Women's Travel Writing: Tracking
Intrepid Women Across the Ages

I've always been fascinated by women who make their living travel writing - so much so that I've even had a modest go at it myself, first with articles, as a journalist, and now with this site.

While I wouldn't say that reading the words of those who went before were the only reason I started travel writing, I do know they inspired me - at times to travel (as though I needed inspiration!) and at times to write about it.

There's something romantic and daring - even spiritual - about discovering a new place (new at least to you). Even solitude has its glow, providing time to think and just to be, especially if you are traveling solo.

For me, travel writing is something very unrestrictive. It includes everything from armchair travel writing to journaling while on an expedition to war correspondence to writing about poverty.

Throughout the ages, women have traveled and written about their experiences. Whether for pleasure, pilgrimage, or work, the stories of these women travel writers are an inspiration for modern women who venture off the beaten track.

Travel writing by women is more than about places - it's about how women cope with being women in a foreign land.

Once upon a time

Travel writing by and for women has come a long way - from records of pilgrimages and family trips in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, to documenting the exploits of modern day journalists.

There are plenty of types of travel book of interest to women. One of the most upcoming genres is the reference travel book or the travel tips book, in which women share not only their exploits but what they've learned along the way. These are general travel books - because they're not linked to a destination - and are designed to help you plan and execute your journey from beginning to end.

It isn't easy to make a living as a travel writer. Travel writing is like any other kind of writing, it takes practice and it's a skill that must be honed. In the same way picking up a camera does not a photographer make, you don't become a writer by knowing how to type and travel - although this is definitely a good first step!

There are many roads to becoming a travel writer. Excellent courses are available, both residential and online, as are books about travel writing and memoirs by those those who succeeded. Plenty of outstanding travel, geographical and political magazines provide examples of superb writing.

This isn't a site on how to become a travel writer, although I do try to provide some resources that might help along the way.

All I can tell you is how I did it: I prepared for a year before hitting the road, I grew a thick skin towards rejections, and I scaled back (and I mean really scaled back) on living expenses, knowing that my income was about to go waaaay down. But most of all, I persevered, and I believed in myself.

The joy is in the writing and the beholding. Ultimately, we become travel writers for the sheer joy of sharing our wonder and discovery with the millions of women out there who don't have a chance to do it themselves - but who will live memorable adventures through our eyes.