Wendy VanHatten left the corporate world to become a professional freelance travel writer and author. In addition she is an editor, travel business owner, author of a variety of published books, and photographer.

Currently, Wendy is writing several books on such topics as women and success, positive travel experiences, and recipes combined with destinations.  She continues to write several times a week on her blog www.travelsandescapes.blogspot.com. Her website, www.travelsandescapes.com, features sample articles, photos, services and links, and her newest ebook can be found at www.mylifethesequel.com.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/WendyVH
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wendyvanhatten
LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/pub/wendy-vanhatten/3/25b/297

Congratulations…you are now a travel writer.
Do you have a business card that says you are a travel writer? You should.
Your business card is just a tiny piece of paper, but its value is disproportionate to its size. Because space is limited, the weight of each word on your card is exponentially greater than it [...]

Are online publications really that much different from glossy mailbox delivered ones?
Some aspects…yes. Others…not so much. After all they both accept articles, stories and photos.
So where do you start when you want to pitch a story idea to an editor?
Can you use the same information, the same tactics and even the same article? [...]

It is the great dream of every writer.
Whether you write non-fiction articles, novels, poems, short stories or film and book reviews, it is inevitable that you have a desire to be published.
And if you buy into the general consensus about getting published, you’ll think you have a better chance of winning the lottery, marrying a [...]

Would you fly from San Francisco to Paris if your airplane was flown by a pilot that didn’t know what he was doing?
I think not.
Would you take your car to a mechanic who was just practicing in his spare time?
I hope not.
Well, why would you trust your manuscript to the eyes of [...]

Think back to when you first started traveling.
Did you know all the “rules”? Maybe TSA wasn’t even in your travel vocabulary. You probably didn’t even really know what 3 ounce liquids really meant…right?
But you’re a smarter traveler now, aren’t you?
Now think about when you first started as a travel writer. Did you know [...]

Although I’m primarily a travel writer, I recently co-wrote an eBook for women, about success. Allow me to share with you what I’ve learned from the experience, and some tips on writing an eBook.
Writing an eBook is a much different experience than writing a traditional printed-and-bound book, but writing an eBook can be a [...]

“When traveling to Strasbourg you must go to the bathroom. The toilet paper is purple. Not just any purple…but a lovely shade of lavender. I really wanted to bring some of this home with me to show my friends, but I thought that might not be appropriate. I didn’t try out any other bathrooms in [...]

As promised, here is the second part of my series of “Do’s” and “Don’ts” for working with Editors.  Enjoy!
Wouldn’t it be great if you had a list of editors who accept your articles for every one of their issues? Realistically, though, freelance writing isn’t always that stable. However, you can settle for second best…getting your [...]

Working with editors is easy, right? After all, don’t you just submit something to them and they print it?
With that thought in mind, you will probably never see your name in print. Working with editors can be easy. Remember…they have a job to do and so do you. If you do your job well, they [...]

Travel writers need to travel to far away places in order to write travel articles, right? Not so, my aspiring writer friends. Isn’t everyone’s home town a destination for someone else? It sure is. And who better to write about your own home town than YOU? You live there and probably [...]