by Jane W. Smith

Created on: November 08, 2008   Last Updated: November 29, 2008

5 Ways to Get Started in Freelance Travel Writing

(1) Write Write Write This is a no-brainer. Write about everything and absolutely nothing. Write as soon as you get up in the morning write after a few beers at midnight on Friday night. Pick up a copy of Julie Cameron's The Artist's Way. This guide focuses on ways to unleash your creative soul. The main task of this book is to get you writing your morning pages.' The morning pages are three pages a day of stream of consciousness writing that aim to clear your head of extraneous thoughts and set your creativity free.

(2) Travel, Travel, Travel Another no-brainer. Travel leads to ideas and experiences that others may be interested in hearing about. My favorite Thoreau quote sums up this point very well "How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live." Never travel without your journal and a digital camera. Keep track of where all of your photos are taken you never know when you will need that photo to complement your pieces. Plan trips for the soul purpose of writing about them.

(3) No Clips, No Problem The biggest obstacle for someone just starting out is the absence of clips. There are plenty of online information sites that will allow you post to them. Some to check out are Suite101.com and Ehow.com. These sites actually share revenue with their writers but don't expect to make more than a few cents an article this is about experience only. My new favorite, Trazzler.com allows you to write trips about unique places that capture the reader's senses. The articles are short (less than 100 words) and the trips make excellent, professional looking clips. They are hiring freelance writers and if they like the samples you submit you are entered into a pool of potential paid freelance writers.

(4) Find a Niche - Is your travel passion backpacking or surfing? Do you travel all over the world looking for that perfect place to watch the sunrise? Are you obsessed with local food production or mom and pop shops? Find your niche and delve in. Learn as much as you can about the area and in the process you could start your own travel blog about your topic. This way you will have established clips and demonstrated expertise in an area. These experiences will be invaluable to you when it comes time to start pitching your ideas to magazines, online journals, or publishers.

(5) Craigslist Make checking the Craigslist in your area part of your daily routine. Many local businesses or small websites look for writers to contribute to their site or business on this forum. This is a great place to start out. I have seen many ads looking for travel material for their websites or brochures and secured a few paid jobs myself.

These suggestions are not sure-fire ways to instantly score a year's salary, but are some ways that can get you thinking about writing, get you exploring potential avenues to getting published, and get you thinking about how to make your work and interests unique. Securing work as a freelance write is something that is going to take some serious time and be the result of some serious hardwork and effort.

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