Earn a part- or full-time income on the road as freelance writer

By Chuck Woodbury, editor

I don't know how I came to become a professional travel writer. It just happened. One day, for a reason I can't now recall, I decided to write a story for my local newspaper. The prize fighter George Foreman, then retired (he later returned to the ring), was speaking at a local college.

So, with notebook in hand, I attended the lecture. Afterwards, I typed up a story and sent it to the editor of my town's small daily newspaper. Two days later it ran. Two weeks later, I received a check for $20 — a pitance, even then, but it was still a monumental moment in my career.

The story, I later concluded, was awful. But receiving that check for writing it proved to me that someone was willing to buy what I wrote.

I rushed to my local bookstore and purchased a copy of Writer's Market, the best source of freelance markets for newspapers, magazines (and now web sites) buy. And I subscribed to Writer's Digest, the best writer's magazine, which every month provided me with writing and marketing tips, and equally important, stories that motivtated me to succeed. I was fortunate enough to attend a one-day seminar by Louis Zobel, whose book is more or less a Bible to would-be travel writers. What she taught me opened my eyes.

In the next year, I sold more than 100 articles, most with a photo or two. I wasn't making a fortune, but the checks were steady and I was getting along p

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retty well considering I was living an exciting, creative life.

Several years after that, I sold my business, bought a motorhome, and hit the road for four months with the idea of writing about my travels. I brought along a manual typewriter, 35mm camera and a portable black and white darkroom. And so I would roam the highways by day, and write and print photos at night in my campsite. It was way too much fun. I loved it!

I never made a fortune, but I did cover all the cost of my travels with a little left over. In between subsequent trips, I would return home to write press releases for advertising agencies — banking most of the money, and then leaving on another road trip to write for periodicals.

In 1987, I started a quarterly "on-the-road" newspaper called Out West, which wasabout my travels along the back roads of the American West. Circulation peaked as high as 10,000 after coverage in People Magazine, USA Today, and on the Today Show and ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. The coverage also led to a book contract (and $20,000 advance) with William Morrow, and a six-year stint as a writer with the New York Times Syndicate.

Through the years, I have continued to write articles, mostly about travel. I have received assignments, all expenses paid, to Europe, Asia, Mexico and across America. In early 2001, I was flown to New Zealand, given a motorhome and told to go out and write about whatever I found interesting. That was my favorite assignment of all time.

I am convinced that anyone with even modest writing skills can earn at least a part-time income as a freelance writer. Earning a full-time income is another story — it's hard. But for RVers who are on the road a lot, who can write reasonably well and are capable of taking a decent photo with a point-and-shoot camera, a part time income is not difficult.

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