The Flourishing Travel Creator

All Posts Tagged: travel writers

Are Travel Writers Really Magicians?

I remember when I was designing our Travel Writers Detox + Reset retreat, I thought a lot about the topic of burnout.

The other side of this Janus coin is often thought to be balance, and I’ve seen a number of newsletters from freelancers and other online business owners concerning their struggles with this topic. Maybe it’s the time of year sneaking up on us and reminding us that we’re now one an accelerating train headed for the holidays.

I’ve often seen, whether in my own life, something I’ve read, or conversations with others, that the opposite of burnout is something more akin to revitalization–rekindling your love for either what you’re already doing or something else entirely that is what really lights you up.

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How to Rain the Right Things on Your Business, Elizabeth Gilbert and Hamilton-Style

I remember watching 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 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.

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7 Takes on the Career and Calling of Travel Writing


On this blog, 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.

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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, I reflected back on the big-picture, future-of-the-industry conversations I’d had with travel writing heavy hitters.

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, both in my own coaching and in the conferences I’ve attended.

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Why Do We Need Travel Writers? Why Do You Need to Be One?


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 with a flourishing business.

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Redefining (Walter) Mittyesque – Let’s See Your New Resume

The Ben Stiller-directed “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” came out in 2013. Instagram hit the scene in late 2010.

Watching the film today, the cinematography oozes shots that we now think of as Instagram tropes: packing flat-lays, travelers in profile walking in front of brilliantly painted walls, a lone traveler in a long shot on an otherwise empty road. Just cue the overlaid text of the Robert Frost poem.

One Sunday night, however, we knew that “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was just what we needed.

We had an intensive Saturday of soul-searching and Sunday of planning our first Detox + Reset retreat and Walter Mitty came up as a frequent touchpoint throughout the weekend. On the one hand, for the gorgeous visuals (we didn’t see the Instagram-style until re-watching it now!), but, more importantly for the character and journey of Walter Mitty.

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You Only Get One First Impression–How Not to Botch It


Do you struggle with how to tell people what you do or how to introduce yourself at networking events (in a travel writing context that is)?

It is an unfortunate paradox for travel writers. On the one hand, we have a job so “cool” that it often seems like everyone wants to do it. But at the same time, a lot of people—often even the same people that say they would love to be travel writers—act like this profession is not really a job…it’s a hobby.

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