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About Tom Bentley

http://www.tombentley.com

I'm a published journalist and essayist (hundreds of articles), and the author of a short story collection, Flowering and Other Stories, published last spring by AuthorMike Ink. My 1999 short story, "All That Glitters," won the National Steinbeck Center’s short story contest. I have won many other nonfiction and fiction awards and contests.

My new book, "Think Like a Writer: How to Write the Stories You See" helps to discover and develop your writing voice.

I live in Watsonville, California and love to write. Except when I hate to write.

Travels in Myanmar, with Buddha Behind the Wheel

November 1, 2015 by Tom Bentley12 Comments

If the Buddha was driving in heavy urban traffic, would he honk? Much as that sounds like some wisecracking riddle, it’s a thought that occurred to me while my taxi’s driver was navigating the maelstrom of traffic in Yangon, Myanmar. Yangon has over five million people, and at times during my days in the city, it seemed that most of them were behind the wheel. Yet, though traffic surged, darted and inched, drivers seemed patient, and honks—if you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia · Tagged: Burma, Culture, Drinking, India, Monks, Taxi, Traffic, Wildlife

Winding the Watch of Island Time

May 15, 2015 by Tom Bentley5 Comments

I was in such a hurry to get to the Micronesian island of Kosrae, such a hurry to see its isolated beauty, such a hurry to begin my first year of teaching—in such a hurry to be out of my old life and in this new. After arriving, I wanted to jump right in, get my new house settled, fill it with food, set up the computer, arrange my classes and office, drive the length and breadth of the landscape and snorkel my fool head off in the island’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: South Pacific · Tagged: Bicycle, Christmas, Culture, Drinking, Fashion, Film, Food and Wine, Hawaii, Japan, Los Angeles, Mississippi, Napa Valley, Palm Trees, Seafood, Shopping Mall, Snorkel, Traffic, Walking tour

Cirque du Soleil’s Zarkana—Wild, Wondrous and Body-Boggling

November 10, 2014 by Tom BentleyLeave a Comment

What do you do when your senses are simultaneously confused, excited, alarmed and enthralled? If you’re at a performance of Zarkana, Cirque du Soleil’s dramatic and mesmerizing visual bombardment at ARIA Las Vegas, you go with it. And going with it will be mighty gratifying. Many theater pieces engage your brain, perhaps with some later follow-through in your body. Zarkana envelops you. The lushly resonant music alone penetrates your body and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Europe, Moscow, Music, New York City, Sand, Technology

ARIA Las Vegas: A Thousand Ways to Say “Wow!”

October 22, 2014 by Tom Bentley5 Comments

When I first arrived at ARIA Las Vegas, I was a mite rough and dry, like the cotton candy you see in those cocktail glasses below. It took only an hour or so before I was flowing with a glow, feeling much as you see in the second shot, that cotton candy in a better mood. The ARIA is transformative—and a little magical—like that: I spent three days there and couldn’t stop saying “Wow!” (And I said that at night too.) I was part of a media … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Architecture, Casino, Chile, Coffee, Colorado, Dancing, Drinking, Fashion, Flowers, Food and Wine, Ice Cream, Interview, Massage, Music, Pizza, Resort, Restaurants, Shopping Mall, Spa

The Dry Tortugas Are Far Out, All Right—in So Many Ways

August 10, 2014 by Tom Bentley2 Comments

A conch, a parrot and a rooster walk into a bar. You don’t need a map to follow that joke: you know you’re in the Florida Keys. The Keys are one of the few places in the US where you might think, “What country am I in?” But wherever you are in the Keys, it’s all good—I’ve never been in an area that has more of a smiling “what the hell, why not?” attitude. It’s on a place’s edges where you see the more unusual sights, and for the southern … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Drinking, Fashion, Florida, Garden, Key West, Mexico, Museum, National Park, Walking tour, Yosemite National Park

The Florida Keys: Funky, Fantastic, and Fun (as in, “Lots of”)

July 22, 2014 by Tom Bentley5 Comments

Remember when you were a kid and the carnival would come to town, and there would be one great ride after another, gooey kid foods, a happy crowd and a sense of being somewhere special? The Florida Keys are like that—but with better rides (things to see and do) and definitely better food. I recently spent five days in the Keys, and packed in a whirlwind of sightseeing goodness (and packed in sumptuous plates full of fabulous food). Top to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Architecture, Art, Beach, Bicycle, Bridges, Canals, Casino, Civil War, Cruising, Drinking, Fishing, Florida, Food and Wine, Garden, Key Largo, Key West, Museum, National Park, Resort, Restaurants

Biscuits, Booze, and Bodies – 36 Hours in the Florida Keys

January 12, 2014 by Tom BentleyLeave a Comment

Normally, I'm not big on cocktails before 10am. But when we blearily wandered in at 8am to the Blue Heaven, one of Key West’s signature restaurants, that’s what our server suggested. Sitting in the crazy-quilt courtyard, with its rustic artwork and scurrying chickens, looking up at the former bordello on the second-floor, and knocking back some booze seemed in keeping with all things Keys. I opted for the pancakes, which I found just as … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: America, Aquarium, Art, California, Canals, Caribbean, Christmas, Coffee, Cruising, Drinking, Film, Florida, Food and Wine, Hollywood, Kansas, Key Largo, Key West, Music, New Orleans, Paradise

A Slice of Cabo Wry

October 15, 2013 by Tom BentleyLeave a Comment

I think it’s natural that when you enter another country, particularly for the first time, you immediately look for both the familiar and the strange. Driving into Cabo San Lucas from the airport, I was struck by the scattered groups and solitary sentinels of Cardón cactus, the spindly beasts that are the world’s largest cactus, and that can live over 300 years. These pricklies have been witness to the remarkable changes that have taken place at … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Airport, Beach, Coffee, Cruising, Desert, Drinking, Fireworks, Flowers, Food and Wine, Mexico, Resort, Restaurants, Scuba Diving, Seafood, Sushi, Wildlife

I Sweat, Therefore I Am (Sweaty)

August 27, 2013 by Tom Bentley4 Comments

The original author of the old saw about death and taxes never sat down at the equator. If he had, he would have instantly added “sweat” to his timeless twosome. I lived on the small Micronesian island of Kosrae for a year, and I had a constant companion: whether a silky sheen of perspiration or dripping rivulets of body water, sweat was never far from my side. Or my arms and legs either. The propinquity of the equator means that islanders … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia · Tagged: Art, Bicycle, Drinking

Santa Barbara: Make Mine Mediterranean

August 22, 2013 by Tom BentleyLeave a Comment

Oh the dizzying thoughts of a Mediterranean vacation: maybe a waterside villa in Lake Como, touring Turkey’s Turquoise Coast, or perhaps olive picking in Mykonos? Dizzying indeed—particularly the price. But there’s a stateside Mediterranean that’s no dowdy stepsister, and it’s only a few hour’s drive and many dollars less: Santa Barbara. Wrapped between the mountains and the sea, with picturesque palm trees for its ribbons, Santa Barbara … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Airport, Animal Rescue, Architecture, Art, Beach, Beer, Bicycle, California, Chile, Coffee, Cruising, Drinking, Fashion, Flowers, Food and Wine, Garden, Journey, Los Angeles, Mediterranean, Palm Trees

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