How To Become a Professional Travel Writer : Zero To Travel Podcast

I wasn’t always a professional writer. I spent the first ten years of my  career working in big business—mostly in the technology sector—in various roles including Project Manger, Business Analyst, and Business Management Consultant. I mention this fact because I think it’s a large part of what enabled me to break into freelance magazine writing as quickly as I did. Writing may be an art, but publishing is a business. And understanding that business is just as important as learning to write well.

While I’ve been tempted to dismiss those ten years I spent in the business world as wasted time, a period in my life when I didn’t know who I was, it’s true that I developed an important skill set during that time —the ability to navigate corporate America. And I enjoy sharing that knowledge.

So when Jason Moore from ZeroToTravel contacted me near the end of 2014 and asked me to do a podcast about breaking into travel writing, I was game. Check it out if you’re interested, 56 minutes and 19 seconds worth:

Click here to launch the Podcast.

No, I haven’t listened to it. You know those actors who don’t like to watch the movie they starred in? That’s me. I’m the same way about my stories. Once they’ve been published, I rarely pick up the magazine and give them a read. I find too many things wrong, things I wish I’d done differently. But that’s another topic, perhaps for a future blog post.

In the meantime, you can get me live at the Boulder Bookstore on January 31. I’m teaching a two-hour travel writing workshop from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The class is open to all experience levels, but is limited to 15 participants, and sells out every time—which means you’ll need to call the book store ahead of time and reserve your spot. More information here.

JM