New Member: Michelle Snider Luna

Michelle Snider Luna is the latest travel journalist to join BATW. Here is a bit about her:

My journey to becoming a working travel writer would probably look like a Eurail map from 1995 (the year I did my requisite backpacker adventure around the continent). My writing career has also taken many directions, with certain locations lingered over, and others broken off abruptly.

I completed my MFA in Creative Non-Fiction from Mills College in 2001, with my master’s thesis a collection of travel stories from my journeys (mostly solo) in my twenties. My first short story submission, to Travelers’ Tales: Australia, was published in 2000, followed by additional excerpts in the Travelers’ Tales: Cuba and Gutsy Women collections, as well as a feature-length travel advice article in BUST magazine.

I focused my writing on short pieces, with the plan to submit a full collection for publication.

I worked as a writing consultant to pay the bills, and did my creative writing late at night. When I got married to someone who had grown up on three continents and then had our son, my focus shifted, but I kept traveling. We moved to Buenos Aires for a year, then later to a small town in northern Italy for another year. I wrote extensively about those experiences, and I soon realized I had the workings of a book about living abroad as a family, with guidance on raising a child to be a multi-lingual, truly global citizen.

At this point in my career, I have an extensive array of short travel stories burning up my computer, and the first half-dozen chapters of the book. What I miss is being part of a community of writers who network and inspire each other to find the right place for our writing and put it out there. I had heard about Bay Area Travel Writers many years ago, and now I’m excited to be a new member. I have the tenacity and passion to keep traveling and writing, and am newly focused on getting my work published.