The Surprise Gift That Comes With Building Your Photo Skills
What do you hope to accomplish with your photography? Maybe you’d like some extra income… To see your photos printed in a magazine… Or simply to hear someone say, “Wow, you’re really good at this!”I wanted all of those things in the beginning. But after 10 years of building my skills and selling a lot…
Saying “No” to an Editor Isn’t Always a Bad Thing—Here’s Why
Just yesterday, one of the local editors I often work with asked if I could write an article that was “right up my alley.” It sounded great—there’d been a fantastic contest during the COVID-19 pandemic, where local folks nominated frontline workers in the healthcare realm, and vendors throughout the Capitol District voted for one lucky…
Travel Writing Is Like Building a Sandcastle
Who doesn’t love a sandcastle? It dawned on me the last time I was on the beach watching an artisan putting the finishing touches on his masterpiece, that finding success as a travel writer is much like building a beautiful sandcastle. Here’s why. Establishing a firm foundation. Breaking into the world of travel writing requires…
5 Ways to Stay Inspired While Writing from Home
These are challenging times for travel writers. Being confined to home, rather than having the freedom to roam the world at will, is not an easy adjustment to make. Motivation can be difficult to maintain. Here are five tips and tricks to prepare yourself for life post-coronavirus and ensure that you keep your travel writing…
Two Steps From Amateur to Professional Photographer
Whenever you look at magazines such as National Geographic, what is the first thing that holds your attention? For me, it has always been the captivating images of faraway places that I dreamed that I would someday see. I was the youngest of four children in a military family. We relocated to new surroundings whenever…
How to Take Street Portraits the Right Way
Annie Leibovitz, the famous portrait photographer for Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone said, “A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people.” I couldn’t agree more. One of my greatest joys while traveling is capturing the people. Wrinkled and wizened faces, the smooth…
5 Travel Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
A few days after stamping a 30th country into my passport, I became a published travel writer. The elation of seeing my journey to a coffee plantation published in a Costa Rican magazine was quickly met with utter panic: three years of travels throughout Europe and Central America were completed under the wide-eyed gaze of…
My Top 7 Amazing Travel Writing Experiences
During this time of COVID-19, I can’t help flashing back to my all-time favorite travel writing experiences. As I reflect on making the travel writing leap a decade ago, I’m amazed how my real-life experiences have exceeded my initial hopes and dreams. My foundation for travel writing is an unlikely one. I was a Minneapolis-based…
You Need a Second Set of Eyes—Here’s How to Find Them
Every writer needs a proof reader, a second set of eyes on our story before we hit “send.” Editors tell me they are amazed at the number of articles they receive that have misspelled words, poor grammar, and a host of other errors. Fred Mays We all need to be sure our articles are polished…
How to Get Perks During Challenging Times
As travel writers, we love and appreciate the perks that come with the job. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, we know how trying these times have been for our businesses. And it’s been equally challenging for the travel writer hoping to land the “on the house” perks we’re accustomed to in exchange for our published…