11 February 2024

Tara Tevald (TT): Hello, my name is Tara Tevald, one of our senior editors here at Pitch, and this is Diana Spechler. Diana, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself before we get started?

Diana Spechler (DS):  Yes, thank you so much for having me on. I am a novelist, essayist, and a travel writer, I think we’re going to talk about travel writing today. I’m freelance. I write for pretty much every publication you can think of, and I also write a travel writing sub stack called “Dispatches from the Road.”

TT: All right, so if you’re ready we can get started with questions. You said we were gonna talk about travel writing, let’s start with that.

DS:  Sounds good.

TT:  So, as a travel writer what are some of the challenges that you often face?

DS:  Well I think that anybody who travels a lot probably knows that one of the hardest parts about it is finding balance you know. I am trying all the time to juggle the traveling the travel writing the other kinds of writing the other work I do which is teaching plus just kind of having a life so I would say that’s the number one challenge I’m not a very organized person so. I’m always kind of imagining that I’m going to get organized with all of this stuff but it never really happens so yeah I would say that’s the biggest challenge for sure.

TT: I think everyone kind of struggles with organization.

DS: I hope so. I hope I’m not the only one.

TT:  So how does it feel to travel alone as a woman?

DS: That’s an interesting question because I think it’s you know I think it’s 2 things. One is that of course there is very real danger being a woman by yourself out in the world even honestly in your hometown really any anytime there is a challenge a safety challenge I would say on the other hand I I’ve started to get. Frustrated with the messaging that we shouldn’t be traveling alone, and we should never be alone, and you know we’re always in danger because I do think that the messaging winds up scaring a lot of women off from traveling when the reality is I mean I’ve been traveling on my own professionally for about 9 years and I haven’t had very many. Problems safety wise of course I take precautions like I use common sense and don’t put myself in extremely dangerous situations and by the way that’s you know we can do that we can take those precautions and still have problems, so I mean no victim blaming here but. I would say that in general you know I have not found the world to be a terribly scary place as long as I am being, you know, somewhat cautious.

TT: That’s good to hear. So, how long do you typically spend in a country before you write about it?

DS: So I would say that it really depends and by the way not all of my travel writing is about foreign countries I mean I’ve I do a lot of travel writing I live in Texas I do a lot of travel writing right in Texas I do a lot of travel writing all over the United States. So we do always have to be careful about what’s called parachute journalism which is kind of just like landing in a place you don’t know about and writing about it as if from a local ‘s perspective so I try I try not to do that but you know I think you can be somewhere for a very short period of time and still write about it just as long as you clarify that you’re writing about it from the perspective of a tourist who maybe did really spend a weekend there. Or whatever so I don’t think you need to be somewhere for a super long time to write something about it that said it really depends on the assignment you know if I’m writing something really meaty and long form then of course I’m gonna have to just be in the place for as long as it takes to get this story. Other assignments are much fluffier and lighter and I don’t have to be in a place for very long at all.

TT: So, for those longer assignments how do you find time to write when you’re abroad?

DS: It’s a great question. I have been working as a freelance writer pretty much my entire the life so I just. Work anytime anywhere you know like I work on trains planes and automobiles and I will you know I can just kind of wherever I am sit down and start working so when I’m traveling I still get up in the morning and work maybe not every single day but it’s not like I’m just traveling for pleasure so it’s different like it so rarely will just go somewhere on a vacation you know I’m usually going there to work so again it’s a balance issue I’m not always great with it but depending on what the assignment is and what my purpose is I will be in a place and be balancing you know seeing the place doing my interviews taking my notes writing the story and also just doing whatever other work I have to do. So, some days I am more successful than others, but I would say in general I don’t really think of my time abroad as time off in the way that most people do I mean it’s the opposite.

TT: Yeah, that sounds understandable. So do you have any advice for aspiring travel writers?

DS: Yeah I do I have lots of advice for aspiring travel writers.

TT:  How about your top three?

DS: Top three? Okay, so I would say that number one is that travel writing is writing so the most important thing is to hone your chops as a writer second I would say that you really don’t have to go anywhere to be a travel writer you can write travel stories from your hometown honestly you know if a new restaurant opens let’s say for example and you want to write about it that’s travel writing if something is happening you know local politics that’s travel writing so I would say that it’s really important to learn to write about place it’s important to write you know learn to write description. Of your surroundings and to filter it through your own perspective and then the other thing I would say is learn to write and develop characters on the page because the most interesting travel writing is about people.

TT: That’s cool. I have to agree with that I found that just making sure your details of the people you encounter and the places you go to are very important in writing no matter what kind of writing you do.

DS: That’s right, and not just granular details which are so important but noticing things through your own perspective so like if any piece of writing is a representation of your consciousness any piece of non-fiction writing. It you know what what’s going to stand out or make your writing stand out is the details that you choose what you notice says so much about your perspective and your world view and honestly at the end of the day that’s the interesting part of a piece of writing so.

TT: How did you decide that travel writing was what you wanted to do with your life?

DS:  So, I should say it’s not the only thing I do with my life I mean I really think of myself as a writer and.  The travel is a bonus I got into travel writing around the same time I actually went to live outside of the United States so I moved to Mexico and from New York and I sort of just was suddenly seeing things through fresh eyes like I I’m not really great at noticing my surroundings it’s not something that happens for me naturally but suddenly just because I was in this new place that I was so in love with I was just noticing everything and it made I was excited about almost everything I encountered every food that I tried that I’d never heard of before. All these places I’d never heard of or visited I was just so enamored and everything was just kind of Technicolor to me so I started writing about it and that was really how it start and that’s how it began and then from there it just got addictive to be honest I mean if you know that you can make the same amount of money writing a story about I don’t know, TV let’s say, or you can make the same amount of money writing about Spain I mean to me it’s like a no brainer so yeah it just got really addictive and one assignment led to another led to another and so on.

TT: It sounds exciting.

DS: Yes, that is one of the things it is absolutely and it’s an enormous privilege and luxury so I feel really really lucky all the time that this is something I’m able to do.

TT: So, you did a writing workshop in Dublin back in April of last year do you have any advice about Ireland for our sophomores who will be going there this spring?

DS: So, what are they doing?

TT: They’re going to be abroad for I believe 2 weeks they’re kind of broken up into different classes relating to Dublin. Or relating to Ireland I should say I personally went to Morocco so it’s a very different experience but yeah just you want to tell us a little bit about the experience with Ireland.

DS: Yeah, I mean I unfortunately I have only been to Dublin but one of the things that I loved was. Somebody told me to do it when I was there is you can just kind of get on the public transportation just take a train down the coast and get off at whatever stops and explore and it’s so much fun it was sort of a way to see a Dublin like not from a tourist perspective because of course when you’re when you’re there and like. You know you’re gonna have your Guinness and you’re gonna you know maybe go on your walking tour but this was something different and special and I did it by myself and I felt really free I mean I could just get off at whatever stop I wanted and see new things and it was.

TT: Cool, so kind of maximizing free time and trying to get like a personal experience?

DS: Totally, yeah and I don’t remember how much it cost to get on that public transportation but it wasn’t much yeah.

TT: That’s cool. So let’s talk a little bit more about your writing your short story reality won the Stella Kupferberg memorial short story prize back in 2021 I want to know what your inspiration was behind the piece and why you chose reality TV as a topic.

DS: Yeah, I know it was basically like fan fiction of the bachelor. What happened was it was COVID and I watched the bachelor for the first time. Actually I watched The Bachelorette and I had never really been into TV like I think COVID made us all like greedy for TV and I just it was just the first time in my life that I was like. Sitting in front of the TV watching like show after show and I had never been into reality TV before and it just stunned me honestly I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I thought that so many things about it were fascinating and funny and yeah so I just wrote that piece it was just totally born of COVID.

TT: That’s super relatable though I think a lot of people had this a similar experience with COVID. So this question is completely self-indulgent on my part because I’m a fan of this podcast. What was it like to win the Moth Story Slam 7 times?

DS: Oh my God it’s actually been 8.

TT: It’s been 8?

DS: Oh my God so I was doing the slams a lot back when I lived in New York so it’s kind of it’s been like a decade since I was really into it but I honestly what is it like it is the best drug I could ever recommend it really is it is so incredible I mean it’s terrifying getting up there on stage it’s terrifying and in New York at least there are like hundreds of people in the audience and yeah it’s really scary but. It’s also really exciting and there is no audience like a moth audience everyone ‘s so generous they you know they’ll laugh at your jokes they’re really like they they want you to succeed and it’s just it’s just a lot of fun and then of course you know the slams are judged by audience judges so it’s really just fun it’s it’s not like you know, being judged at the Olympics or something so winning can be a sort of subjective experience I mean it’s not always like the story you think is the best is the one that wins but I don’t know I did I did win it a bunch of times and every time it is like levitating it is so amazing.

TT: It sounds amazing.

DS: Yeah so the 8th time actually was the most recent.  Well obviously, it was the most recent but it was it was not in New York I live in Texas now and I went to the moth slam in Houston so that was my 8th win I’ll have.

TT: To look for that and listen to it.

DS: I don’t know if it’s out there I only was on the podcast once I think.

TT: I’ll have to listen to that then. So where will your travel writing take you next? What’s your plans for the future?

DS: The next week or in a week and a half I’m heading to Mexico I’m actually going to teach at a writers’ conference in San Miguel de Allende where I used to live and while I’m there I’m also gonna do I haven’t totally put it together yet I’m still in the pitching stage but I am gonna do some kind of a food story while I’m there.

TT: That sounds really cool.

DS: Yeah.

TT: Well, that’s all the questions I have for you. Is there anything else you’d like to tell our audience here at Pitch before we wrap up?

DS: Let’s see, well I guess I would just say that if you’re aspiring writers just read and write as much as you possibly can. Read the kind of work that you want to be writing because we are what we eat so whatever you’re reading a lot of is going to influence your work and stick with it.

TT: That’s good advice. Thank you so much for coming on here and doing this interview for us.

DS: Well, thank you so much for having me! I loved it.