Stay Inspired
Dive into our constantly evolving library of what is inspiring us.
From good reads to recipes, our favorite accounts historical writers, and scientific studies.
The life of a writer is one of constant curiosity.
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Conscious Travel Writing
Workshop
Shit is changing… and so are we.
Develop your voice & deepen your scope of the world, because who we are is essential to the stories we tell. Mind expanding conversations paired with essential craft elements to help you evolve into the kind of writer the travel industry needs.
Join us for a life altering workshop that asks us who we are and what stories we should tell. The world is changing and so are we.
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Short Story Series
Workshop
Our next workshop is now open for sign ups. Short Stories, from Start to Submit is a series of 4 workshops deigned to get you writing compelling stories that will actually get you published. We break down the science of scenes and also the elements of a compelling character. Each session explores a new element of story writing and ends with a session on editing and the submission process to literary journals. Led by Erin Rose Belair and with a special guest speaker on the inside of the journal industry. Join now.
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Owning Your Story
Workshop
Our online workshop series is launching this September with a two-day workshop led by Jade Moyano and Tiffany Clarke Harrison. This workshop is designed to lead you through a creative and intuitive process to unlock you narrative. This gives us the chance to not only explore who we are but also who we can become as writers.
Click here to learn more about the workshop and reserve your spot.
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Inner Child Workshop
Our first of many upcoming workshops. A Journey Into The Self will be hosted by Jade Moyano on August 15th. An examination of our childlike innocence and instincts will lead to a deeper understanding of self, and a truer path to what we should/could be writing. You do not have to be a writer to join, merely open to the experience, as there is much to be gained for anyone. All donations will be directly donated to the Lebanon Red Cross. Email jade@wetrustandtravel.com to join.
Read
Gorilla, My Love - Toni Cade Bambara
Short Story
Toni Cade Bambara was a civil rights activist who wrote about the concerns of the African American community. She was a frequent lecturer and teacher at universities and worked to raise black American consciousness and pride.
In the 1970s she was active in both the black liberation and the women’s movements. Most of her fiction, set in the rural South, is written in black street dialect. Her conversational style is her staple.
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This poem is published on Narrative, which is a literal treasure of the internet. It will ask you to sign in/up to read it. You must, it’s simple, free, and easy. And it gives you access to countless stories, poems, and everything else wonderful. Here, Belieu beautifully captures the strangeness of moving through an airport in those few words like poets do.
Read
Heartland, Sarah Smarsh –
Nonfiction, Memoir
What does it mean to grow up poor in the richest country in the world? Smarsh tells us of growing up in Kansas, learning the hard way that classicism is alive and thriving, and offers refreshing insight on the inequalities we have unfortunately become too accustomed to.
Her language is raw, relatable, and filed with the type of imagery that transports the reader to her hometown of Wichita in the 40's. The silver lining? Wait until the end.
Watch
The Neighbors Window
Short Film
This true story was first told on the podcast, Love and Radio, by Diane Weipert, some years ago. It is nothing what you expect from the start and like any good story it both devastates and surprises. The short film is an adaptation and is a true work. It won the Academy Award for Best Short Film.
Pre-Order
Let Me Tell You What I Mean
Essay Collection, Joan Didion
It is almost unnecessary to explain why one should order this collection. Our love of Didion is vast and our joy over this collection is great. 12 essays from the early stages of her career are gathered here for the first time.
“Here are subjects Didion has long written about — the press, politics, California robber barons, women, the act of writing, and her own self-doubt. Each piece is classic Didion: incisive and, in new light, stunningly prescient.”
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This is Love, Blue
Podcast
This Is Love podcast as a whole is a work of art and one of the best places to lose yourself for a few hours on the internet. This particular piece explores the French artist, Yves Klien, obsession with the color blue that drove and dictated his life and his career. Our co-founder Erin Rose is currently in a love affair with the color and drafting a collection of fragmented essays that play with this color in no small way. Give it a listed, you’ll love it.
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In Real Life, Leticia Sala
Novel in Poetry
We're huge fans of anything genre-bending, and not only is this book a novel in poems, but it's also written in Spanish-English.
"In Real Life captures our infatuation with technology and finding new ways of relating to one another, our fascination with travel and language, and our age-old obsession with that right to love and feel loved."
Written by highly celebrated poet, Leticia Sala, this book is sure to be one we remember.
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Writers & Lovers
Novel, Fiction
Do you have to be a writer to really appreciate this book? Probably not, but will it strikes some serious chords if you are? Absolutely. Same thing if you were ever a waitress. These pages are mossy and moody and carry with them the struggle of writing in the trenches of life and the blanket of grief.
The narrative follows Casey as she navigates the territory of love, loss, and literature. It’s an easy read, but that in no way discounts the quality of the writing. You will simply slip between the pages and get lost like a long morning walk.
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An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
Novel
This book is the sort of book that makes the rest of the world wait until you are done reading it.
An interwoven narrative of three characters who suffer at the hands of fate, racism, and the steady march of time. Following the wrongful imprisonment of a young black man, Roy, and the trajectory of his marriage to his wife, Celestial, this book is as honest and poignant as the come. An artful examination of love and loyalty, and the complications inherent in both.
An American Marriage is her fourth novel and was chosen as the winner for the Women’s Prize in Fiction.
Order + Read
Eyes On You, Christian Bosse
Poetry & Love Letters
Her latests collection of Poetry and Love Letters, Eyes on You, was “written to empower you to break free of shame and embrace your true identity.”
Bosse’s language is heartfelt and warm, like coming home to a place you never knew was waiting for you. Published amid the greatest civil rights movement and moment of our generation, it is no coincidence this collection has found us when we need it most. Order now.
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Artist
@ameliaheron_
Simplicity is often anything but. Amelia Heron’s dreamy line drawings are a mood all their own and we cannot get enough of them. She is the lovely artist who created our new Trust and Travel logos. She specializes in design and craniosacral work, intimately guided to create incredible pieces.
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Gold Fame Citrus, Claire Vaye Watkins Fiction, Novel
Set in a post water-less California, this dystopian novel at times meanders and other times moves at a neck breaking pace. Much like her infectious short stories, Watkins langue weaves a world that you instantly devoured by and characters that both gate on you and steal your heart in the same moment. A treasure from start to finish, and nothing what you’d expect.
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The Magical Language of Others
Interview, E.K Koh
Both the book and the interview are a must read. Interviews with writers are fascinating pieces because you get to look behind the screen and stare at OZ. This interview in Tin House is one such moment with E.J Koh. She is a poet, memoirist, and writer in translation. Her work has the take of someone far wise beyond their lifetime. Enjoy both.
Pre-Order
How To Slowly Kill Yourself and Others In America
Essay Collection, Kiese Laymon
This is a revised edition of Laymon’s first collection of nonfiction essays. There are seven revised essays from the first edition and six entirely new ones. Laymon is an award winning author with an insight and depth to his work that makes him one of the greatest writers of our time. This collection “ looks inward, drawing heavily on the author and his family’s experiences, while simultaneously examining the world—Mississippi, the South, the United States—that has shaped their lives.”
You can pre-order your copy now. It comes out November 10th.
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Homemade
Short Film Series
Netflix released a series of short films created during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Created by 17 filmmakers during various lockdowns across the world. The directors were told to only use equipment found at home and focus on this unprecedented moment in time in whatever way made sense to them. They are vast, subtle, glorious, and heartfelt. Our personal favorite at the moment is episode 3, by Rachel Morrison.
“A filmmaker composes a loving, lyrical tone poem to her son and hopes that he’ll remember the everyday magic of being 5 during an extraordinary time.”
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Created and curated by Eniafe Isis, this Instagram account is a peak moment of goodness in social media. It aims to gather us for real open and honest conversations with ourselves and others. Isis’ words lean into our vulnerability and ask us to examine who we are when we choose the path of love, healing, and truth. She matches her words with a talent for visuals and design, making it one of our favorite accounts to follow a the moment. She also hosts the podcast Free Gems.
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Artist Cassi Namoda
Painter
“Cassi Namoda is the epitome of the modern creative woman. Born in Maputo, Mozambique, the artist grew up in Africa and after several years in New York and West Africa, the multi-talented artist has settled in Los Angeles where she's dedicated to her art. Cassi’s paintings explore life through the eyes of everyday women and men in Africa.
She incorporates the fluidity created by a mixed cultural and racial identity into her artistic practice, reflecting a sense of flux in the very composition of her paintings. Each work is made up of images drawn from archival photographs, memories and imagination, weaving together personal experience and broader historical and fictional narratives.”
-@artcityworks
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Bluets, Maggie Nelson –
Lyrical Essay
Bluets is the sort of read that force you to rethink what you know and love about writing. It dismantles or notion of plot and structure, and challenges our beliefs about what one “must” do one the page.
Nelson meditates on the color blue while interweaving stories of love, loss, and the role of memory in both. It is simply one you must to read to truly understand, but once you do you will never be the same.
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Love (“Amor”), Clarice Lispector
Short Story
An absolutely gorgeous work in translation published on The Offing (which is always chalk full of good stuff). Written by Clarice Lispector and translated by Katrina Dodson. This read will lure you in slowly, and leaving you wanting more. An absolute treasure of fiction from starting to finish.
