Dear
Friends,
I finished my book! A year and a half
after reaching the end of the world, I've finished the book,
Driving to the End of the World. Yes, I have been busy
(and sorry for not keeping in touch with you -- that is, my
Adventure Alert list.) I also just completed another project,
an eBook called The Portable Professional. More on
that next time.
I wrote the first part of the book in cafés in Buenos
Aires. I had a free place to stay, thanks to my buddy Joel.
Food was delicious and cheap. I found someone to transcribe
my first draft from yellow pad to Word document (thanks, Ducky)!
It went in fits and starts, but I got a pretty big chunk done
-- but much, much slower than I had anticipated.
I returned home to Tucson and continued without much progress
-- until I put an ad in the paper for an editor. I was blown
away by the response I got! Tons of talent applied, including
two attorneys and a PhD physicist! One of the attorneys responded
with a creative letter that was part romantic personal ad. It
was actually quite captivating and it worked -- it landed her
a lunch date with me! It didn't go any farther than that, but
it was fun.
I ended up hiring the other attorney, Eric, plus another applicant
with a degree in literature, Kelli, and I've been working successfully
with both of them ever since. The thing that was the bane of
my existence as an author was the second draft. Preparing for
and executing the first draft is a joy for me, but going back
the second time to make corrections and clarify... Uhhhgg!!
Couldn't bring myself to do it. Just couldn't face ten pages
of recreating what I had already created.
Then along came Kelli and Eric who LOVE to do what I HATE.
"There is a God!" I thought, when it dawned on me
how beneficial our working relationships had become. It was
a challenge to shift my style from brief online entries with
photos to chapters with no photos to rely on! I continued my
yellow-pad method, but wanted to go faster. Then I struck on
the process of dictation.
I would work for a couple days on a particular chunk of the
trip. I would review my Filmtrips entries and personal journal
and all my photos from that time period. All this would percolate
inside my head for a day or so, then I would just re-live and
recount the adventures to Kelli and a tape recorder as if I
were telling stories to a friend.
It worked. It really worked. I brought her to tears and we
laughed our asses off. And I got it all on tape. If something
wasn't clear or needed more emphasis, Kelli would say so and
I could make the correction then and there. Kelli's Mom transcribed
the tapes. Kelli did her thing with the rough transcript, then
she passed it on to Eric for another round of editing. Teamwork.
A wonderful thing.
Some magic happened in the last days of dictation. Details
and emotional depth came together like a package with a magical
bow tied around it. WOW! Fulfillment as an artist. A feeling
of exhilaration and emptiness (in a good way -- I'd said it
all). If my readers only enjoy it half as much! 
I couldn't have done it without my team. Thanks Kelli and Eric!
My book will be released August 13th, my birthday, but you
can order
your copy now. I've come up with a pre-publication offer
for the first 100 buyers that is hard to believe!
I'll keep you posted!
Mark
AdventureView:
Rita
Golden Gelman
Female Nomad crosses the globe solo!
by
Kelli Hann
Rita Gelman led a glamorous life. A successful career as a
children's book author with over 70 titles to her credit, connections
in the entertainment industry, invitations to the best parties
in L. A... Then a vacation to the Galapagos Islands awakened
her long-dormant desire to explore the world. She tried to fulfill
her passion by getting a PhD in anthropology, but years later
found herself, "panting to go off somewhere." Finally
she took the leap and did it, on her own. With no permanent
address and no possessions other than what she could carry,
Rita traveled to some of the most remote parts of the world—
not as a tourist, but as an explorer deeply interested in connecting
with people. In her book, Tales of a Female Nomad,
Rita takes us along on this fascinating journey, and shows through
her example how amazing it is to do what you love.
Kelli Hann for LiveYourAdventure: You went
on a vacation to the Galapagos Islands and said your L. A. life
“turned gray.” What about that trip clicked for
you?
Rita Gelman: It just said, “Hey, there’s
a world out there.” And I wasn’t a part of it. The
world spoke a different language, lived a different life. It
wasn’t just the animals, it was the people and the exposure
to otherness in the world that I didn’t have in L. A.
I got back and I was with people like me who spoke the same
language, had the same color skin, who talked about the same
things, and suddenly none of it was interesting anymore. I felt
I was missing most of what life and experience could be all
about.
LYA: You had a rough time when you took your
first solo trip to Mexico.
RG: I was terrified! I’d never done anything
like that before. I was 46 years old at the time, and I’d
never even had dinner in a restaurant alone. I always had friends
and family and a husband to do everything with, and suddenly
I was on my own. I was able to do daytime things, but when it
came to going out to dinner, I had to really learn. I’m
still not crazy about eating alone in a restaurant. I’d
rather pick up people to go to dinner.
LYA: When you stayed in a native village for
the first time, the people weren’t friendly at all. What
stopped you from leaving?
RG: I said to myself, “I’m going
to do it. This is what I’m here for. I spent four years
studying anthropology, and if I can’t come into a village
and make it work, what a waste of my time.” I was determined
to stay there no matter what happened.
LYA: A lot of times you connected with the
women in the culture through cooking, why cooking?
RG: People who offer you food are offering
you love, a gift. And they’re proud of how they cook.
I would ask, “Can I watch? Can I cut the onions? Can I
learn how you make it? It’s delicious.” They’re
honored. And I’m reinforcing them as people and setting
up a bonding process. I speak Spanish, but I’m not fluent,
so it’s always easier not having to make serious conversation.
I taste something and say how wonderful it is, or smell something
and say, “Eww, that’s awful!” and wrinkle
my nose. And they laugh. When I do things wrong it’s also
a wonderful bonding thing. It sets up a teacher-student situation.
They’re teaching me how to balance a basket on my head
and it falls, and everybody laughs at me. And I laugh at myself.
And suddenly I’m no longer the rich, brilliant, powerful
American, I’m this person who can’t even balance
a basket on her head.
LYA: I understand you’re working on
a cookbook.
RG: I write a lot about food in the book, and
people kept writing to me and asking me if I was going to do
a cookbook. All I could think was, “Oh God. I don’t
want to do a cookbook, I have to do all that measuring.”
Then I was talking to Lars, my chef friend in France. He said,
“You don’t have to have measuring in a cookbook,
and why don’t you do it with stories, too.” I didn’t
have enough stories to fill a cookbook, so I decided to invite
everyone to send me their stories. I’m asking for stories
about connections between people. I think I have almost enough
now.
LYA: How challenging was it to write a travelogue
after having written so many children’s books?
RG: Thirty-two pages is one thing, 300 some-odd
pages is very different. Also, my ex-husband is a very very
private person, and I couldn’t start the book without
talking about the marriage and divorce. We didn’t have
a horrible divorce, we were still talking. I just didn’t
discuss it with him. Then one day I was having a lunch with
a friend who had been a friend in the marriage, and she said,
“Rita, why aren’t you writing a book?” And
I said, “You know Steve, he’s such a private person,
how could I do that to him?” And she said, “Rita,
you’ve been divorced for 15 years— is he still controlling
you?” The next day I started the book. But I was very
careful not to get into stuff. That wasn’t the point of
the book.
LYA: Did you ever worry about physical danger
on the road, about being attacked?
RG: I was 47 going on 48 when I started traveling.
I think if I had been 24 it might have been more of a problem.
But at 48, they’re not chasing after me down the street
[laughs]. I think it’s a positive thing! And I’ve
warned people asking me that question who are young and nubile
that they’re going to have more trouble than I did.
LYA:
So what advice would you give women who want to travel alone?
RG: Be careful in the cities. If you can, go
to small villages where people protect you. If you’re
in a village and you stay a long time, people get to know you.
They know who the problems are in their village and they tend
to warn you away or warn people off you. I’m not crazy.
I don’t leave things lying around. But I do go almost
anywhere anyone invites me.
If you’re single and nervous about going off, a great
thing is Servas. Many countries have it. It’s a wonderful
organization. Everyone is screened. The homes, everything. It’s
a good way to enter a culture. Even if you don’t want
to stay with them, you can just call them and say, “I’m
with Servas, would you like to have lunch?” It’s
like having friends all over the world.
LYA: There was a village in Mexico where the
men were getting drunk and rowdy and the women ended up protecting
you.
RG: That was beautiful. These were women who
wouldn’t talk to me, were frightened of me when I first
arrived. And all of a sudden they were ringing me and dancing
around me. It was absolutely amazing. That was a very touching
moment.
LYA: What would you say was the most meaningful
aspect of your travels?
RG: Probably my relationship with Tu Aji in
Bali. He was very beautiful man— not a lover. He had two
wives and that was enough. And I wasn’t attracted to him
in any physical way. We experienced each other in a special
way. It was a spiritual love affair.
LYA: What would you say was the most difficult
part of your travels?
RG: The most painful moment was in Guatemala.
I had spent several months working with this woman on opening
a home for street kids in Guatemala City. I wrote a proposal
to help her get money, we renovated a house. Finally the house
was ready for the opening. But the woman had her assistant tell
me she didn’t want me on the project anymore. Too many
gringos and not enough locals. And I never saw her
again. I was expendable. I cried for a week. I locked myself
in my room and didn’t come out. What I actually did that
night was meet a bunch of people who were smoking pot, and I
got stoned out of my mind. I wrote this in the book, but my
editor wouldn’t let me put it in! She allowed the mushrooms
in Mexico, but she didn’t let the marijuana through in
Guatemala!
LYA: What about medical care when you’re
traveling?
RG: Only one serious thing has ever happened
to me. But I used to tell my friends in Bali, “If I’m
ever so sick I can’t make decisions for myself, put me
on a plane and send me to Singapore.” The medical care
in Bali is not good. Depending upon where I am, I might fly
back to the nearest developed country for help. But you know,
it’s such a rich, exciting, and fulfilling life, that
if I died of some terrible thing, it would’ve been worth
it. The risks I take are in order to do something wonderful.
LYA: So what advice would you give someone
who’s hesitating out of fear?
RG: Thinking is probably the most dangerous
thing to doing anything adventurous or fulfilling a dream. There
are always reasons you shouldn’t do it. Why it’s
dangerous, why a single woman shouldn’t travel, or if
you leave your job you won’t be able to go back at the
same level… I can make up huge lists. From my point of
view, giving it too much thought will stop you from doing it.
Don’t think, just jump. I always feel anxiety when I start
something new. But I know that if I just gulp and do it, it’s
going to be great at the other end. It’s not always easy.
I’m 68 and I just came back from Thailand and Laos where
in a couple very remote villages we had to sleep on a floor
and there were steep stairs to get to the outhouse with a squat
toilet. I was scared. I don’t move as well as I did before,
I don’t squat as well as I used to [laughs] and I’m
not sure I’m going to go to any more places with squat
toilets! I’m sort of changing my thinking.
LYA: Do you think you’ll travel less,
or to less remote places?
RG: The latter. I’d like to take a 4-wheel
drive and spend a year driving around Canada. But I hate to
drive. So I’m waiting for a driver to come along.
My next hope is that I’ll be in Africa in 2006. Every
major city in the world has an international school that teaches
in English, and a lot of them are happy to have visiting authors.
I got an invitation from the American Embassy to spend two weeks
at the school in New Delhi. It was a wonderful experience. So
I was thinking I’d like to do this in other schools.
Then two years ago I was at clown school in Minnesota. I’ve
been telling people they have to get rid of their inhibitions
if they want to live their dreams. I made a list of about 20
things they should do. It started simply, like wake up in the
morning and brush your teeth with the other hand, spend a day
without a bra. The last thing on the list was to go to clown
school. If you’re having problems with your inhibitions,
put on a face! So I went to Mooseburger Clown School, and I
loved it. I expected to find a lot of people my age, middle-aged
women with nothing else to do. But there were people of all
ages— doctors, a firewoman, it was fabulous. So I was
in the store where you can buy costumes and paints. I met a
woman who was the principal of a school in Zambia. Turns out
there are five African countries that share a guest author.
I got the name of the person I apply to, and I applied! I’m
excited about it. I don’t know if I’ll get accepted,
but if I don’t, I think I’ll go anyway.
LYA: Do you find your children’s books
cross the language barrier?
RG: A couple do. I have a book with a monkey
called, Why Can’t I Fly? Everyone can identify
with that. It’s not a little white face with blond hair,
it's a monkey. She gets advice from other flying animals, like
one bird says you have to have feathers, so they glue the monkey
all up and roll her in feathers. Each time she gets advice,
she tries it and leaps off the top of a tree saying, "I
can fly, I can fly… I can flop." And I can get kids
of any language to say it. And they laugh and laugh. So that
is a book I never travel without. 
LYA: Sounds like a book adults can relate
to, too, if they’re trying something new.
RG: [Laughs] I tell people it’s autobiographical!
At the end of the book, the monkey’s advisors tell her
she has to try one more time. So up she goes, and all the advisors
are holding a sheet and they carry the monkey off into the sky.
It’s my favorite book of all the ones I’ve written.
I wrote it before I started traveling. It was prophetic!
LYA: Any final words to our readers?
RG: It’s never easy. You have to listen
to the voices inside yourself, not the ones from outside. You
have to leap, and it’s almost impossible not to succeed.
LYA: I enjoyed talking to you, thanks!
RG: You’re welcome!
Want more? Visit Rita Gelman's fun web site at www.ritagoldengelman.com
To learn more about Servas visit www.servas.org
