A decade of Swiss discovery. Now available.

Writer Abroad traveled around Switzerland for almost 9 years. Then she took 3 years to write this book. Needless to say, travel writing isn't for those who want quick results. But finally, it's here. Writer Abroad's Swiss travel book.

If you're interested in seeing the real Switzerland (or just interested in how a decade of discovery can be told in 326 pages with 69 photographs), order a copy for yourself.

The book is available by order at any bookstore or you can buy it from any online bookseller. Below are some of the places you can find the book:

Order your book on amazon.com

Order your Kindle version

Order your book on amazon.co.uk

Order your book on amazon.de

Order your book from bookdepository.co.uk

Order your book from Barnes & Noble

Order your Nook version

Traveling like a local. It's never been more important.

If you’re the type that reads blogs by writers abroad, then you know that travel is awesome. And you probably also know that when Writer Abroad says travel, she doesn’t mean Cruise Ship. She means real-deal-get-on-a-public-bus-where-you-don’t-speak-the-language-and-just-go-for-it travel.

This kind of travel has never been more important. As countries go nationalistic in a world that’s ever more globalized, understanding people who differ from us can mean the difference between war and peace.

That’s why Writer Abroad has written her latest travel book, which is all about traveling like a local in the country she knows best–Switzerland. And she encourages other writers abroad out there to write their own versions of this book about the countries closest to their hearts.

Available next month, 99.9 Ways to Travel Switzerland Like a Local is one part travel book, one part culture guide, and total bucket list enjoyment. It allows you to say adieu to Lucerne and allegra to the place the Swiss voted most beautiful. It encourages you to cut the Swiss army knife from your shopping list and replace it with a rubber messenger bag. And it gives you the inspiration you need to stop following umbrella-toting tour guides (or books that act like them) and start following 320,000 well-dressed Swiss cows instead.

Whether you’re a vacationer rethinking your version of touring, an expatriate who wants to get to know your adopted country on a deeper level, or even if you’re Swiss—99.9 Ways to Travel Switzerland Like a Local is for anyone who believes that the best travel stories come from a desire not just to take a snapshot of a place from a train window, but to stop, smile, and disembark for a while in order to bring the meaning of that blurry photo into sharper focus.

To promote her new book, Writer Abroad will make special appearances in Switzerland in May. She’d love to see you at one of the following:

The Zurich Writers Workshop, May 14, 2:30 p.m. (Writer Abroad will join other authors to discuss how to build a writing career.)

The American International Club of Zurich TGIF, May 19, 6:30 p.m. (Writer Abroad will discuss American life after Switzerland (scary!), the benefits of traveling like a local, and host a quiz—with a book prize—to see who already travels Swisser than the Swiss.)

Global Book Fair, May 20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Writer Abroad will read a story to children and discuss some off-the-beaten-path family activities in Switzerland.)

My editor was fired. And other American writing curiosities.

Now she knows: During her freelance writing career, Writer Abroad has been fortunate. She has never before had a piece accepted, edited, a contract signed, and then, after turning in the final edit after many hours of work, had a piece fall into a black hole only to find out via Facebook of all places that the editor of her piece was laid off.

It seems like a common problem in the United States, based on other writers’ experiences, but the entire situation—trying to email the publication’s other editors only to get no reply on the piece’s status, along with silence from the contract department—feels rude and unprofessional.

So many American publications rely heavily on their freelance writers, and yet, treat them horribly at the same time. It makes Writer Abroad wonder—why do we, as American writers, accept such treatment?

Why do American writers accept things like work for hire contracts, poor pay, no pay, or lack of respect? Because when one of us accepts that, it forces others to enter into these kinds of situations as well. And while Writer Abroad won’t write for free, always asks for a better contract, and doesn’t mind saying “no” anymore, the lack of respect situation, like the one she has just experienced, she has no answer for how to handle, other than to shrug it off and move on.

But here’s what bothers her: there is a lack of respect for many employees and contractors across the United States these days. The fact is, editor layoff situation Writer Abroad just experienced wouldn't have happened in other parts of the world. That’s why Writer Abroad thinks Americans need to fight back and realize that some of this horrible treatment is an American phenomenon. We deserve better.

In Switzerland, for example, if you are laid off, you have a three-month notice period. This means you can finish up projects and collect what you need for three months before you are simply cut off from your employment world.

When Writer Abroad’s editor at a Swiss publication was laid off, for example, Writer Abroad knew in advance and then could work together with her to finish up pieces that were in process. There was no silence. No piece half-done and left hanging. No rude lack of reply for a piece that she had put hours of work into. And while no system is perfect (since knowing you are laid off and still having to work for three months brings on its own issues), it sure beats the rudeness that comes from the immediacy of an American firing.

What do you think?

The American Writing Group

Writer Abroad joined a new writing group. It’s a very organized, well-run group that includes writers of all ages and levels—and the best part is that Writer Abroad doesn't have to organize it. Unlike the Zurich Writers Workshop, which she co-founded since there was no other organization for English-language writers in Zurich, this group has already been in existence for many years. It meets every other week at the local library where writers of all ages read and critique each other’s work. Like all things American that she’s joined lately, Writer Abroad is the newbie.

As more of an outsider than most, one thing has struck Writer Abroad about the critiques in her new group: They are really, really nice.

“I loved this piece.” That’s how most people start and end their critiques.

So these writers either love everything they read.

Or they are lying.

Or better yet, they are American.

According to an article on businessinsider.com, Americans give the most exaggerated, explicit, and positive feedback of any country in the world. And after being abroad for so long and working with so many nationalities, Writer Abroad completely agrees with this statement.

In her time abroad working with mainly German and Swiss nationalities, she became, well, able to give and accept more direct negative feedback. This is not natural for an American, but it becomes that way once you’ve been in another culture for several years.

When it comes to her new American writing group, Writer Abroad doesn’t want to be the strange European-influenced critic. She remembers all to well her first days in Switzerland working with Swiss and Germans who had no shame in giving her direct negative feedback, which, at the time, felt like a slap in the face.

Luckily, critiquing like an American is one part of returning home that’s been pretty easy to acclimate to. So if you come by her new writing group sometime, you’ll probably see Writer Abroad wearing big white gym shoes and saying things like “I loved this piece” whether she loved it or not.

Can you blame her? At heart, she’s always been American.

Writing about the old country

Writer Abroad is working on a travel book about Switzerland and it often makes her wonder—is writing this making her attempt at repatriation easier or harder? On one hand, it is therapeutic to write about the country she spent the last eight years living in. It keeps her connection to the country strong and will help maintain the author platform she built there. But on the other hand, it’s terrible to write about hiking around the longest glacier in Europe and be stuck in the flat American Midwest where no one hikes, let alone walks.

Missing the old country these
days…especially in spin class.

Writing this book is actually giving her strange side effects. She is physically aching for the great outdoors. And she didn't know it was possible to actually do that. It was especially acute this morning, when she went from writing about snowshoeing in the Alps to an indoor spin class--where riding up a hill involved a small click to the right of the bike's tension knob, instead of the winding castle-topped hill she used to ride up every week when she lived in Baden.

In any case, this travel book (one of four book projects at the moment—yes, Writer Abroad is crazy) is a kind of love letter to Switzerland since it includes over 100 things to do and places to go that Writer Abroad experienced as extraordinarily beautiful—or just very typically Swiss—during her many years wandering around with her GA, or country-wide train pass. It’s a book she hopes will inspire others who are in the country for a few days—years—or even a lifetime—to see Switzerland in new ways. She's learning to, without even being there. 

If you're a re-pat, does it help you to write about your "old" country?

Expat Author Book Gift Guide

Finally, a gift guide that includes new books written by expats (or former expats). Below is a short list of books published within the last year by writers who have previously been featured on this website. The list is organized by the country the writers used to live in (or still currently live in). 

China

Since Big in China, which was optioned for film, Alan Paul has written a new book, One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. Read his previous interview with Writer Abroad.

Kristin Bair O’Keefe has a new novel, The Art of Floating, which follows her debut novel, Thirsty. Read her previous interview with Writer Abroad.

France

Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France is Stephen Clark’s newest book. Among his many others include A Year in the Merde. Read his interview here.

Portugal

Philip Graham’s latest book is How to Read an Unwritten Language. He is also the author of The Moon, Come to Earth, which is a collection of stories about his time in Portugal. Read his interview here.

Switzerland

Diccon Bewes’ most recent book is Train to Switzerland: One Tour, Two Trips, 150 Years and a World of Change Apart. It follows the success of Swiss Watching. Read more here.