Posted by & filed under Travel Writing.

What are your passions? Maybe you’re interested in cooking, exploring, swimming, nature, or weight loss? Those are some of mine, and I’ve written about them all. And been paid for it.

As a writer anything and everything is fair game. The world is our oyster, and that gives us the freedom to live our dreams.

That’s the biggest joy of being a writer: Your interests, passions, and everyday activities can help fund your life.

I do often write articles about everyday life: Two of my recently published were about my cheap electricity bill and my residency visa renewal.

But I prefer to write about things I’m interested in.

Let me share some examples: 

I love cooking, particularly delicious healthy food that bursts with flavor.

But I’m not talking about taking photos of the salad I had for lunch. I’m talking about what I find fun in the food world.

The latest foodie finds that have tickled my taste buds include slow-fermentation pizza, charcoal-activated pancakes, and matcha-covered almonds. I wrote about all of these in an article that earned me a $100 payday.

cooking passion writing

Or there was the time I learned how to make a (now favorite) soup, and after I sold shots in an article and a video. That’s double the payday!

Or the time making one of my favorite Italian dishes for lunch turned into a bicontinental virtual cooking class with an Italian chef in Florence. That was fun.

That’s the wonderful freedom and joy of writing about your passions. Doing something I love boosts my creativity and article ideas are born.

My example above, about learning a new Mexican soup recipe, came from a craving one day and thinking, “I should learn how to make tortilla soup like a local.”

Then, I pitched it to a magazine: it was a Mexican home cooking class with a local chef friend. Not only can I now make that soup anytime I want, but I was able to hang out with a friend and enjoy a glass of wine while earning a payday.

That “lunch” landed me a $250 payday without ever leaving home. And it was while doing two things I’m passionate about—cooking and eating.

Here’s another example:

After a personal decision to lose weight by eating healthier, I landed another article and $100 payday.

But it doesn’t have to be about food.

It can be something you believe in. I love conservation, preservation, and anything to do with the natural world. There’s plenty of article ideas around those subjects.

Another big love of mine is pearls. I’ve had numerous articles published about pearl farms. It’s a win-win— the articles helped raise awareness for a local pearl farm and earned me multiple paydays.

See the point I’m making?

bel woodhouse
Bel Woodhouse

By writing about your everyday life, topics that interest you, and your passions, you can easily think up article ideas and earn paydays—and it doesn’t feel like work.

Every writer’s path is different. We are all unique with our own experiences. So use those experiences. Write about them.

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “people love people”.

Well, it applies to writing too. If I learn a new soup recipe by having a friend teach me, that’s an article. That experience, drinking wine, laughing, and making lunch with a friend is an article. It’s an article because everyone enjoys reading about what other people are doing. 

So, next time you are going to do something fun, write about it. Share it. Your passion will shine through, and it’s so much fun it hardly feels like work at all.