the six subsequent sessions we’ll work on your stories in depth. Each week half the group will send a story to everyone for all to read in advance so we can be prepared for discussion in class. This way, each of you will get three of your stories worked on over the seven weeks, and you’ll have the benefit of critiquing everyone else’s pieces.

Once we’ve finished our seven weeks together this class could transform into a master class that meets monthly or twice-monthly indefinitely, but that will depend on interest. I have had two ongoing monthly classes and one ongoing twice-monthly class that began as weekly sessions like this. One is still running and it’s worked out nicely for all.

If you want to join me, or have questions, email me at larry@LarryHabegger.com

Who’s Aging?

Larry Habegger — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:20:20 +0000

It seemed like just a short time ago that I threw a surprise 50th birthday party for a close friend. He wasn’t impressed because he never liked to celebrate birthdays, and turning 50 was more than he wanted to face. But he played along, a good sport, and when it was over got back to his normal life.

I thought of him the other day when I was sitting at my desk in a hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon. He loves England, was thrilled when he learned I’d be touring the country mostly by train for two weeks. He wanted to hear everything about my trip and I’d already called him a couple times to share experiences in London I knew he’d appreciate: having a drink in St. Stephen’s Tavern, Winston Churchill’s favorite bar; finding the Duke of Wellington’s former office in the Horse Guards Building in Whitehall; pausing outside Banqueting House where King Charles I was executed in 1649 when Oliver Cromwell seized power; climbing to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral to look out over London from the heart of the old city.

I thought of him because I discovered something in my hotel room that told me he isn’t 50 anymore. In fact, he’ll be turning 65 in a couple of weeks. Where did those 15 years go?

Once a friend told me she was going to get a cat, but she was being very picky because, at 35, she knew the cat she chose would be with her until she was 50. Fifty! Shudder. Can you imagine, me, 50? she asked.

At the time I couldn’t imagine her being 50 years old. But it’s easier now.

That night in Stratford I was a wreck after a relentless drive from York to Belvoir Castle near Sherwood Forest, then on to Stratford in the dark after many hours of stop-and-go traffic, lashing rain, driving on the left side of the road, and peering through low-riding reading glasses at the map as I watched over their rims for road signs and errant vehicles. I have never been happier to get rid of a rental car in my life. Tremendously relieved to be in the hotel room, sitting at the desk in something of a stupor, I glanced in the mirror and saw my father. What was he doing here? It took about two heartbeats to realize that weary face staring back at me had aged almost beyond recognition, and my youthful glow had jumped a generation.

Maybe it was the reading glasses, maybe the fatigue in my eyes. But there was no mistaking it: I resembled my father more than I wanted to admit, and my father isn’t young anymore.

The next day I took the train to Oxford and wandered around the famous university town. On the way back at the end of the day, passengers crowded the train. I walked down the aisle seeing the seats filling up ahead of me, and finally stopped near a man sitting in the aisle seat with the window seat occupied by his bags and coat. A stack of books teetered on his lap. Reading glasses perched on his nose. His hawk-like profile was carved in stone, his gaze glued to the pages of a book, eyes scrupulously avoiding me. I was the looming presence about to ruin his day, and he would have nothing of it.

I hesitated, considered, then moved along, knowing I’d be transferring to another train in 20 minutes. No need to disturb a fellow so determined to hoard his space.

A few steps on I saw that all other seats were filled and I’d have to stand. Just then a man in his twenties bolted from his seat. “Here, sit down,” he said.

What?

“Please sit down. You may have this seat.”

I looked over my shoulder. I stood alone. He stepped aside and motioned to the seat, smiled.

“No, it’s okay,” I said.

“Please sit,” he insisted.

Then I laughed. Now this was a first. I’m usually the guy who gives up seats to old folks and pregnant women. He didn’t see the same person I imagined myself to be. He saw an elder who deserved a seat on the crowded train, an old fellow for whom he would relinquish his place.

“Thank you,” I said, and sat down. “I’ll only be on the train a short time so you’ll get your seat back.”

He just smiled. No need to explain, he’d happily stand.

At the next stop the woman sitting next to me got off, so I slid over to the window and the man did get his seat back, sooner than expected. We rode on through the night, both content with our places on the train. Back home in San Francisco, my wife had just left my two young daughters at school. My friend approaching 65 was asleep, dreaming of London or Paris or Rome. My father was resting uncomfortably in Arizona, hoping the medication would deaden the pain of a malady that will be with him until he moves on to whatever comes next. The other passengers silently read their newspapers and books, swaying with the rhythm of the train, heading home at the end of another day. I rode on gazing out the window into the darkness, knowing that age 65 was miles away for me, but every click of the wheels on the tracks was taking me closer.

Postscript: My father passed away on April 22, seven weeks after this trip.

Crafting the Personal Travel Story with Larry at Book Passage

Larry Habegger — Thu, 31 May 2007 19:56:04 +0000

One-Day Writers’ Workshop — Saturday, June 2, 2007
This Saturday I’ll be conducting my popular one-day workshop, Crafting the Personal Travel Story, at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hundreds of writers have taken this course over the years and many have gone on to publishing success.

We’ll spend the day exploring techniques that help you unearth kernels of inspiration, find the right lead, create the ideal structure to give a story substance and meaning, access memory to add depth and texture, use techniques of fiction to add drama and suspense, and much more. In-class writing exercises help find the focus of the story and discussions provide guidance for shaping and polishing. You’ll gain confidence about what makes a story work and the value of your own stories, and you should come prepared with ideas you want to explore. I’ll also include advice on how and where to get your stories published. Join me at Book Passage for an inspiring day. There’s still time to sign up.

What Are the Chances?

Larry Habegger — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:20:07 +0000

A friend flew from San Francisco to Panama last week and reported that his flight arrived late in LA, causing him to rush through the terminal and out to the shuttle at LAX worried he’d miss his connection. The shuttle bus took forever to circle the grounds and delivered him to the terminal for his flight on Copa Air to Panama City. It was the same terminal where his LA flight had landed! With just 20 minutes before departure he rushed to the Copa Air counter, got a hand-entered boarding pass, set off the buzzer at security with his pens and keys and coins, managed to get through, then rushed up the stairs to his gate to discover it was the very same one where his SF-LA flight had come in! If he’d simply sat and rested he could have checked in at the gate and read a book. Luckily, he made the flight with only moments to spare.

It reminded me of the time in Dublin, Ireland, in the days before easy wifi and DSL. I was visiting my in-laws and having trouble with my dialup connection from their home. I called the tech support line for my ISP, but because my in-laws have only one telephone line and there wasn’t a cell phone in the house, I couldn’t talk to the guy on one line and try to connect on the other. So, once I’d written down everything he told me to do to get online I hung up and gave it a try. Of course it didn’t work, and now it was past midnight and I was fuming. I called the number again, heard the same voice, and said, “I was on the phone with you just a few minutes ago and what you told me to do didn’t work.”

A gasp came across the wire. Then, “You talked to me a few minutes ago?”

“Yeah,” I said, then repeated my problem and his suggested solution.

“This has never happened to me before,” he said.

“What, that someone was able to call you back?”

“Yes. Do you know how many people work here? No one has ever got the same person twice!”

It must have been my good luck, because this time, knowing that his first solution didn’t work, he gave me another one, which I tried after we hung up. Happily, I didn’t have to call him back again!