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!
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.
Want to Give the Back Half of 2019 a Serious Energy Boost with Us?
I just want to take a quick second to acknowledge that this post is definitely not for everyone on who follows us.
We have people coming to us in many, many different stages of their freelance travel writing careers, from the very early pre-planning/looking for options point to people have been been in the game for dozens of years and regularly publish with top outlets or other places they have long-standing relationships with.
What I am writing to you about today is for people at the latter end of that spectrum, folks who are full-time freelance, even if all of their writing income doesn’t come from travel-related writing.
Calling All Digital Nomads (or Future Digital Nomads): What Is Missing From Your Best Writing Life? Let Us Know and Win a Very Productive Prize!
Lifestyle design, as it was frequently referred to back in the day (this was popularized by Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Workweek, but pre-dated him to my knowledge) before internet anywhere in the world was just a matter of switching your cellphone plan, focuses on your lifestyle.
In theory, at least.
You know, that whole be-in-control-of-your-schedule-and-live-wherever-you-want-doing-tons-of-travel-to-interesting-places-while-earning-a-full-time-living-and-only-working-part-time dream.
I’ve noticed, however, that when embarking down that very idyllic-sounding path, people are often stuck choosing between the lifestyle part and the work/supporting themselves part.
(Want to jump to this week’s survey? Head here.)
Read More
Coming Soon to a Square Grid Near You….
Instagram is totally dangerous.
I don’t know about you, but I love great photos.
I actually think IG is more addictive than Facebook, which is already so problematic that I avoid it entirely, because procrastination is not really my friend.
Behind the Scenes of My First Press Trip and Our Biggest Takeaways
We’ve just wrapped up the first time out with our brand new event My First “Press Trip,” and I can’t believe how much we covered in two days!
This new event grew out of our Coaching Program Summer Camp, a very chill week in which we all co-work in the morning and explore the Catskills and the Hudson Valley in the afternoon and on the weekends.
One morning, while having a brunch of housemade Tartine-style sourdough loaves, Greek-style yogurt, and a selection of our jams (apricot rosemary, spiced yellow plum, vanilla peach–to name a few), we launched into an impromptu lesson on food styling, light sources, and minimizing shadows. During a car ride home from exploring a nearby art-heavy town, we have a lively discussion on ethics with sources after one gallery owner spent an hour giving tons of information to one of our writers only to say–as she was walking out the door–that she couldn’t write about anything he said.