• book proposal: the marketing plan sent to agents and publishers to get representation or to sell a book. if it's impossible write the proposal, then perhaps it's not a topic on which you should write.
• bubble method: sometimes called clustering and mind mapping, is a brainstorming technique. writers use it to discover the unexpected and to clarify thoughts.
• byline: the name that appears under the title of an article indicating who wrote the article.
• clip (or clipping): a published article, a sample of a writer's work. it has been cut from a magazine, photocopied, if necessary, and sent to a magazine's editor when requested.
• clipping file: this is a place to collect articles, columns, and newspaper reports, from print or printed from the electronic version, that spark your imagination.
• cool down: the concept of allowing a piece of writing to be set aside for a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks so that when a writer returns, he or she will have a fresh eye for creativity, revision, editing, and polishing.
• genre: a category of writing distinguished by a definite style, form, or content. in travel writing there are specific genres including travel and food, outdoor experiences and travel, destination travel, and personal experience travel.
• hook: pulls the reader into the article or the editor into a query letter.
• magazine article: a piece of nonfiction writing published in a periodical.
• market guide: also called a market guidebook, this reference book includes submittal information necessary to query magazine editors and publishers.
• portable office: everything you need to write on the road (during trips or times when you're out of the office) organized for efficiency.
• query letter: a query letter is written to a magazine's editor to ascertain interest in a topic.
• query: written about a nonfiction article and sent to a magazine's editor to ascertain interest in a topic before an article is written.
• sase: stands for self-addressed, stamped envelope. it has enough postage so that a magazine editor may contact you or return your letter or manuscript.
• self-editing: refers to a method all successful writers use to polish and transform the initial drafts of a piece of writing into a manuscript ready to submit to a magazine editor or book publisher.
• sidebar: a small information article that enhances the main article. contains data like currency exchange, temperatures in a location, restaurant recommendations or other consumer topics. usually about 200 words and found at the end of a manuscript.
• slant: a book or article's theme; it's smart to make it special or unusual since the book-writing market is competitive.
• the blitz method: how smart writers simultaneously submit the same query letter to many magazine editors.
• writer's journal: a book or spiral tablet in which writers jot thoughts, describe feelings, investigate creativity, and keep notes about travels.
• writer's voice: the choice of words, phrases, and sentences that, when composed in written form, reflect the feelings, ideas, and desires of the writer.

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