About Me

G’day.

My name is Cynthia Clampitt, and I’m a freelance writer. However, I didn’t start out that way. After college, like most of the people I knew, I headed for corporate employment. I did well. I learn fast and I’m very good at solving problems, and those are important gifts in the world of giant international corporations. But even as I climbed the corporate ladder, there was a persistent dream that kept me from really feeling at home. I wanted to be a writer. I had always wanted to be a writer. But how would I ever find the time to make the dream come true?

Eventually, the answer came to me: just quit. Walk away from the corporate world and write. Of course, that’s easier said than done, but at least I had a goal—to save enough money to get out.

At about the same time I began saving money, I found that my lifelong interest in Australia was becoming an obsession. In my mind, the two dreams—writing and Australia—became bound together. Once I quit, I needed to get far away from the temptation of taking another job, and Australia seemed the best, and farthest, place to accomplish that. So when I finally reached escape velocity and got away from the gravitational field of income and security, Australia is where I went. It is the six wonderfully adventurous months I spent in Australia that are recounted in my book, Waltzing Australia.

As you can imagine, it took a while to rebuild my career, once I came home. There were a few years of beans, rice, and potatoes, but in time, the sacrifice paid off, and the work began to get regular. Today, I am a writer and photographer, a culinary historian and world traveler. The years I struggled are almost forgotten, but I shall never forget the beginning of the road I now travel. The dream had a price, but it was a price I was willing to pay.

I hope you’ll buy my book, Waltzing Australia, but even if you don’t, I hope you’ll enjoy the excerpts, photographs, and ongoing travel tales that will appear in these pages. The love of adventure that got kick-started during my first trip to Australia has stayed with me, and I’ve wandered far and wide—from Mongolia to Morocco, Iceland to India, Turkey to Tibet. And, of course, I keep returning to Australia. I hope you’ll join me for some of my adventures.

For culinary history, some exotic recipes, and travels to places other than Australia, check out The World’s Fare. And for travels and discoveries focused on the American Heartland, check out my Midwest Maize blog. (The Midwest Maize blog also supports my other books– Midwest Maize: How Corn Shaped the U.S. Heartland and Pigs, Pork, and Heartland Hogs: From Wild Boar to Baconfest –if food history interests you–and for more travel but still in the Midwest, Destination Heartland: A Guide to Discovering the Midwest’s Remarkable Past.)

Finally, if you’re looking for a good freelance writer, editor, or speaker, here’s a link to my web site, which offers the more practical, business-related information, as well as the topics of the presentations I offer: World Plate.