Waiting For My Travel Writer’s Course

Reviewing “The Travel Writer’s Guide” by Gordon Burgett has jogged my memory about how I will proceed in my quest to settle into a life of writing travel articles.  On Saturday, I’ll be spending the afternoon listening and learning how to make a go at the travel writing business.  I hope there will be enough room in the profession for one more!  My biggest fear is that the competition will be so great that I won’t be able to sell anything.  However, I will ask questions about how much competition there is and how to overcome it.

But first, I have to learn the mechanics of writing article queries and getting magazine publishers interested in my ideas.  That will be the hardest part.  Until you can sell your ideas to editors, you don’t have a sale to look forward to (or a check)!  The secret, as I see it, is to become an expert at getting an editor’s attention, describing what you can provide for their readers, and making them want more.  If you can’t get that done, you likely won’t sell much.  Since this is a learned skill, I don’t see why I can’t be successful with a little guidance and a little coaching.  I have confidence in my ability to learn to do new things well.  Practice should make all the difference.

This is why I am anxious to go to Gordon’s class.  He has all the answers!  And while I don’t expect him to write my query letters for me, I do expect that I’ll get enough raw data to do a pretty good job of it on my own.  There might be other classes I can go to if I want to sharpen my quill in the future.

So reviewing The Travel Writer’s Guide is at the top of my list this week.  I suggest that you order your own copy from Amazon if you want to follow along.  I will share what I can without violating copyright laws!

What are you doing to prepare yourself for writing, blogging or whatever else you’re planning?  I’d love to hear about books that you find particularly good for writers.