By Dirk Ebener - May 15, 2026 Your travel manuscript is now with the copyeditor. It might seem like a good time to take a break before publishers or formatters get involved, but this is actually the perfect moment to start your marketing efforts. If you wait until your book is completely finished, you might miss your best opportunity. Success often depends on the work you do while your manuscript is still being copyedited. Bringing in Advance Review Copy (ARC) readers whi

By Dirk Ebener - May 8, 2026 Quiet Coffee Shop My travel journal and laptop are open, and for the next few hours, this coffee shop becomes my creative space. I’ve found a quiet spot near Nanjing Road in Shanghai, a peaceful break from the busy shopping street just outside. Working remotely here takes real focus, with the city’s energy always close by. Enjoy reading " The Author’s Progress: The “Remote Office” Anywhere." Over the years, my “mobile office” routine has taken o

By Dirk Ebener – April 24, 2026 Cappuccino at an outdoor cafe on the Italian sidewalk in Florence, Italy. My travel journal is open, but I am not just here to collect sights. Sitting at a round table outside a Florentine café in the summer of 2024, I look back at what I wrote yesterday and think about what I still want to capture before leaving Italy. Every few days in a new city is a balance between my urge to explore and my commitment to writing. Enjoy reading " The Autho

By Dirk Ebener – March 27, 2026 The Reading Room at the British Museum in London There is something that happens to you when you spend time in a bookstore on Piccadilly in London, which was opened in 1797. The noise of the world outside falls away. Phones go into pockets. Time moves differently. People who have never met each other stand shoulder to shoulder in front of the same shelf, each one looking for something they cannot quite name but will recognize the moment they

By Dirk Ebener - February 27, 2026 Writer’s block often hides fear beneath silent perfectionism. Some days, ideas come easily, like laughter in a London pub—warm, effortless, and full of life. Other days, the page stays quiet and stubborn, blocking the flow from thought to words. Last week, I experienced the wall. I sat at my desk with coffee, my journal open and the computer screen glowing, but nothing meaningful came. I went back to old chapters, changed sentences that

By Dirk Ebener - February 20, 2026 By the time I reached Day 40 of writing Travel That Makes Sense After Fifty , the project had taken on a clear and steady shape. The initial excitement had matured into routine: outlining chapters, revisiting years of travel notes, and organizing my photography into themes that could support a cohesive narrative. What began as an idea was now moving along a defined timeline. Enjoy reading " How the Book Began to Take Shape." At the same ti

“A look inside the first moment of a book decades in the making.” By Dirk Ebener - February 7, 2026 For more than 45 years, I’ve crossed borders, tasted cities one meal at a time, and made friends with strangers until unfamiliar places felt like home. But traveling after 50 feels different. It’s not about slowing down; it’s about traveling with intention. You start to notice more, letting curiosity guide you instead of a list of sights. With this change, the world comes into

By Dirk Ebener - February 1, 2026 The Quiet Power of Travel Journaling Every traveler trusts these moments will linger forever, but memory drifts away like sand slipping through your fingers. Unless you catch them on the page, they disappear before you realize it. That’s why I began to record it all—not with polished words, but with raw honesty. We picture every flavor, every conversation, every lively street corner staying vivid in our minds. But without a record, even the

By Dirk Ebener - January 31, 2026 Writing Travel That Makes Sense After Fifty has become one of the most surprising and rewarding adventures of my life. It began as a small idea that came to me during quiet moments on long flights, early mornings with coffee, and years of slow, thoughtful travel. Over time, that idea grew into a book with real purpose. The process has never been rushed. Like a good trip, it unfolded at its own pace, with each insight and chapter building on

By Dirk Ebener - January 22, 2026 The idea for Travel That Makes Sense After Fifty emerged during my flight home from London in December 2025, inspired by visits to the city’s renowned bookstores, particularly the Notting Hill Bookstore. Exploring these shelves and observing how travel and nonfiction stories are brought to life clarified my own vision. Before the plane departed, I had already begun outlining the book. Today, January 22, 2026 , marks Day 40 of writing.