I decided to write today about travel writing. It’s a wonderful, fulfilling, and challenging thing to blog in the hopes of helping others gain the information they want and need to travel. It can also be very hard work with little (if any) monetary reward.
To those of you who also blog about travel, kudos to you for all you have done for the travel community! You care enough to share enough. That indicates a huge heart not only for travel but for people and cultures as well.
When people ask me why I’ve not made a living at this and why I am apparently glued to a corporate job, all I can say is that the right time and place haven’t become apparent. I think God meets us halfway when we talk about our dreams. Half of getting there is blood, sweat, and tears. The other half is fate. If it wasn’t meant to be, it won’t be. The saddest thing is when a vision or dream isn’t realized. But sometimes, it just isn’t. You dust yourself off, you go on to the next thing. Or you stay with the same thing and try something different.
I once asked a well-known author in the space industry (when I worked at NASA) what I had to do to write creatively for a living. His response was that you have to give away a LOT of work up front just to make a name for yourself. Even though this was many moons ago, and before the internet, I still see that today.
The other challenging piece of travel writing is getting the words out there in a way that people can find them. That has to do with technology, understanding how to format and place your words, and how to maximize search engine hits. That piece is very difficult for many writers (yours truly included). I am hopefully going to remedy that by hiring someone to do the technical end of things.
When you are writing, don’t forget that hope and dedication are your mainstays. Never say, “If I make it as a travel writer”, it’s “when you make it as a travel writer.” Don’t lose sight of your passion or your goals. I say this as much for myself as for those reading. It’s easy to say, “oh well, it’s just a hobby” or “there are millions of travel writers out there, I’ll never make this into a business.” No, you have something to offer, something that’s valuable, and something that you obviously feel moved to share.
Travel writing is an investment in your passion, so be prepared to grab the rungs of that ladder and keep pushing upward! I’ll be right along with you.