Write What You Know

Most articles that I write are on subjects that interest me to some degree—I never would have pitched them or been sought out as the writer if someone didn’t think they were in my wheelhouse.

So there are articles where I enjoy the research and then there are articles I may have been born to write. This one, on eating in Tuscany, is one of the latter. It’s about a week spent dining in and around Florence with my parents and sister, and was by far the most fun to research of any article I have written in recent memory.

I’m fairly proud of it. I still like the humorous touches, and I think my love of Italian cuisine comes through. If it had been up to me, I would have written it in the past tense, because I think present tense makes jumps in time more confusing. But it wasn’t up to me—the Girls That Roam site requires articles to be in the present tense. I can live with it.

If anyone wants to send me back to Italy for a follow-up, just to make sure that that gelato place is as good as I remembered, I’m up for it.

Pom Pom Girl

Here’s yet another article that took a little siesta before getting published. It’s about a really interesting restaurateur in Orlando whom I met about two years ago, the last time I was in the city. The time lag is not a big problem, though. The restaurants are still open and unchanged in theme, so just about all the info is still relevant.

Pom Moongauklang, a.k.a. Pom Pom, was born in Thailand and lived all over the United States before opening a pair of restaurants in Orlando. They serve the wackiest and most delicious fusion sandwiches and tacos I’ve ever had. Her restaurants were one of several pleasant food surprises I had in Orlando. Pom herself also turned out to be a delightful interview. If you are ever in Central Florida, check out her restaurants, Pom Pom’s Teahouse & Sandwicheria (best at lunch) and Tako Cheena (best in the wee hours when Thai peanut tacos sound like something so crazy they just might work—and they do.)

My Divas Turn

Here’s an article I wrote a long time ago that just saw the light of day. (I think I wrote it toward the end of last winter; a late-fall appearance is probably more appropriate.) This was a funny assignment from the start. When my editor gave it to me, we both were under the impression that Divas SnowGear--the subject of the article--was a skiwear company. It’s not; they make snowmobile apparel. When I explained our goof to the editor, she suggested I go ahead with the company profile anyway to see what happened.

What happened was this piece, about Divas SnowGear and its founder, Wendy Gavinski. I knew nothing about snowmobiling when I called Wendy up and asked if I could interview her by phone. She made it easy for me, though. She’s a genuinely nice person and helped me learn a lot that I didn’t know about the sport, and also helped me unlearn a lot of things that I thought I knew but which aren’t really true. This one was a pleasure to research and write because it opened a whole new world to me. (I still haven’t ever been snowmobiling, though.)

P.S. “…a metaphor waiting to happen…” I kinda like that line. And the subtitle made me laugh out loud, and sent me digging through last year’s files to check to see if I submitted the copy with that sub-head or if my editor added it. It’s mine!