#cathy salustri

[1973listener-blog]

FLORIDA SPECTACULAR with Cathy Salustri: E169 Researching Florida Spectacular, The Book https://audioboom.com/posts/8572602-florida-spectacular-with-cathy-salustri-e169-researching-florida-spectacular-the-book

[nanowrimo]

How NaNo Camp-Ins Helped Me Finish My NYT Profiled Book

We all know about NaNoWriMo, but what about CampMo? CampMo is when a bunch of Wrimos get together in a writing-retreat format. Cathy Salustri, author of the NYT Profiled travel writer, talks about her experience with CampMo, and how it helped her finish her book. Disclaimer, we are still cautiously opening up to in-person events like CampMo. It’s tentative that it will happen this year, and if it does, we encourage following COVID-19 protocols and being safe and responsible!

The first time I participated in NaNoWriMo, I hadn’t written anything creative since my undergrad days, which predated email, to give you an idea. I didn’t think I had it in me… until a germ of an idea took hold right about the same time I learned about NaNoWriMo. Most of my writing that year involved late nights at a massive maple table. I crammed in the last few words, checking my word count a few seconds after midnight, thus barely missing “winning” NaNo my first year.

The next year, I discovered write-ins. I also discovered CampMo, or NaNoWriMo camp-ins.

Lest you think this involved huddling in pup tents and writing by firelight, let me disabuse you of that notion: We camped in cabins at Lake Louisa State Park, and these cabins? Well, they weren’t exactly rustic: They had two bedrooms – one with an ensuite bathroom – dishwashers, full-size refrigerators, gas fireplaces, screened porches with rocking chairs, and comfy futon couches and chairs. The only thing missing was an icemaker, but, well, we all have to suffer for our art. 

For three days and two nights, WriMos filled the cabins, writing and eating and writing and drinking and writing some more. The lack of cell service, TV, or wi-fi forced us to spend time in our imaginations, and I wrote something like 25,000 words in three days. 

Some years later, I had an actual book contract for a Florida travel narrative based on 1930s-era road trips. I’d done the research. I’d written the book proposal. I’d gotten the contract. My first meeting with my editor went well, until I casually asked her how much she thought the book would cost readers. She said she’d take a look at the projections and budget from whatever department did those things, and I froze. 

This wasn’t my book any longer, I realized. This was something more; it now lived officially outside my head. However well it sold – which means, of course, however well I wrote it – would impact people’s jobs. My publisher was investing time, money, and talent into bringing my book to print – and if I failed, they would suffer. 

I stayed frozen for a few months more. The voices in my head constantly reminded me how much other people had invested in a book I couldn’t seem to write.

And then it was November. I took a leave of absence from my paying writing job – a hyperlocal weekly newspaper where I covered city council, Little League, and various duck scandals – and focused on churning out a draft.

And I went back to the cabin to find that CampMo magic. I fell upon that cabin like a menopausal woman on an ice floe. I holed up in a chair and, with all the distractions of the world removed, I wrote. And wrote. And then I had a beer, because this isn’t a movie and I’m human. But then I wrote some more. I took a short walk through the woods, sure. I left to go get more beer. But I wrote.

Although I didn’t finish the draft that weekend, I wrote a lot of it, and finished the rest of it by November 30. Months after publication, the New York Times profiled “Backroads of Paradise.” The publisher printed a second run, then a third.

CampMo Magic.

This year, with (hopefully) the worst of COVID-19 behind us, I’m looking at November cabins again, hoping not only to go back and meet the magic, but to share it with other writers. 

Cathy Salustri works out of Gulfport, Florida, travels across Florida on foot, bike, boat, or car to places the Interstate bypassed long ago, as well as those spots where natural beauty has survived the onslaught of overpopulation. She attended the University of Central Florida, and earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Tampa finding the Florida Studies MLA program at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Cathy has written travel pieces for USA Today, Visit Florida, regional magazines and local press. You can find all her travel writing at the greatfloridaroadtrip.com.

Photo by baikang yuan on Unsplash  

[ericlitvin]

Eric Litvin shares: How an Author Found the Real Florida by JOHN L. DORMAN By JOHN L. DORMAN Cathy Salustri set out on a 5,000-mile road trip across the state, from the Panhandle to the Everglades. “We’re a paradise,” she says. Published: January 11, 2017 at 07:00PM from NYT Travel via IFTTT

[digitaltariq]

Publisher’s Note: August 27

Publisher’s Note: August 27

[ad_1]

August 27, 2020 by Cathy Salustri

In Gulfport, we’re supposed to be edging closer to GeckoFest. This weekend was supposed to be Gecko Ball. We’re supposed to be reveling in how the kids are back in school.

There are a lot of things that were supposed to happen this year but, well, we all know the quote: Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht. If you’re not up on your Yiddish, perhaps you’ve heard…

[craigpittman]

If you missed hearing Cathy Salustri and I reading from our Florida books at the Other Words Literary Conference in Tampa today, you missed hearing me sing the “Come to the Florida sunshine tree!” jingle. (Then again, maybe you didn’t miss that much after all.)

[cwrite1]

If you missed hearing me and Cathy Salustri reading at the Other Words Literary Conference at the U of Tampa today, you ALSO missed hearing me sing the "Come to the Florida sunshine tree!" jingle to the crowd. On the other hand, maaaaaybe you didn't really miss that much. http://ift.tt/2gGlalT

[shadowlotus10]

Room 901: The art of conversation by Cathy Salustri in Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, July 11, 2017

[fantastictalks]

#6: Backroads of Paradise: A Journey to Rediscover Old Florida

Backroads of Paradise: A Journey to Rediscover Old Florida Cathy Salustri (Author) (6) Buy new: $24.95 41 used & new from $15.25 (Visit the Best Sellers in United States list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.) from Amazon.com: Best Sellers in Books > Travel > United States http://ift.tt/2jeszJb via IFTTT

[znjancitybeach]

How an Author Found the Real Florida by JOHN L. DORMAN By JOHN L. DORMAN Cathy Salustri set out on a 5,000-mile road trip across the state, from the Panhandle to the Everglades. “We’re a paradise,” she says. Published: January 12, 2017 at 01:00AM from NYT Travel NY Times

[shareefabdou]

How an Author Found the Real Florida

By JOHN L. DORMAN Cathy Salustri set out on a 5,000-mile road trip across the state, from the Panhandle to the Everglades. “We’re a paradise,” she says. Published: January 11, 2017 at 02:00PM from NYT Travel http://ift.tt/2jmCfRN via IFTTT

[1973listener-blog]

FLORIDA SPECTACULAR w/Cathy Salustri E146 https://audioboom.com/posts/8564160-florida-spectacular-w-cathy-salustri-e146

[bhaskargogoi]

Cathy Salustri set out on a 5,000-mile road trip across the state, from the Panhandle to the Everglades. “We’re a paradise,” she says.

[sam-hall-offshore]

Sam Hall shares: How an Author Found the Real Florida by JOHN L. DORMAN By JOHN L. DORMAN Cathy Salustri set out on a 5,000-mile road trip across the state, from the Panhandle to the Everglades. “We’re a paradise,” she says. Published: January 11, 2017 at 07:00PM from NYT Travel via IFTTT

[michaelgabrill]

Cathy Salustri set out on a 5,000-mile road trip across the state, from the Panhandle to the Everglades. “We’re a paradise,” she says.

[1973listener-blog]

FLORIDA SPECTACULAR w/Cathy Salustri E 146 https://audioboom.com/posts/8564158-florida-spectacular-w-cathy-salustri-e-146

[1973listener-blog]

FLORIDA SPECTSCULAR w/Cathy Salustri E168 https://audioboom.com/posts/8564157-florida-spectscular-w-cathy-salustri-e168