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.
3 Ways (You Probably Haven’t Thought of) to Land Your Next Gig at a Conference
Whatever the business occasion, I am all about looking at outside of the box ways to rock it.
- Travel media conference? Get an AirBnB and host a dinner party the day after the conference wraps where people can keep talking to their favorite new people—or finally meet the ones they didn’t get a chance to talk to.
- Trade show rife with tour companies hawking their wares to travel agents? Scout their storytelling, website and other marketing channels and pitch them on how they can improve it to close more deals by next year’s conference even for a fraction of the cost of being an exhibitor.
- Press trip? Chat with, sincerely thank, get business cards from and follow up with the owners of each business exhibited on the trip rather than just snapping photos, eating their food and trusting (or not caring if?) the CVB takes care of those things.
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.
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.
Vegemite. Waste. And How Real Companies Think
Have you heard of Vegemite?
It’s the descendent of Marmite, if that rings more bells.
Both are classed by most people as disgusting, but something you need to try at least once when visiting Australia (Vegemite) or the U.K. (Marmite) for the first time.
But aside from being a seriously acquired taste (or mouth-puckering, depending who you ask), most visitors don’t really know what they’re putting in their mouth–or why it’s the perfect example of the gap between successful and struggling freelance businesses.
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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.
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.
Can You Send a New Version of the Same Pitch to the Same Editor?
We often get questions from readers and coaching program members that we think would apply to a lot of you and so with permission–agony-aunt-style–we’ll share some of these with you on our blog from time to time. On to the tricky travel writing questions!
The Paradox of “Successful” Travel Writing
Why did you decide to become a travel writer?
No, I’m not referring back to the three main types of travel writing motivation and how that informs the types of writing you should do and the clients you should work with.