The following Q&A about the writing life was conducted for a class project by a writing student named Josh Hammingh, who attended my undergrad alma mater in Oregon.
What degree(s) do you have, and what was your major?
I got a Bachelor of Arts in Writing/Literature from George Fox in 1993. Much later, after I’d been writing professionally for more than a decade, I got an MFA in Nonfiction from Bennington College in Vermont, so that I could get university teaching work. Both degrees were interesting, but neither had much of an influence on my writing career, which was largely self-initiated.
How long have you worked as a freelance writer? What sort of work did you do before your writings became popular?
I’ve been a full-time writer since late 1998, when I finished the second year of my job as an English teacher in South Korea and used my savings from that experience to start freelancing as a travel writer. In addition to funding my travels, teaching in Korea helped me gain a deeper understanding of living and working in another country, and this sharpened my instincts as a cross-cultural travel writer.
How did you come to be a writer? What steps did you take? What accomplishments helped to open doors?
Becoming a writer was an incremental process that flowed out of a passion I’d cultivated ever since writing a hand-illustrated “book” about dinosaurs when I was 7 years old, or writing horror short-stories when I was 13, or writing high school newspaper columns when I was 17. I knew I liked writing, but wasn’t sure what form it would take. A lot of trial and error came into play before I got my first meaningful travel-writing byline at age 27, so I guess I wrote myself into being a writer. I spent most of my 20s “failing” at writing, but once I got my foot in the door, all of the persistence — and the skills/instincts I developed in the process — allowed my career to move rapidly. After that first byline (for a nascent version of Salon.com) at age 27, I landed a story in The Best American Travel Writing at age 29, and then had my first book published at age 32.
Did you have any contacts that helped your career development? If so, how would one go about gathering similar contacts?
I had very few contacts early on. While I was living and traveling in Asia, I was working with San Francisco and New York editors I’d never met in person. Eventually I began interviewing a travel writer each month for my website — a series that is still going, 25 years on — and that allowed me to interact with editors and other writers I might not have met otherwise. This all began before social media was a thing. Now I suppose a degree of social-media networking would be necessary, though interviewing interesting people in your field, for, say, a podcast, is still a good way to make contacts.
What have you done to grow or maintain your network?
I’ve maintained consistency over the years, in both my work and my vision. And I have added to my skill set over the years — doing things like blogging and podcasting and multimedia that developed in the greater culture. I think one has to balance old-school skills like writing with a sense of ethos and expertise with a willingness to adapt every time a new technology changes the way people interact with media.
What skills would you recommend for someone who wants to go into writing?
Read a lot and write a lot. Read well and try your best to write well. Be patient while at the same time holding yourself to a high standard, and continuing to learn. The more you write, and the more you improve as a writer, the better your work will get, and the more people will notice. Repeat the cycle over the course of your life.
How do you stay informed about the latest trends and developments in your field? To what extent does this take up your time?
Apart from the various technology and media platforms, I don’t really follow trends, since I think a clear vision and specific expertise counts for more than chasing trends. One can account for trends and developments without compromising one’s core vision and expertise.
Are you a member of any professional groups or organizations? Have you found them to be helpful in your development as a professional?
I’ve never been a member of a professional organization. Which has probably compromised my ability to get work from time to time, but I enjoy being independent. It helps that my first book was — and continues to be — a success, which has preempted the need to follow trends or network through formal professional organizations.
So far, the questions have mostly been focused on your work as a writer, and not on your speaking or teaching. Is there any way in which these complicate the writing life?
Speaking and teaching are separate endeavors, but in a sense they are inseparable from writing, since they allow me to make a living. My writing gives me a platform as a speaker and teacher, and speaking and teaching helps fund my writing. I don’t get a lot of writing done when I am in teaching or speaking mode, but the financial trade-off is worth it.
Is it a challenge to keep your work interesting to you?
I was lucky to write about a topic — travel — that is endlessly fascinating to me. I occasionally write in other genres, like criticism and screenwriting, but my interest usually takes me back to travel. Which, fortunately, my audience likes to read about.
Do you recommend life as a writer, or would you warn those interested to look for work elsewhere?
As much as I love writing, I would have a hard time recommending it. There’s just no hard and fast way of breaking in — you need a lot of patience and persistence, and the way people consume media is constantly in flux. For example I got my start in online essays and books, but these days younger audiences seem to prefer social media and interactive multimedia. I can speak to how I got my career started 20-25 years ago, but I know less about how one starts a career now. Fortunately, most of the advice I just shared — patience, adaptability, learning by doing, etc — is fairly timeless.