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Vera Marie Badertscher
VMB in Kastro, Sifnos Island, Greece
Blogger at
A Traveler’s Library
The Short story:
Connect with me at Twitter: @pen4hire
Contact me at: vmb at atravelerslibrary.com
Blog Featured at Lonely Planet.com
Blog Featured at Raveable.com
Bloggies 2010 Finalist in Best Travel Blogs Category.
Traveler’s Library Editor at Wandering Educators.
Contributor at Your Life Is A Trip
Travel Book Reviewer at Indie Travel Podcast Magazine
Chosen as one of the Travel Insights 100
Travel Secrets of Greece chosen to be included in Trip Base’s E-Book series which you can download for free by following A Traveler’s Library link.
WE READ AND TRAVEL
When you travel, you start gathering information before you go. I know that you can find guidebooks and talk to friends, but here at A Traveler’s Library, you can find the travel literature that will stay on your shelf. Novels, histories, biographies, travel narratives all kinds of literature that help you understand a place and the people and culture. Movies belong on that shelf along with books, and some times museums and art works add to our understanding. To learn more about the philosophy of A Traveler’s Library, and how it can help you, go to the About the Library page.
A Travel Writer’s Life
I travel when I can, and read all the time.
Like a desert packrat, I collect experiences and observations on my travels which have included Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean as well as forty-four of the fifty states.
Although I have never been homesick for home, I regularly have severe bouts of homesickness for Greece. I have been there five times, and covered much of the country and several islands, but I can never get enough.
I originally come from Ohio where I received degrees in theater and education from the Ohio State University. My parents and grandparents were addicted to road trips, and hauled me along from the time I was a few months old.
Shortly after we were married, my husband Ken and I drove cross country to Arizona to start a new life. I earned a Master’s Degree in theater from Arizona State University, built a career in local theater and another career in politics, raised three boys and finally launched a successful freelance writing way of life. Ken and I have lived in and explored Arizona and the west for over forty years. Our six grandchildren range in age from 3 to 25.
Published Articles
My articles have appeared in National Geographic Traveler, AAA Living, Home & Away and other AAA magazines, Arizona Highways, American Style, Islands, Rolls Royce Owner’s Desk Diary and Luxury Travel and Steinway & Sons Magazine among others. I have also written for various web sites, and the most recent ones are listed above. I won’t bore you with the whole list, since we both know that web sites come and go with appalling regularity.
For the past several years I have been working with my friend, Charnell Havens on a book-length biography of Navajo artist Quincy Tahoma. The book, tentatively titled Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist will be published in Spring 2011. The blog about the book is called Tahoma Blog.
Awards
The National Federation of Press Women has recognized my work with five national 1st place awards and several state awards and the Fraternity Editors Association gave me an honorable mention in profile writing. A Traveler’s Library was nominated as one of the top five travel blogs in the 2010 Bloggies, and other honors are listed above.
Writing Around the Web
I am very active in the blogger community and have written guest posts for the following blogs/websites:
Info Ireland: Books from the Blasket Islands (Feb. 09)
Spot Cool Stuff : The Miracle of Siphnos
Velvet Escape: The master potter of Mata Ortiz, Mexico
Go Packbacking : Six Tips for taking the ferry in Greece.
Wasabimon: Food allergy translation cards
Writing Horseback: Tanque Verde Guest Ranch
Velvet Escape: Tohono Chul Park in Tucson
Travel Wonders: Canyon de Chelly
foXnoMad: The Minoans of Crete
And a road trip to northern Arizona lands at Hidden Meadow Ranch in this guest post at Writing Horseback.
I have an article in the web National GEO Traveler–a road trip through duPont country in Delaware and Pennsylvania (How timely for the Great American Raod Trip!)
The Blog
You, the traveler, like to read literature and watch movies that enhances your travel. Popular bulletin boards for travelers, like Fodors.com and Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree get long strings of comments when someone asks about books. I realized that nobody else on the Internet was providing a discussion of books to read that shed light on a place you are going. Since starting this blog, I have found a few others that discuss books and travel, but none quite as thoroughly as A Traveler’s Library, or with the combination of books and movies. From comments from readers, and the constantly increasing traffic, I believe we are providing a needed service.
What Else Can I Do For You?
If you are looking for words on travel for a magazine, book or web site, check out my work at my writer’s site, Pen4Hire. I long ago lost the thrill of seeing my name in print, so don’t offer me that as compensation. And I’m not looking for exposure. If you want to hire a writer who produces work on time, meticulously researched and to your specifications, and you pay, let’s talk. I have written profiles, shelter, real estate, fashion, shopping, dining and promotional copy as well as travel articles, so don’t be shy.
Blog Policies
When I accept something for free, or at a reduced price because I am a writer, and then I write about it on the blog, I will tell my readers about it. My readers are intelligent enough to figure out if I am lying about things just to get freebies. I won’t, so they will be spared much thought.
I do accept press trips to places that I think might be interesting to readers, and I promise the sponsors to write about some part of the destination on my blog. I do not promise that what I write may be mistaken for a press release.
The books that publishers give me for review are generally passed on to my readers through giveaways after I have written about them. Sometimes the books that I receive turn out not to be suitable for the blog, and I tell the publisher that. Sometimes the books that I receive are so bad that I don’t even give them away as prizes. But most of the time, the books are wonderful and I am happy to share them.
A NOTE ABOUT ADVERTISING
I use affiliate advertising on my site. That means that I have a link to books sold on Amazon within the text of my blog posts. I do not use links to other products unless they fit extremely well, and that is extremely rare.
Please remember that patronizing the advertisers is a vote for continuing this blog. Every purchase helps.
To see our Policies regarding privacy and your protection, see this Privacy Policy page.
FOR PUBLISHERS AND ADVERTISERS
Here’s a note for you about the books we discuss, and advertising on the site.
Twitter: DonnaLHull
says:
Great job! I’ll be adding you to my “Travel blog” links.
Congratulations
Another world to conquer. As usual, you will do it with style.
Love
Ken
A lovely and a lovely-looking site. You’re now on my Google home page so I can watch for new postings, an honor given to few.
Good luck with it.
regards
Mike
Mike: That is an honor indeed. I will try to keep you interested.
Have read several of your excellent travel reports demonstrating your ability to get into the essence of local culture and color, thanks to an empathy with the locals of many locales. Looking forward to you next discovery!
[...] thanks to Vera Marie Badertscher for guest writing this post. Vera writes about travel and the books that inspire and inform the [...]
Hi Vera,
I got this bit of advice about adding a logo to my blog from a great Twitter pal of mine. Funny thing was, I already had the logo but couldn’t incorporate it into my WordPress theme. He helped me out with changing the codes but it didn’t look nice so I switched to a different theme, hence the revamp! I agree with him that the logo does work wonders for your branding and it adds another personal touch to your site.
Well done. I love your site and like you, am learning tonnes at Darren’s 31-day challenge!
For your site, I would suggest getting a logo that reflects you and your site’s content. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy. You can have one made on the internet for free (just do a Google search, something like “create logo+free” and dozens of adequate logo-making software will appear). That’s how I got mine made… shush… don’t tell anyone else
Cheers,
Keith
Love the site. Now the hard part is going to select which books not to buy then finding the time to read them ALL. And I’ll definitely be adding this site to my favorites.
I see that you’re headed to San Antonio. I just moved here a few months ago, and it is truly a beautiful, vibrant city. Happy travels!
Thanks, Sarah. I had never been to San Antonio, until two years ago. This will be my third trip in two years. Surprising how things work out. Last year my husband and I took a Texas Hill Country back road trip (up to Ft. Worth) and stopped at that bakery in Castroville that you talk about in your blog.
I hope that you’ll come back often to visit A Traveler’s Library.
Dear Vera:
Like you, I have traveled the world, and I write. I thought you might be interested in one of my novels, Sigourney’s Quest, which delves into the culture, spirituality, landscapes, and political difficulties in Tibet. I photographed Tibet in the 1990s for a tour operator and fell in love with the people and country, but hated what I saw the Chinese doing there. Sigourney’s Quest was my response. It is available through book stores, Amazon.com, etc. My website has a brief synopsis and sample chapter.
Best wishes,
Gordon Snider
Hi Vera,
When you do the Pacific Northwest, may I invite you to come a little south to the Monterey Bay area. I would like to show you Santa Cruz, on the north side of the bay, in person and through the murder mysteries I write that are set there.
If that’s not enough of an enticement we have several noted mystery writers living in the area although I’m the only one writing about Santa Cruz.
Nancy Lynn Jarvis
Author of “The Death Contingency” and Backyard Bones”
I too have changed careers, from engineer to management to artist to writer. I did much traveling in between. However I am a novice campared to you. I am very impresed by your experience. But I do have one over you and that is my tour of Sicily. I originally thought that Sicily was a collection of farms and orchards. In 2004 I toured Sicily and was astonished at its history, being occupied at one time through history by each of the European nation
From the gold imbedded wall pictures of the Cathedral Montreal of Palermo to the ruins of Taormina to the Greek Temples of Agrigento, I was amazed. Touring the three Greek Temples and the drive by at night when they were brightly illuminated was the high light of the tour.
I’m so glad I found you on Twitter! I love your blog and hope you find yourself back in Lancaster County someday… and that you’ll visit the Historic Smithton again (of course!).
Rebecca: So nice of you to come by and comment, and I’m so glad that you like the blog. How are those beautiful flowers of yours doing? Getting ready to burst into bloom?
Dear Vera,
Re Trip Planning France, you’ve forgotten to allow comments on the article.
If you come south, and would like to hike for a couple of days, please look us up.
Our site section at:
http://www.enlightened-travell.....px?pgId=14
is hopefully all you need to plan your hiking tour in France.
All the best,
Steve
Thanks, Christina. That’s what I like to hear. And I have that dilemma, too, about how many books to read and when in the heck to find time for them.