All Posts in Category: Freelance Psychology
What I Learned About How to Approach Freelancing Setbacks from Failing at Vacation
Over the holidays, I seriously failed at vacation.
Not in the way that many of us feel that we do, when we discover something with an amazing story and our unsuspecting friends and relatives get stuck listening to a half-hour lecture on the lives of potters in ancient Greece from a local we’ve decided is an excellent source.
Nor in the way that many of us also struggle with—cutting the laptop/phone umbilical cord.
Well, to be fair, I certainly am guilty of that on this trip as well, but since I’ve been doing that since long before I met my husband, back Thanksgiving meant my friends and roommates would endure six weeks before the actual event of fiendishly testing, photographing and blogging recipes every moment I wasn’t at my day job.
This year, I failed at vacation in a way that feels worse precisely because it isn’t as “simple” as deciding whether to or to not be on one’s laptop.
Does Summer Travel Season Automatically Mean Slump Time for New Freelance Writing Business?
Summer is such a tricky time for travel writers.
If you have a family or friends that you travel with, it’s a time with much travel, but a frequent struggle between balancing the leisure side of travel (not just for you, but those you’re with!) with the demands of traveling as a travel writer, and all of the note-taking, picture-posing, and interview-grabbing that entails.
If you primarily get your work travel done in the off-season, summer can be a great time to relax and take a staycation to reset…but only if you have enough paid work on your plate.
Are You Letting Tons of Marketing “Work” Keep You from Actually Getting Paid Gigs?
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!
What Are You Actually Doing During Your “Writing” Time?
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!
Are You Afraid to Pitch Feature-length Travel Articles?
A very curious thing has happened in our At-Home Pitchapalooza Program.
Even though, at the outset, a lot of folks said they are primarily interested in writing features or writing more features, there is a lot of reticence to nail down the ideas and magazines to pitch those features to.
How Long Does it Take Magazine Editors to Respond to Travel Article Pitches?
One of my favorite quotes of all time from a magazine editor came from Peter Fish, at the time editor-at-large for Sunset magazine, a major newsstand publication in the Western U.S.
At the Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference in 2015, someone asked a panel of editors how long it takes them to respond to a pitch.
25 Ways to Move Your Travel Writing Career Forward Today—In 15 Minutes or Less
A few years ago, I came across the idea of microactions: things you can do in incredible short amounts of time (they focus on seven minutes) to move your career forward, whether in terms of networking, getting organized, increasing revenue, or clearing your head to be more productive when you dive back into work.
The Anatomy of the Perfect Travel Article Pitch
Apart from the pitching “secret sauce” we talked about earlier this week, pitching well is all about structure.
Why You Don’t Need To Start with $20 Articles and Work Your Way Up
People often ask me how I ended up writing The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map, and the answer actually relates to one of my favorite journalists and writing bloggers.