Joe Henley is a freelance writer, scriptwriter, author and musician. Originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Joe moved to Taiwan straight out of journalism school in 2005. Since then, he’s reported from Taiwan, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, China, Cuba, and various other locales around the world for print, online, and television media. His latest book, Migrante, is available now from Camphor Press. All proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to migrant worker advocacy groups in Taiwan.
How did you get started traveling?
I guess it goes back to when I was a kid. Travel was always something my parents facilitated and encouraged. Every year we’d do at least one big family trip, sometimes within Canada, sometimes overseas to places like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, or somewhere in the U.S. The first trips I can remember involve me sitting in the back of a van with my brother, Dad at the wheel up front, Mom in the co-pilot’s chair, probably heading to a campground somewhere. Without those trips, starting from a young age, I don’t know if I ever would have left Saskatchewan.
How did you get started writing?
Not long after moving to Taiwan, right after journalism school, I got a job as a writer/editor at an educational publishing company to pay the bills. It was a desk job, and I quickly figured out that long hours tied to a chair, surrounded by partitions, blinking back dry-eye syndrome under fluorescent tube lighting, wasn’t for me. So I started looking for a way out, pitching story ideas here and there. I think the first pitch I ever got through was to the Matador Network, doing something on “A Day in the Life of an Expat in Taiwan.” I remember they paid me 25 bucks. I was off and running, a lowly-paid professional. It would be a few years before the writing I actually wanted to do would overtake the writing I had to do just to keep the lights on. But I got there.
What do you consider your first “break” as a writer?
It wasn’t travel-related, but a little while after I started freelancing, I managed to land a weekly column with the Taipei Times, covering the city’s music scene. I’d been playing in punk and metal bands in Taiwan for a few years by that point, and writing about the scene for my own website. When the previous columnist quit, I threw my hat in the ring right away and was offered the gig that same day. I think having a regular byline in a daily newspaper lent a bit of credibility to my name going forward, which I’ve since done my best to destroy, little by little.
As a traveler and fact/story gatherer, what is your biggest challenge on the road?
The biggest challenge for me is balancing the travel that’s required for work with the travel that feeds the soul. There’s often overlap between the two, but not always. But that’s what life is really all about—balance. Travel writing is no different.
What is your biggest challenge in the research and writing process?
For me, traveling is all about people. I’m always stressed about finding the right characters to populate the story. If it’s all place, it’s no good. You need to get the history right, the context, and there’s pressure in that, too. You parachute in, and you don’t want to seem like an interloper. Which, really, you are. But that’s the job, to gain an insider’s insight within a relatively short period of time. You do that by listening to the locals. I find that as long as I’m open in terms of my attitude and disposition, the characters tend to find me. Or rather, we find each other.
What is your biggest challenge from a business standpoint?
It can be very challenging keeping expenses to a level where a trip is financially viable. Good rates are out there, but not easy to come by, and it’s not getting any easier. It’s a long road, getting to a level where you can actually make a real profit from travel writing, and not just have it pay for part of a trip. For me, staying in the red means filing multiple stories for different publications from a single location, covering different angles of the place, of course.
Have you ever done other work to make ends meet?
I sure have. For a time, I was doing voice recording work. Taiwan has a lot of companies making mobile games. Given my background in death metal, it wasn’t too hard to get gigs doing the voice of the villain. I can evil laugh and growl with the best of ‘em. I also took a gig editing the subtitles of movies for a while, too. That wasn’t too bad. It actually helped me with my scriptwriting work, which has become a flourishing part of my portfolio as well.
What travel authors or books might you recommend and/or have influenced you?
I’ll keep it concise and just recommend one, which I’m sure a good portion of your readership are already familiar with. But just in case, if you haven’t picked up Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon, get yourself a copy. Right now. If you weren’t pining for back roads and the perpetual excitement of what might lie around that next bend in the road, this book will get you there faster than you can say “Living in a van down by the river.”
What advice and/or warnings would you give to someone who is considering going into travel writing?
I wouldn’t give any warnings. If it’s your calling, it’s your calling, and you have to follow it. You have no choice. Advice? Dive in, head-first. Treat it like a road trip. Take your time. Don’t expect you’ll ever be rich, but don’t let anyone tell you that you should do it for free, either. Your voice is out there. Go and find it.
What is the biggest reward of life as a travel writer?
For me, it’s gaining control of my time. In my previous life as a cubicle-dwelling seat warmer, I held a deep-seated resentment that I had to ask for time off. I mean, it’s my time. Why do I have to ask you if I can have something that already belongs to me? A slightly juvenile mindset, maybe, but that’s the way I’m wired. Freelancing for the past eight years, my time has finally become wholly my own. I don’t have to ask anyone when I can portion out a tiny sliver of it for my own enjoyment. I could never live any other way again.
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