All Posts in Category: Professional Writer Mindset
Never Write the Story First (In Case You Didn’t Know)
When I go to conferences and talk to people who would like to publish travel articles, online or in print, one of the most frequent questions I get is:
But I should write the article before I pitch, right?
Or something like that. Some variation on the crazy, horrifying spread of misinformation out there that makes people think they should work many hours for peanuts to be published on some random travel website.
Are You Wasting Your Best Hours By Not Energy Mapping Your Day?
I literally track every minute that I spend on my laptop using a time tracker. Not because I am a particularly micromanaging person. But to make sure that what I think is happening or is possible is in line with reality.
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.
We All Had to Start Somewhere: A Podcast Interview on Gabi’s Travel Writing Origins
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by a friend from a small business conference I attended who also happens to produce several podcasts and wanted to include me in one on travel writing.
Is Your Freelance Writing Career Closing Its Eyes and Hoping for the Best?
A while ago, my husband finally got his cholesterol checked out. Every since I’ve know him, he’s said that he needs to get it checked, because Indians always have high cholesterol.
Sure enough, the numbers came high. Rather excessively so.
And the first thing the doctor did was ask him to keep a food diary for two weeks and scheduled a follow-up appointment to review and see if anything in his diet was contributing to the condition.
This is the first step doctors take to diagnose so, so many ailments–gather concrete, detailed, real data. They don’t rely on the patient’s description of their habits.
How Many Opportunities Do You Have With Your Travel Writing?
There have been times when I have attended, back-to-back-to-back, a number of writing conferences either as a speaker, a sponsor, or a normal attendee.
With that kind of pace, it can be hard to reflect, to pull out the big picture that emerges when the puzzle pieces of many sessions, conversations, and observations are assembled into a view of what is going on with the industry.
One thing that is always exceeding clear to me, even before getting out there and doing all of the mingling.
The redux version: in terms of opportunities, it’s an incredibly exciting time to be a travel writer.
But there is something deeper that I’ve noticed, a thread underpinning so many conversations I’ve seen and conference sessions I’ve attended.
It is so easy to be held back by the ceiling you are told exists on the number of types of opportunities for travel writers.
What Is Your *One* Thing Right Now?
When I speak with my coaching clients, I’m always struck by how much more impact we achieve when we focus on things that seem small or narrow or insignificant as “issues” in terms of “becoming a travel writer.”
I’ll never forget one unexpected conversation I had with someone who has what others would no doubt consider a very cool and interesting life. She lives in Europe (she’s not from there). In the mountains, where there are opportunities for her to indulge in day-long climbing adventures with partner (that’s what brought them together). And her partner typically works in a different country, where he guides tours, so she gets built-in regular travel to popular travel destinations automatically.
This might sound way more interesting than whatever the circumstances of your life are right now, but she actually had an issue gunking up her enjoyment of this situation in a big way.
The Only One Holding You Back Is You
You’re a writer, so how much pitching have you done lately?
No, I’m not about to harp on the importance of marketing. I hope I’ve done that enough.
I’m asking for a different reason. To save you from yourself. Or from suffering for success.
Why Do We Avoid the Simple, Easy Steps that ACTUALLY Move Us Toward Our Goals?
I had a reminder to myself for weeks to do the smallest, simplest thing: email one person I’ve met several times over several years to reconnect and ask for advice.
The reasons I kept thinking of it and not doing it immediately are myriad, even removing busy-ness from the equation.
A very small number of you that I’ve met in person may have heard me mention in passing a narrative travel book I have in the works, My 15 Big Fat Indian Weddings.
(I share the story of how it immediately got 22 very well-respected agents hungering after it my first time out pitching it–and how you too can have the same experience in our webinar series on How to Publish Non-Fiction Books Easily.)
