Success Story:
How Laura Gagnon Landed Two Paid Assignments After Attending A Travel Writing Workshop
Like a lot of New Yorkers, Laura Gagnon juggles several different jobs. She's been playing music nearly all her life, and has been touring as a bass player (mostly in Europe) for about seven years. When she's home, she works for a non-profit theater company and also promotes concerts and parties.
Laura has always loved traveling – and being a musician has given her access to many really interesting people who have been happy to show her around their hometowns for the day or two she's there.
Recently, she told us how she combined her lifelong interest in travel and the skills she learned at last year's Travel Writing Workshop in Paris to land two paid assignments.
TGT: Why did you decide to come to the workshop in Paris?
LG: I've been following International Living online for a couple of years now, and when I first read about the Paris workshop I was really intrigued. I usually keep a journal when I'm on tour – partly to pass the time and partly to remember where I've been and who I've met in each town. Re-reading these journals, I realized that they were full of story ideas that might interest other people, but that I needed to better organize and focus the information. I also knew nothing about how or where to sell travel articles, which was an enticing part of the workshop itinerary.
TGT: When you got back from the workshop, how did you go about getting published?
LG: A few weeks after returning from Paris, I came across a help-wanted ad in a local newspaper calling for people to write short nightlife reviews for a website. Writers were asked to submit samples, so I wrote a short review of a local cafe/bar. This is a place I've been going to for years, so I was able to write about it off the top of my head – and although this wasn't really "travel writing," I kept what I'd learned in Paris in mind. I e-mailed my sample review to the editor, and she got back to me with an assignment … and then a second one. (I was offered additional assignments, but I had to turn them down because I was leaving town for a couple weeks and she had to meet a deadline.)
TGT: How did you get paid for these pieces?
LG: These pieces were works-for-hire, meaning the publisher buys your material outright and you don't get a byline. Although I did get paid, I was obviously hoping to get clips with my name on them to use as samples to get more work. But there's a happy ending to this because, unbeknownst to me at the time, there was a print edition of the website in the works. The publisher had a splashy book release party last week. All the writers were invited and received a copy of the book – and there was my name on page 2 on the list of contributing writers.
TGT: Is there one thing in particular that you learned – or an experience you had – at the workshop that helped you achieve your writing goals? Something you couldn't have learned by simply reading a travel-writing guide?
LG: The really great thing about the Travel Writing Workshop is that the course covers not only how to write (coming up with ideas, organizing your thoughts, the structure of a good article, etc.) but also what to do to get your work published: where to look for opportunities to place your material, what to say (and not say) to editors, how to use the Internet for story research and to find publications looking for content. The instructors, especially Jen Stevens and Steenie Harvey, are fascinating to listen to. Not only do they have great stories about their own experiences as travel writers, but they have firsthand, current information about the industry as well.
TGT: What advice would you offer to members who are thinking about joining us in Mexico this November?
LG: Do it! If you want to write for a living, you won't find another course that so thoroughly covers both writing technique and how to get what you've written published. You get a huge amount of information in those few days. And the course and the people involved with it are a lot of fun!
[For more information on our Travel Writing Workshop visit The Travel Writers Life or call 1-800-926-6575.]
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