I can't be the only one who has dreamed of being paid to travel. Just imagine...typing away surrounding by breathtaking landscapes, sipping on something sweet yet locally made and putting your feet up, enjoying worldwide travel. The best part, you're getting paid for it.
Enter reality.
Very few people make a living in this way. Most likely the above "dream" has a ratty backpack nearby, almost the sole contents of the writer's luggage. There may also be an unappetizing peanut butter sandwich because there was no food allowance and the writer is so busy making deadlines that there's not time to see the sites. It takes a lot of work and sacrifice that I don't think I have right now.
And yet, Knitting by Faith was birthed by a burst of travel writing. I was jet lagged and in reverse culture shock from my first trip to India, when it all came out in a single writing episode. I then closed my computer, went back to sleep and adjusted back to American culture. That one writing episode became the centerpiece of a book I would finish three years later. Yet I wonder, what if I had written during my time there? Would I have had more bursts or writing?
My husband and I are traveling to Scotland and England soon. I will bring a netbook or something so that I can capture my thoughts on the journey and not save it for when we get home. It is in the journey and the moment where the gems of inspiration strike. Once home and readjusted to "normal," the writing just isn't quite the same.
What's the point of all this? I'm going to do some travel writing on our upcoming trip. Perhaps it will be just a few articles here and there but it's a start. We have another trip next spring to Arizona and I have that wedding in Canada to go to as well which means more opportunities for travel writing.
Where does that leave my next book? I'm not sure. I have been very slow on the next draft even though I want it finished by the end of August. It's not looking too good for the book. But perhaps a chapter a week is still possible, even if the draft isn't done by my deadline.
