All Posts in Category: Travel Writers
How to Rain the Right Things on Your Business, Elizabeth Gilbert and Hamilton-Style
Yesterday morning, I watched Elizabeth Gilbert take the stage and address two very different–but incredibly impactful–topics: the loss of the love of her life, and the conversation that set her on track to be the creator she is today.
While some of us come to the writing profession later in life, she knew if her commitment young, and created a sort of priestly vow-like ceremony for herself as a child to pledge her formal commitment to the craft.
But in her twenties, when she was in New York working three jobs and living in a crappy apartment wondering when her dream writing life would start, a fabulous artist she followed around like a baby bird that imprinted on a human as its mother gave her a talking-to that changed everything for her.
Is Your Travel Blog Actually Serving Its Purpose?
Welcome to a new feature here at Dream of Travel Writing–the Monday Mailbag! We often get questions from readers, folks in our accountability group, or coaching program members that we think would apply to a lot of you.
Now, with permission, agony-aunt-style, we’ll be sharing a new one with you each Monday. If you have a question you’d like to see included, please send it to us at questions [at] dreamoftravelwriting.com and make sure to include a line saying we have permission to reprint your question.
On to the tricky travel writing questions!
Is Your Social Circle Helping You Achieve Your Travel Writing Goals?
On the flight home from the North American installment of the TBEX travel blogging conference today, I reflected back on the big-picture, future-of-the-industry conversations I’d been having over the part few days with travel writing heavy hitters from Don George to Gary Arndt to Chris Christensen.
The redux version: in terms of opportunities, it’s an incredibly exciting time to be a travel writer.
But there was something deeper that I noticed, a thread underpinning so many conversations I’ve had over the last few weeks both in my own Freelance Travel Writing Master Classes (which have been an amazing knowledge sharing opportunity for travel writing–both full-time and those on their way there–to see how other people approach this job) and in the conferences I’ve attended.
What Travel Writers Need for the Holidays
My dad and best friend have both gotten me books as my Christmas present for years. From my best friend, it’s always her latest fiction love. From my dad, you never know.
Established Travel Writers Share Their 11 Favorite Pieces of Travel Writing Advice
We’ve started hosting focus groups around the globe to tap into the pitching, writing, and organizational processes of established writers so we can share them with you in a series of white papers.
To get the ball rolling, I wanted to share words of wisdom on travel writing success from the writers who joined us in New York City for our first focus group this fall.
Don’t Let the Haters Sell You on These 3 Mega Myths About Freelance Travel Writing
It’s been such a breath of fresh air to see more and more websites talking about six-figure freelance writing, and particularly six-figure travel writing, as a reality rather than a pipe dream, but I am still shocked by the various ways people who are not successful freelance writers deride the profession.
Why Do We Need Travel Writers? Why Do You Need to Be One?
For the launch of The Way of Wanderlust: The Best Travel Writing of Don George, the book which celebrates not only his own career, but that of the American travel writer generally, the venerable Don George, editor of Lonely Planet’s annual travel anthologies and author of the seminal travel writing handbook Travel Writing: Expert Advice from the World’s Leading Travel Publisher, sat down with close friend, Jeff Greenwald, author of six books on his travel adventures and founder of EthicalTraveler.org, to talk about what it means to be a travel writer.
How 10 Travel Writers Parlay Micro Niches into Major Assignments
Earlier this week, we talked about:
- how having other interests besides travel can give you a leg up breaking into travel writing
- why it’s important to write about those interests in a travel-related context, not just for magazines in those fields
- how easy it is to look at your own life and see what interests you can already mine
Today, I want to widen your view of what these travel research interests can be. We are looking at 10 real, working travel writers who aren’t the Tim Cahills or the folks who have necessarily written books on how to be a travel writer. They are just regular people who work with their stable of editors, pay their mortgages, and make a solid living travel writing.
Can You Break into Travel Writing Faster Through Other Interests?
When I first started learning about how one goes about actually making a career as a travel writer, ten years ago, I quickly noticed something that both surprised and disheartened me:
All of the people who called themselves “travel writers” actually wrote about other things. In fact, many write about other things most of the time.
There was the woman who taught my 8-week Mediabistro bootcamp on how to be a travel writer. She primarily wrote about technology. You could actually call her more of an aspiring travel writer, honestly.
7 Takes on the Career and Calling of Travel Writing
On this site, I’ll share not only my own travel writing experiences, but original case studies that I gather from other writers I know. Everyone from the retired couple eking by on a small but happy income in Nicaragua to the blogger making a name for herself after just a year. Also of the writers you never hear about that make a solid living writing regularly for a handful of top glossies to travel writing greats like Don George and Tim Cahill.