Expat Women Thanks Our Biggest Referrers

Hi Everyone, We would like to give a big, public shout-out and thanks to the following fabulous websites and blogs, who have referred the most people to Expat Women so far this year. 

We depend on your word-of-mouth/online support, so please tell all of your expat friends, family and expat clubs about our huge, free resource site. 

Please put our link and/or logo on your/your club's website and/or submit your blog to our Expat Women Blog Directory and who knows... maybe next time, your site will be on our thank you list. 

Thanks Everyone for your ongoing support!  Andrea :-)

An Expatriate in Rapallo
Stories about life in Rapallo, Italy.

Bleeding Espresso
Life as an expat in southern Italy.

BootsnAll
Independent international travel guide.

Chapala
Real estate and property information for Lake Chapala, Mexico.

Crystal Goes to Europe
Musings of an expat living in France.

Desert Girl on Kuwait
Stories about expat life from an American raised in Kuwait.

Diary of a White Indian Housewife
Stories and information about life as an expat in India.

Expatica
News and information for the international community.

Expats in Chile Network
Online network providing resources and information for expatriates in Chile.

Fabulously French
Blog about life in France for the online shop fabulouslyfrench.com

Get in the Hot Spot
Empowering tips for life and work.

La Mom
Tales of an American mom in Paris.

Life Style Refugee – The Ajijic Blog
Stories and information about life as an expat in Mexico.

Living in Singapore
Tips and information about living in and moving to Singapore.

Seattle City Brights – Melody Biringer
Blogger for Seattle Post-Intelligencer on a wide variety of topics.

Susie’s Big Adventure
Stories and information about expatriate life in Saudi Arabia.

Transitions Abroad
Comprehensive resource for work, study, travel and life abroad.

Vagabondish
Travelzine with tips, advice and how-to’s for travelers.

Women Welcome Women
International friendship and travel network for women.

Expat Writers: Paris Writing Contest

Hi Everyone, If you are an expat (or former expat) in Paris, and you fancy yourself a clever writer, read on...

"Paris Writers News is launching its first contest for the Best and Most Delightful Stories about Paris.  Twelve stories will be selected for publication in a collection of short stories about Paris.

Love, hate, expectation, desire, dreams, discovery and disappointment in the world’s most beautiful city. All themes, periods and approaches will be considered. What we’re looking for: a great story, well-told. Humor, wit and luminous prose, please apply!  All authors welcome, published and unpublished.

Entry fee: Ten Euro
Deadline for submission: November 30, 2010

After a pre-selection by the Editorial Committee, twelve distinguished judges from the literary community will each select one story for publication.  The Best and Most Delightful Stories about Paris will be published in paperback, e-book and POD in the fall of 2011."

Click here for more details and good luck to our expat writers in Paris! Andrea

Expat Show & Cuisine Festival, Shanghai, September 2010

Hi Everyone, If you are an expat in (or moving to) Shanghai, China, don't miss the upcoming Expat Show and Cuisine Festival, Friday 17th to Sunday 19th September, at the Shanghai Exhibition Center.

Expat Show, Shanghai

"The Expat Show Shanghai is the biggest gathering of the foreign community with over 12,000 visitors set to attend. The show was created to serve as a platform for over 200 exhibitors to promote their services and products to make the lives of expatriates living in Shanghai easier.  Not only that but the show is host to many activities such as ‘Live Performances’, ‘Mom and Babies Fair’ and a ‘Private Kindergarten’ to allow for an enjoyable day for all.

Already in its 4th edition, the ‘The Expat Show Shanghai’ is further expanding with the inclusion of the ‘Cuisine Festival’ which will bring over 60 exhibitors from the culinary world.  It will bring prestigious restaurants, chocolate and wine tasting as well as the chance to cook with some of the best chefs in France. This year’s edition is not to be missed, so make sure you attend!"

The Cuisine Festival

"The Cuisine Festival Shanghai is the biggest food and wine festival in China, where visitors will taste drinks and dishes from the best and finest restaurants in town. Visitors will see international chefs cooking (French, Chinese, Japanese, Italian and more) and enjoy cooking demonstrations, cooking lessons and tasting experiences."

I will be at the Expat Show for Expat Women, so come and say 'hi' and encourage your friends to come along too. :-)

Thanks for your support! Andrea

Meet Danish Authors Lina Lauridsen and Line Morkbak: Be Inspired By Their Collaboration

Hi Everyone, Some time ago, Lena Lauridsen and Line Morkbak wrote to us and told us their 'good news story' of across-the-globe collaboration to write Verden Kalder (The World is Calling), an inspirational guide for Danish families living abroad.  Their book shares the experiences of more than 100 Danish expat families from 69 countries, and covers a wide variety of expat issues, including: culture shock; life as a trailing spouse; pregnancy and childbirth abroad; raising children; and repatriation.

Unfortunately their book is not yet available in English, so we are not profiling their book on our main Expat Women site.  However, we thought that Lena and Line's online collaboration was a real inspiration to other expat women wanting to write/collaborate with co-authors abroad, so we wanted to profile these two great ladies here on our blog instead...

Expat Women: Lena and Line, congratulations for your great achievement of collaborating long-distance to write your book. Whose idea was this book and how was the idea conceived?

Line: The idea was conceived while Lena was living in Mexico.  Lena and her husband had just moved abroad, and Lena went from having her own career to being a 'trailing spouse'.  After navigating the transition, she became pregnant and gave birth to her first child.  During this whole experience she wished she had some sort of resource or guidebook to help her through the process – a book that would reassure her (and other trailing spouses and new mothers abroad) that all of her thoughts and feelings were “normal.”

Expat Women: How did you meet and/or know of each other?

Lena: We were both members of an online Yahoo-group: Danish Mothers Abroad. We “met” during an online discussion and started e-mailing each other.  Line was about to start up her consultancy firm “CultureCrossing,” so we had many mutual interests and shared ideas.  I asked Line to co-author the book, with the idea that two writers’ perspectives could create an even better book.  At this point we had not yet met face-to-face – we communicated primarily through e-mails and Skype conversations.

Expat Women: What were some of your challenges and how did you overcome them?

Line & Lena: Our first challenge was the time difference (Lena was living in the United States and Line in Slovakia) and the fact that it was difficult to meet in person. (We only met twice during the writing process.)  We had to establish some ground rules for communication very early on.  Misunderstandings are common in a virtual environment and the collaboration could have very easily turned disastrous.  We always asked for clarification when in doubt; we explained everything to each other in detail.  We had all our plans, deadlines and so on, in writing, making it easy for us both to keep track simultaneously.

Once we had the structure for the book in place, we divided the chapters between us.  When one of us completed a first draft, the other took over the editing.  We sent the drafts back and forth so many times that it is difficult for us to know now exactly who wrote what!

Expat Women: What efforts have you made to gain business support for your book and what has been the reaction?

Line & Lena: Going to publishers was a learning experience. We got three “no’s” before we settled on an agreement (it is difficult to publish a Danish book, as the market for Danish books is quite small).  During a meeting with Boersens Forlag (which is the publisher in Denmark on business issues) the editor first turned down the project, but then came up with the idea of getting Danish international companies to support the book financially, making it a smaller risk for the publisher.

After some negotiation, a deal was made that if we could find approximately US$35,000 in sponsor money from Danish companies, they would publish the book.  We managed to find four companies who said 'yes' and we achieved the required sponsorship in only three months. We even got an offer from one of the most influential CEOs in Denmark to write our book's Introduction!

Expat Women: Where do you each live now?

Lena: Line still lives in Oregon on the West Coast with her husband and two children.  I repatriated back to Denmark however in September 2008.

Expat Women: Thank you very much, Lena and Line! We look forward to seeing the English version of Verden Kalder in the future, and wish you and your book the very best success!

Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center: Info Sessions In India & Australia

Hi Everyone, As part of the AODVC's Global Campaign To Empower Americans Abused Abroad, they  would like to warmly invite expats in India and Australia to their upcoming information sessions, taking place as part of their global outreach campaign.

The information sessions will cover the issues facing Americans (but all nationalities welcome, of course)  surviving domestic violence abroad, and who they can turn to for assistance. You will hear from an AODVC advocate and a US Consular Officer.

This event is being presented by the Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center (AODVC), in collaboration with American Embassies & Consulates, the Ending Violence Against Women & Children Task Force of FAWCO (Federation of American Women Clubs Overseas) and numerous expatriate women’s groups.

Sydney, Australia, August 28
Melbourne, Australia, September 4
Mumbai, India, September 15
Delhi, India, September 18

To register, please click here. Thanks.

5 Steps To Better Enjoy A Work-Free Vacation

Hi Everyone, If you are juggling work commitments and the fun of the (school) holidays, I invite you to read my latest guest blog post on Adrienne Graham's online Empower Me! Magazine (formerly Fearless Woman Magazine).  It is entitled 5 Steps To Better Enjoy A Work-Free Vacation and it starts like this:

"For the modern, ambitious, hyper-scheduled woman, vacations can be both a blessing and a curse. They make us take time out from our desk to refresh our body and soul: and for that we are grateful. But, they can also deliver us a very unwelcome workload on our return: peppering our vacation time with intermittent work-related thoughts of guilt and regret.

Here are five steps to help you better enjoy your vacation and avoid some of your post-holiday blues..."

Thanks and enjoy your week!  Andrea

Missed Some Great Expat Links On Twitter?

Hi Everyone, Here are some expat-related articles/links that I have tweeted about recently, that might interest you:

Love & Expat Marriage: Finding Identity As A Trailing Spouse http://bit.ly/cIW36g

Updated video link for Robin Pascoe's upcoming online lecture series "Successful Living Abroad" http://bit.ly/awA9p5

"I sucked as an expat" Honest, lovely essay about loneliness of expat life http://tinyurl.com/269us7m

Expat? Immigrant? Assimilant? This American-born Turkish citizen misses a way to describe herself http://bit.ly/9lk66h

How the US State Department helps their expatriate families manage the stress of international relocation http://bit.ly/ayqm9p

Under 32, Clever & Love To Work Abroad? Apply for careers by Sept 19, 2010 http://bit.ly/9gswul

Remember expat entrepreneur Anupa Horvil? http://bit.ly/9n2vfw Here's her new UK Telegraph i/v http://bit.ly/9QgjJt

Relocation Industry: Worldwide ERC® Introduces First Senior Global Mobility Specialist Designation http://bit.ly/c1Iue2

To follow me in 'real time' and keep up with even more great expat links on Twitter, please click here.

Thanks for your support! Andrea

Expat Women July 2010 Newsletter Highlights

Hi Everyone, Here are the highlights from our Expat Women July 2010 members' newsletter, sent out last week: (If you are a member and did not receive your newsletter, please email us here, thanks)

* Success Story: Alexandra Hendrickson, Executive Search VP, DHR International, Shanghai, China

* Business Idea: Surf Haven Bali, Janine Hall

* Relocation Decisions: To Relocate Or Not To Relocate? Louise Wiles

* Writers: Write Your Life Stories, Jo Parfitt

* Expat Confession: How Do I Start A Business?

* USA Girl Scouts Overseas: Sandy Thomas

* The name of our Explorer Publishing mini-guide pack winner;

* Our winning story by Expat Women member Lauren (an American in China), entitled Poverty Is A Bag With A Hole At The Bottom; and

* An article by new contributor, Jane Allison Austin, entitled What To Do If Your Ageing Parents Are Hospitalized While You Are Abroad.

Read our July Newsletter Here

If you are not a member of our main site, ExpatWomen.com, please join today to support us (and receive a link to download our free Expat Women e-book "Winning Stories"). This will also mean that next month your newsletter will be delivered directly to your inbox.

Thanks Everyone! Andrea

Expat Writers: Missed Some Great Links?

Hi Everyone, I hope your week has been going really well!  For the keen writers amongst you, here are some recent tweets that might interest you, as you write your expat stories and/or you write for business or pleasure:

11 Great Tips To Become A Better Writer http://bit.ly/cErW73

The Rise of the Author Entrepreneur http://bit.ly/aoH7WP

Top 10 List of the Worst Possible Self Publishing Mistakes http://bit.ly/d1Q3HY

Writers: Have an amazing real-life story? (US residents) GLAMOUR magazine's $5k contest http://bit.ly/axD0N3

Great, Quick, Agent Tips for Authors, Writers and Publishing wannabes: http://bit.ly/cn6cer

Forbes.com: How Self-Publishing Can Lead To A Real Book Deal http://bit.ly/bkWrjN

58 Freelance Writing Jobs for Wed 14 July http://bit.ly/9BipIC

Resources For Writing Memoir http://bit.ly/aDsNQO and http://bit.ly/bAQTKr

Self-Publishing? How Much Discount Should You Set Online and For Bookstores? http://bit.ly/crLou3

Great, honest Self-Publishing Lessons by a mother who wrote about Autism http://bit.ly/9ZxObJ

iPad's ePub: The "Book" of the Future? http://b2l.me/sbc9t

POD Index and Self-Publishing Analysis: Which company should you use? http://bit.ly/agIB7q

Amusing overview of the print industry for writers and publishers! http://bit.ly/95DRWX

Are You Ready To Write Your Book? Checklist from Expat Author and Writers' Mentor, Jo Parfitt http://bit.ly/dk4tD6

Creative Commons: What Every Self-Publisher and Expat Blogger Ought to Know http://bit.ly/cvQVfq

Expat writers: Pitfalls of Self-Publishing Packages http://to.pbs.org/9euXUX

Getting Your Book Into Stores http://to.pbs.org/bUqgkO

15 Tips for Great Book Cover Design http://bit.ly/bQnT0V

Are you a writer discouraged by rejection letters? http://bit.ly/bOnJpN

Great advice for writers "Media Kits: The Ultimate Author Publicity Tool" http://bit.ly/cTKVFg

Top 8 Cover Design Tips for Self-Publishers http://bit.ly/9SAxRQ

It Wasn't Easy: Frustrated Self-Publisher Escapes DIY Trap: http://ht.ly/1VroJ

Podcast: On Frugal Book Promotion http://bit.ly/by8Ne9

500 Entries For Agent Rachelle Gardner's Writers Contest. Who Had The Best One-Sentence Book Summary? http://bit.ly/ExpatWomenba5KDS

Will Literary Agents Really Read Your Query Letter? http://bit.ly/cqKpJD

Apple grabs 22 percent of e-book market with iBooks http://is.gd/cGfLP

5 iPad Applications for Self-Publishers http://bit.ly/aQiWSa

Promoting your book? 16 Book Fairs in the U.S. this Summer http://bit.ly/9ydV7w

Fellow expat writer Rebecca Otowa in The New York Times! http://nyti.ms/bKFeBH

And do not forget our home page feature this month, Write Your Life Stories, with Jo Parfitt. :-)

Happy reading!  Andrea

Expat Writers: Top 10 List of the Worst Possible Self-Publishing Mistakes

Hi Everyone, For all of you expat writers and (current and wannabe) self-publishers among us, this link is for you. 

It's from The Book Designer blog and it's in David Lettterman style: a top 10 list, starting from 10 and rolling out worst self-publishing mistakes, right down to number 1.  Enjoy!  And good luck with your own self-publishing efforts!  Andrea

Expat Women: Do You Have A Story To Share?

Hi Everyone, Do you have an expat story to share about an experience you have had abroad?  If so, we would really love to hear from you, because every month we select a winning story to showcase in our monthly newsletter and we are always in need of great stories!

Read The Stories here. Submit your story here. Thank you!  Andrea

New Expat Mobility Magazine Edition Online

Hi Everyone, We got such a good response again last month from our inclusion of the most recent Worldwide ERC® Mobility Magazine articles that here are July's new feature stories as well. If you are in the expat, global mobility and/or relocation industries, enjoy!

Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees—or Does It? The ‘Greening’ of Relocation Management Companies
By Betsy Welch, CRP, GMS, and Janet Olkowski, SCRP, SGMS

Real Estate Agents Have a Responsibility to ‘Go Green’
By Molly Phillips, ABR, SRS, EcoBroker®, GREEN

Top 10 List: How Worldwide® ERC Members Mean to be Green
By Doug Weed, SCRP, SGMS

Brazil, the ‘B’ of the BRICs
By Jorge Morazzani and Débora Bigio

Panama
By Anne Dean, GMS, and Analisa Villalaz de Laffitte, GMS

Tangoing through the Argentine Immigration Process: Challenges and Tips for Success
By Christi Dominguez

Adding a Company to the GSA Schedule of Work
By Bill Mulholland, CRP, GMS

Putting Duty of Care on Your Organization’s Radar Screen
By Suzanne Garber

Survey Says: It’s Good to be Green
By Stephen McGarry, SCRP

Happy reading!  Andrea

Researcher Looking For Long-Term Employed Expatriates And/Or Repatriates

Hi Everyone, Tom Binetter at the University of Sydney, Australia, is looking for repatriates and/or current expatriates, with substantial international/expatriate experience, for the following study.  If you can help (or you know someone who can) please do.  Many thanks!

Tom: "My dissertation examines the relationship between acquired knowledge and its transfer between returning cross-border assignees and their organisations, a theme which I believe is under-explored in current IHRM literature.

I intend to examine this through what is known as 'reverse expatriation' in the hopes of stimulating new considerations connecting knowledge integration/transfer with repatriate retention, assignment effectiveness and expatriate success/failure.

As part of my methodology I am conducting a series of semi-structured interviews with individuals with substantial international/expatriate experience. This can be with individuals who are currently on assignment or with those who have completed them at any stage during their career.

Normally these interviews would consist of one to two 45 minute telephone interviews taken at your convenience, however I am happy to receive your correspondence via email if this is what candidates prefer.

Please also note that full anonymity will be provided in the final dissertation with a series of pseudonyms used for both individual and organisation.

Please email me directly if you can help.  Thank you!  Tom Binetter."