Kimberley Lovato’s lifestyle, food and travel articles have appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Robb Report, Private Clubs, Virtuoso Life, Delta Sky, American Way, Every Day With Rachael Ray, BBC, travelandleisure.com, and many other publications. Her award-winning personal essays have appeared in several editions of The Best Women’s Travel Writing and her culinary travel book, Walnut Wine & Truffle Groves, won SATW’s Lowell Thomas Award in 2012. More recently she wrote Unique Eats and Eateries of San Francisco, released by Reedy Press in October 2017, and 100 Things To Do In San Francisco Before You Die, which came out in September of 2018..
How did you get started traveling?
Well if you ask my family members, I think they’d tell you that I had wanderlust as a child — though I never traveled. I read a lot of books and watched TV shows that had travel themes. Heidi was an all time favorite book, and I watched endless episodes of Pippi Longstocking because the redheaded girl, like me, was always off on some wild and funny adventure. I really wanted to be her. When the Travel Channel started up in the mid/late 1980s, I was addicted. We didn’t travel as a family — no exotic vacations to Hawaii or Africa, but we did take annual trips to San Francisco, where my grandparents lived. I loved getting on the plane and sitting next to the window and waiting for the plane to pop up above the clouds. My grandparents picked us up at SFO and I still recall driving up Van Ness and seeing all the buildings with fire escapes. It felt so foreign to a girl from suburban Los Angeles.
How did you get started writing?
I always loved to write, but did it more for fun. I never really thought about it as a profession. I made up MadLibs with my neighbors as a kid, wrote poems, stories, skits, letters, and kept a journal. All normal kid stuff. It wasn’t until I got to junior high and high school and took journalism classes that I realized the possibility of writing as a job.
What do you consider your first “break” as a writer?
So once I graduated from college I went out and got the corporate job and paid off some student loans, but I wasn’t happy. When I just couldn’t take it anymore, at the ripe old age of 26 or 27, I applied to be an intern at a local newspaper (I looked young for my age). I had no clips, but I’d had six years of work experience working in a busy manufacturing facility, and in marketing departments of major telecom companies dealing with demanding customers and schedules, and I guess the editor thought I could tough it out in a newsroom of a bi-weekly paper. He gave me a “mock assignment” to see if I could at least put pen to paper, then hired me. I worked as an intern for a while, then worked as a reporter for a couple of years before I moved out of state. I went 100% freelance at that point. That editor took a chance on me and opened a door that I’m not sure I would have found on my own.
As a traveler and fact/story gatherer, what is your biggest challenge on the road?
Time. There is never enough of it, it seems, to observe, report, and immerse myself in a place, which is what you want to do when working on a story. I always try to spend an extra day or two, or longer if possible, when on assignment.
Language barriers are also tough. It is so rewarding and beneficial when traveling to talk to locals — share a coffee or dinner, ask in-depth questions. So when I meet people with whom I can’t communicate, that’s kind of a bummer. Luckily more and more people are speaking English these days, but I still run into trouble from time to time, and I always try to find someone local — even a tourist office person or guide, who can help translate if need be.
What is your biggest challenge in the research and writing process?
I guess it’s time, again. I am a very schedule-driven person so I set aside blocks of time in my workweek to research, pitch, collect money, and yes, write! But like they do for everyone, things crop up and topple my best laid plans. I also find that the first thing to go as my scheduling slips is exercise. I really want to honor my commitment to good health, but it’s often hard to tear yourself away from the computer to do it when the rest of the workweek has blown up.
What is your biggest challenge from a business standpoint?
Pitching is a constant personal challenge, simply because I hate it. Though I’ve had a lot publishing success, I still feel like a pitch-idiot, and I’d still rather stick pins in my eyes than do it. The other business challenge is chasing down payments. I don’t think a month goes by that I’m not following up on an invoice that’s past due. That gets really annoying.
Have you ever done other work to make ends meet?
Sure. When I was a reporter I worked a weekend job at a real estate office answering phones to help pay bills. Luckily these days I have a husband whose job pays the major bills. Thanks to him I get to focus on writing full time, and subsidize my travel habit. I’m so grateful for that.
What travel authors or books might you recommend and/or have influenced you?
Oh gosh, there are so many books I can’t recall, or haven’t read. I am way behind on reading. Like I said, as a kid I devoured Heidi over and over. I think Switzerland was the first place I wanted to travel to just because of that book. Steinbeck’s The Pearl is set in Baja, California, not too far away, and I remember the simple descriptions in this fable being very tangible. Michael Ondaatje’s Running In The Family really sticks with me for his stunning descriptions. I re-read that book, or parts of it, a lot. I moved recently and unearthed Wanderlust: A Love Affair With Five Continents, which I realized I’d never read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Tahir Shah is also a prolific travel writer I love to read.
What advice and/or warnings would you give to someone who is considering going into travel writing?
Grow thick skin. Take copious notes. Be generous with your curiosity on the road. Be a part of a writer community. Don’t write for free.
What is the biggest reward of life as a travel writer?
For sure it’s our tribe of fellow travel writers, many of whom have become dear friends. They are amazing writers, curious travelers, and good and compassionate humans. They are the fuel that keeps me going. Getting to experience new places and meet new people is also pretty sweet icing on the travel writing cake.
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