Westways Magazine

I must have good postal karma. Interesting magazines keep showing up in my mailbox. The other day I received my neighbor’s Westways Magazine by accident. So I had a chance to read it before I gave it back to the post office (I keep missing issues of Backstage East…it only gets delivered about half the time, what’s that about?)

Westways is the publication of the AAA of Southern California. I really enjoyed the feature article by Jennifer Moeller about her travels in Telluride. When I find an article I like, I study it for style and content. Moeller’s article is an excellent example of a personal experience piece, really well done, in my opinion. I notice she also contributed her own photographs with the article.

The June 2007 issue of Westways also has several food articles, including one by Chris Cognac, the Food Network’s “Hungry Detective.” I did not see any mention of writer’s guidelines at the site; however, there is contact information for the editor. All past issues of the magazine are archived on their website. The magazine is regional and content is heavy on the Western U.S., but looking at past issues, I did see articles on other areas of the USA, and one about India.

AAA has a number of regional publications it sends out to its members, which could be possible markets for writers. Trying to track down which AAA club publishes what seemed very confusing to me. If food or travel writing is your niche, look into AAA publications.

Check out this thread on Travelwriters.com for more info about writing for AAA magazines.

Hope your week is going great so far. Mine's been soggy, it's been pouring here all weekend. My mood: rainy, needs coffee.