All the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Our Travel Writing Retreats
This frequently asked question (FAQ) page on our travel writing retreats is designed to address every question we receive from people looking to understand if one of our tour- or lesson-focused travel writing events is right for them.
Our writing retreats are a little bit out of the ordinary–we know!
We often field questions over email from folks looking to attend our events, and if there’s anything I’ve learned in the dozens of weekend- and week-long retreats we’ve run at our retreat house and the dozens and dozens more I’ve led around the globe since we started Dream of Travel Writing, it’s that when one person asks a question, there’s always other people who have the same question and haven’t voice it yet.
Why We Host Our Travel Writing Retreats in New York’s Catskill Mountains (And We Couldn’t Make Them the Same Anywhere Else!)
I spent this morning ripping apart rose-fleshed plums.
For the first few, I’d place them delicately, just so in the waiting glass jar—already studied with an intoxicating Saigon cinnamon stick. After ten minutes passed, and another ten, and then another, I realized I was going to run out of jars, so I started smooshing them in, the magenta juice bursting out to fill the crevices between plum halves.
On the stove, a syrup of local wildflower honey simmered. I added a little molasses-colored buckwheat honey for extra depth of flavor.
Announcing Our Fall and Winter Travel Writing Retreat Schedule!
Once again, I want to thank everyone who contributed their thoughts on our upcoming event schedule and designing our new Travel Writers’ Detox + Reset event.
We’ve opened up early-bird pricing for all of our retreats in next week’s newsletter, with limited $150-off spots in each event open on a first-registered, first-served basis.
Travel Writing Wake-up Call: Do You Want to Tell Stories or Get Published?
In the last three weeks, I’ve had a number of conversations with people that turned me onto a truth about travel writing than many people come across after a long period of working on their business (if at all) and often in uncomfortable ways.
There is an initial joyous moment I love to spot in the careers of many travel writers (freelance journalists generally). It happens when someone–for the first time ever–had an idea entirely on their own for an article, and an editor tells the writer she’ll pay for it.
The Travel Writers’ Detox + Reset: Announcing Our New Retreat!
You have spoken! We asked if you needed some time to re-center where you’re at with your work and travel life, and the response was clear.
We’ve been noticing a trend lately, from conference talks to our coaching calls, that freelance travel writers are being pulled in too many directions.
You can call it the by-product of not having a clear separation between work and life or decision-making overload from the sheer number of possible things to do anytime you open your computer, but we’re seeing a serious problem:
- How do you prioritize?
- Or do everything?
- Or decide what you should do in any one moment?
Words of Wisdom from the Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference 2019
While this isn’t a complete compilation of all of my favorite moments–even I can’t take notes all the time!–I wanted to share with you some words of wisdom from this year’s Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers conference that particularly spoke to me.
I’ve collected insights I hope will resonate with all writers, no matter where you’re at in your career.
But some are aimed at overturning assumptions I know many harbor about how the industry works, whether from the perspective of getting the writing done or how to work with editors. Read More
Let Us Know What Job Listings You’d Like to See in Our Newsletter to Enter
Each week, in our newsletter, we round up all the travel jobs we can track down on all corners of the internet for you.
You can see examples of what we’ve turned up in the past here, here, and here.
Our team spends a significant amount of time each week scouring the web to pull these together for everyone, and we want to make sure that we’re picking out the right jobs for you!
My Short Formula for Writing Productivity Magic
It really all started, for me, with one travel writer.
You know the story. Writer has blog. Writer has blogged for some number of years. Writer makes cards boldly and proudly proclaiming the job title “travel writer and photographer.” Writer lands one or two gigs writing for other websites.
Where Will This Summer Take You? (And Your Travel Writing Career Goals?)
Something I love about the summer travel season is the uncontrollable and unavoidable return to essential enjoyments:
- The feeling of the sun on your skin on a beautiful dry day.
- The cooling barrage of a steady breeze during a beautiful hike on a humid day.
- Finding berries and eating them fresh off the bush.
- A juicy peach or plum that reminds you what fruit is meant to taste like.
- Sitting on the grass, or the beach, or any other place outside where there is no plastic or concrete between you and the world.
- Sitting with friends or family late into a fresh evening enjoying a moment in which nothing else matters and it seems the morning will never come.
- The view of the ocean and artistry of the clouds from an airplane window reminding you how big the world really is.
Whether it’s the weather, kids off from school, or simply the many holidays that encourage us to take vacation, summer has a way of forcing us to remember what really makes us happy and the outsized value of small pleasures.
Does Your Travel Magazine Article Pitch Need Help?
In our webinars, retreats, and online pitching programs, I frequently talk about putting my “editor hat” on.
I don’t usually mean these literally–as in “it’s time to edit your work!” I actually mean that it’s time for some very tough love that you rarely get to hear: exactly what an editor would think if your pitch rolled into their inbox without warning.