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12.31.2008

happy new year's

This blog was born out of a New Year's Resolution. Back in 2005, after my friend Ms. Shoes won a trip to Hawaii, I decided it would be fun to try and win a trip, too. One of my 2006 resolutions was to try and win a trip. When I started out, I had no idea there were so many travel sweepstakes online. I quickly realized it would be fun to write about what I eventually called "my sweepstaking." As I writer, I thought posting on a blog would be the equivalent of practicing my scales. (This is a concept the late, great Andre DuBus shared in a workshop I did with him the spring before his tragic car accident.) As a travel writer, my sweepstaking has really kept me on my toes, introducing me to many new properties around the world. My first blog was called TRAVEL CONTESTS, even though I was mainly entering sweeps, which are lotteries, as opposed to contests, which ostensibly involve merit. I started right before St. Patrick's Day 2006. That summer, I moved to TRAVEL SWEEPS, mainly because I wanted a new look. Plus, I felt the name of the blog should accurately reflect my pursuits.

This year, as I was contemplating whether or not even to bother making resolutions, I decided to start another project. My website HOTEL FETISHIST is really an offshoot of TRAVEL SWEEPS, since so many of the sweeps I enter include a stay at an identified hotel or resort. So HOTEL FETISHIST will include posts about such sweeps, along with hotel news, reviews, rants, quotes, and so on. But plenty of sweeps do not name the hotel or resort or, like yesterday's post about a vacation house, do not even involve one. So I plan to post here as I develop HOTEL FETISHIST. There will be cross-referencing. To wit, here's a post about yet another swell sweeps, Tablet Hotels' monthly five-night-stay giveaway. As I like to say, go for it.

May the new year bring peace, health and prosperity.