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Why Voice Is One Of The Most Important Building Blocks In Your Story

Voice is a travel writing component that’s often glossed over. The problem is it can be hard to teach someone how to make their voice heard in their writing. Voice is essential, though, in getting your writing to stand out against other writers’ work. Here are some things to consider around voice in your travel stories.

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How To Punch Up Your Prose To Make It As Pretty As A Flower

pink flower

What’s the difference between a good story and a great story? Ultimately, the best writing brings the reader into the setting and helps them immerse in your travels. Here are some ways you can emulate great writers and take your stories to the next level with descriptive language.

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Five Personality Traits That Can Help Writers Find Publishing Success

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Over the years as an editor, I’ve noticed that the most successful travel writers share some common personality traits that support the key components of this enviable career. Chances are good that you possess one or more of these traits, so I hope this exploration helps boost your confidence and enables you to tap into them more effectively.

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Lessons Learned: A Bunch Of Random, Yet Important, Questions, Part Ii

The best time to evaluate your pitching options is after you have written your story, based on the story’s focus and other factors, such as the destination or whether it’s a high-end or a budget trip. When you think you are on your last draft, ensure your story’s format and sidebars match the target publication, as well as double-check any guideline stipulations. Here are a few things to think about as you work through the process.

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Lessons Learned: A Bunch Of Random, Yet Important, Questions, Part I

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There are no stupid questions. I love to help writers learn what they need to get their stories out there. The best approach is to try to figure out what you don’t know, which can go a long way toward getting your writing, your pitches, and your confidence primed for publication. Here are some random questions from the Great Escape family that may mirror your own.

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Lessons Learned: Finding Your Way Toward A Story Format And Focus

Finding Your Way Toward A Story Format And Focus

Novice writers get tied up in knots over the type of format that is “best” for their story, and they spend way too much time agonizing over the story focus. Here are questions from writers this past year that touch on those issues, along with my thoughts on best practices as you go to write your story.

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Lessons Learned: Blogging Is A Totally Different Travel Writing Beast

blogging or travel writing

Over the course of the internship and mentorship this past year, several writers were launching blogs or looking at ways to improve them, while also pitching travel stories based on the same trips. That led to a lot of questions about the crossover and how to succeed at both without spending more time than necessary or feeling overwhelmed. Here are some of the things that came up.

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Lessons Learned: Baby Steps Are The Key To Freelance Travel Writing Success

baby steps

It sometimes feels like it takes forever to get published, as you navigate what seems like a million rules and protocols and decisions, the hoops that must be jumped through, the rewrites, and the pitches that seem to disappear into the void. And then one day, boom! You’re a published author, proudly sharing that first of many bylines. It takes baby steps to get there, though, and so here are a few more questions from my mentors and interns, followed by my responses.

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How Being A Freelance Travel Writer Is Just Like Buying A House

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As I’ve been moving along on the exciting and terrifying journey of buying a new house, it has struck me more than once how similar this process is to that of being a freelance travel writer, and how thinking about those parallels might be helpful for those of you who are new to the process (of writing, not buying a house—I’m definitely no expert in the latter).

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Lessons Learned: Answers To Some Common Pitching Questions, Part I

Pitching your stories can be terrifying, but it doesn’t need to be. It does get easier when you feel confident about what should be included in the pitch (a.k.a. the query), and—just as important—what shouldn’t. Here are the answers to some common questions from writers about the pitching process, covering some of the nuts and bolts of setting up a query to an editor.

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