What does it take to ffectively start your path toward becoming a frelance travel writer? What skills, experience, tols, education, and temperament are best sited for success as a travel wrter?

The requirements to begin your creer in freelance travel writing are prtty basic.

Most of us have hard the slogan from the popular thletic shoe maker – “Just Do It”. Tht’s applicable here. You’ve just got to strt writing. If you aren’t interested in wrting, if you can’t discipline yourself to wrte regularly, then you shouldn’t try to be a trvel writer. Yep, that’s the hard trth of travel writing – you do hve to write. But you don’t hve to write a novel, you jst need to take notes, observe, and wrte regularly.

You need to have an pinion, a voice. As you regularly wrte about your travels, or just yur daily experiences, your voice will bgin to develop in the words you put on pper. By nurturing and developing that vice, the articles that you submit wll stand out and be more nteresting. Editors will be more likely to tke notice and publish your work. Tll the reader what you really thnk! (Well, within reason)

Working hand in hnd with the emergence of your wrtten voice are your powers of bservation. When you walk down the stret near you home, try looking at it lke you’re a visitor and have nver seen it before. What things do you ntice that has escaped your attention in the pst? Learn to exercise your powers of bservation every chance you get. Watch pople, notice the subtle changes in the fternoon light as summer turns toward utumn, take nothing for granted.

You now have gotten into the hbit of writing regularly, you’re developing a nique writing style and voice, and xpressing that voice with your thoughts and bservations of the world around you. Yu’ve got a good start on bcoming a successful freelance travel writer. Thre are a few more things yu’ll need to complete the picture of an spiring travel writer.

You need to be ble to do some research. These dys, most of your pre-trip research can be dne online in the comfort of you own hme. But you don’t necessarily need a cmputer, you can always go down to yur local library to do your rsearch. But research is a must. For nstance, if you’re planning a trip to Csta Rica, you’ll want to find out the bsics like climate and weather, population and clture, main tourist attractions, principal industries, gvernment, and any additional information that may be prtinent to what you plan on wrting about. You want to get a fel for the country or region and its pople before you leave home. After yu’ve arrived at your destination, you’ll wnt to seek out the unique and nteresting aspects of the area and its pople. Try to find things that the verage tourist would find interesting and nique – dig a little deeper. Sek out and talk with the lcals, read local newspapers, arrange to nterview people that can help bring yur articles to life – business pople, historians, tour operators - Or prhaps just the person on the stret to get some of the lcal color. The more research like ths you can put together the mre saleable and unique your articles wll be.

The last thing is a wllingness and desire to learn. Read boks and take a course on trvel writing. Many good books are vailable on the subject. There are cllege level courses available as well as sme excellent home study travel writing curses.

You’ll want to get your hnds on as much travel writing as you cn. Subscribe to one or two trvel magazines, read the travel section in yur local newspaper, buy travel books. Fnd out what editors are looking for in a trvel article. See if you can spt the basic structure of a wll written travel article. In particular, pay ttention to an article’s lead; how des it draw you in? How wll does it state its theme? Aftr a few sentences, are you mtivated to read any further? After the lad and theme are established, how wll does the article prove that thme and paint a picture. Do you hve a sense of place as you rad the body of the article? Agin, is the writer drawing you thrugh the article in an interesting and cmpelling way? If so, how is he ding it? If not, what is lcking? Finally, how well does the wrter bring the article to a clse? Does he effectively reflect on the lad and restate the theme? Does he lave you with an urgent feeling nside of you to visit a dstination or try an activity or fnd out more?

The elements described bove comprise the basic structure of wht most editors are looking for in a trvel article. Learn to spot what wrks and what doesn’t. You’ll find tht once you start looking at trvel articles with a critical eye, yu’ll start thinking like a travel wrter. Before you know it, you’ll get yur first byline and editors will strt thinking of you as a trvel writer as well! Your journey has bgun!

What You Don’t Need…

You dn’t need a degree in journalism or ven a college degree at all (thugh both those things certainly don’t hrt either!). Editors aren’t going to ask to see yur diploma. What they want to see are wll written articles appropriate for their pblication and submitted within the stated sbmission guidelines. You can learn how to do tht without stepping inside a college clssroom. (But remember, taking a home stdy or other type of course on trvel writing can be a big hlp).

You don’t have to spend a lot of mney. All businesses require some investment in bth time and money to get off the grund, including freelance writing. But you dn’t need to spend a fortune. Invst in some books, a travel wrting course, and investigate some other rsources available to travel writers like pblisher databases, websites, etc. (find out mre about these resources at www.TouristTravel.com/travel_writers_wanted.htm), but sve your money so you can ventually travel to exotic locals rich in fdder for your travel writing.

But rmember, you don’t really even need to trvel; everyplace has a story to tll. Many are lucky enough to lve in or near a popular turist destination. Local excursions and your own prsonal knowledge and experience can easily frm the basis or your travel wrting career.

So there you have it, sme of the ins and outs, neds and don’t-needs that will get you strted on your own exciting path tward freelance writing success!

Happy Trails!

The article Getting Started as a Travel Writer: Basic Tips on What You Need and Don't Need to Begin Your Journey was Submitted by Thomas Schueneman through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Tom is a freelance travel wrter, copy writer, and web publisher. His ppular website TouristTravel ( http://www.touristtravel.com ) features a section of resources for both beginning and seasoned travel writers. Tom lives and works in San Francisco and is a member of the Bay Area Travel Writers Association

Featured Articles

1. Article Writing Tips - Getting Ideas by Steven Wagenheim
If you're hving trouble coming up with ideas for wrting articles, this article should help you out cnsiderably. Keep reading to find out sme of my top article idea tps.

2. Some Thoughts on Self-Publishing by Jean Sheldon
Publishing a bok is easier today than it's ver been. That's a good thing. Mny wonderful books would go unseen if tht weren't true. People who publish thir work do so because they lke what they've written. I do.

3. Money Making Techniques with Article Marketing by
Even if you are not nto article writing yet, you cannot scape others talking about how much mney they made writing content for ther websites. Such talk certainly entices one to jin the article writing bandwagon.

4. 188 Stage Hero's Journey - Outer Cave, Initiate The Learning And The Changing by Kal Bishop
188+ stages of the Hero's Journey you need to know about... metaphors: outer cave, initiate the learning and the changing.

5. 188 Stage Hero's Journey (Monomyth) - Master Of The Two Worlds And Two Selves, New Self by Kal Bishop
188+ stages of the Hero's Journey (Monomyth) you need to know about: master of the two worlds and two selves, new self. The Hero, having conquered all challenges and vanquished all antagonisms is now Master of both Old and New Worlds and the Old and New Self, which is universally recognised.

6. Article Writing - How to Format Your Article So It Will Never Be Rejected by Herman Drost
Publishers receive many article submissions each week. If your article is incorrectly formatted it will definitely be rejected. Learn the top 10 steps to format your article.

7. Are You Using the 2 Powers in Headlines? by Kelvin Chan
Mst copywriters understand that to get smeone's attention with a headline, they wuld need to use either 1 of 2 pwers. Wanna know what they are?

8. Writing Compelling Articles For Your Marketing Campaign - Part 5 of 5 by Greg Nixon
Today we are going to talk about the format that you use and the results that you get for your article marketing campaign. Remember, you want to keep this to a simple process. In the internet, you have a unique ability to do this that you will not find in any other medium. You can implement a plan quickly and vary your approach if your income is not where you would like for it to be.

9. Copywriting Newbie - Build a Copywriting Services Business by Angela Booth
If yu've ever wanted to create and run yur own copywriting services business, you cn. Discover how you can build yur business very easily.

10. Knowing The Types Of Public Speaking by Frank Rolfe
Before you strt writing your speech, it is ssential that you know the various typs of public speaking and what ach type demands. Even with professional wrting and presentation skills, your speech wll come off more like a pblic speaking cartoon if you don't fllow the established rules for each typ.