TTW is FIVE | Spaces still available for our October retreat
We're celebrating our birthday with a look back over the archives
Did you know it’s officially five years this month since we launched Talking Travel Writing? When we published our very first email during the midst of the pandemic, we were seeking a way to bring news and optimism to our out-of-work — and frankly very scared —colleagues. Neither of us had any idea we’d still be here, landing in the inboxes of nearly 8,000 writers each month. Thanks so much for joining us on this unexpected ride.
In celebration of our half-decade, we’re taking the month of June off. However, in the spirit of TTW, we wanted to leave you with plenty of inspiration (and at least one of Lottie’s sassy opinion pieces).
We’ve combed through our (now quite considerable) archives and picked some of our most-read posts of all time for your enjoyment. They’ll be arriving in your inbox weekly to all subs, whether you’re on the free or paid plans. For those of you on the latter, we’ll add a free month to your plan. Normal business will resume in July.
June 10 - The 13 tools we rely on to run our travel writing businesses
June 17 - Is it ever OK to make a loss?
June 24 - How to find travel copywriting gigs that’ll boost your income
We’re also offering a 25% birthday discount — 5% for every year of TTW — which is running until the end of the month. Purchase a monthly subscription for just £5.25 or an annual subscription for £45 and you’ll receive four emails each month, all packed with expert insights.
But now, we hand over to Anna Codrea-Rado — journalist, podcaster and campaigner — to learn tips on how to set different types of goals for your freelance business. Scroll down to read it.
Are you an aspiring or early-career travel writer? Join us in October
Are you an aspiring or early-career travel writer? We’ve still got some spots available for our TTW Retreat that we’ll be holding in Harrogate in October. This beautiful North Yorkshire town is just three hours by train from London, and only 40 minutes by bus from Leeds Bradford International Airport. What’s more, we’ve dropped the deposit by £50 to make it even easier for you to secure your space.
After hugely successful retreats in the Cotswolds, we’re taking our three-day travel writing course to the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate. Lottie and I will spend three days delivering seminars on how to make a success of travel writing, exploring the town and its stories and delivering 1-2-1 pitch clinics with each and every attendee. You’ll leave with an oven-ready pitch ready to send to editors; we’re confident you’ll land a commission off the back of the retreat, which should pay for the cost of attending.
Interested? Here are the essential details:
Date: 21-23 October 2025; attendees need to arrive for a 2pm start on the 21st and depart from 1pm on the 23rd
Place: Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate
Cost: £450 (£150 deposit required now; full balance to be paid by 1 Sept)
Inclusions: two nights’ accommodation on a full board basis; seminars by professional travel writers Lottie & Steph; one-to-one pitch clinics (worth £80); press trip-style activities; a year’s free subscription to this newsletter (worth £60).
What is the TTW Retreat?
This retreat is designed for new, aspiring or early-career travel writers who want to better understand how this industry works, how to make a living in it, and how to pitch and write great stories. The retreat will cover everything from the PR-journalist relationship and how that works, to writing pitches that get commissioned, finding editor contacts, networking and matching your ideas to the right publications.
There will also be press trip-style activities so you can put into practice what you’ve learned, plus a Pitching Clinic where we’ll give you personalised feedback on how to strengthen your story angles.
The retreat will also be a great opportunity to meet other travel writers at a similar stage in their careers in person; establishing networks within the industry is a huge part of making this job a success.
The ultimate goal of the retreat is to come away with solid pitches ready to be sent out to editors and a clear idea of how you can land commissions within the travel media.
What have past retreat attendees said?
Thanks to our seminars and pitch feedback, past attendees have had bylines published in The Telegraph, The Times, The Independent, BBC Travel, Wanderlust, Countrylife and many more. But don’t let us be the messengers — here’s what they had to say about 2024’s retreat:
Steph and Lottie have designed a fun-filled weekend retreat packed with comprehensive information about how to pitch a story, as well as insider tips on the industry and practical advice on how to make it all work for you. They are a wealth of information and the resources they provide are like gold to any writer trying to break into this field. I can't suggest the TTW retreat highly enough!
Going on the TTW retreat was one of the best investments I've made in myself and my career for a long time. It not only honed my skills and gave me direction but also provided invaluable industry insight and networking that you just wouldn't get elsewhere or online. Beforehand, I was worried that I'd be the oldest one there or wouldn't have anything to contribute but it wasn't like that at all. It was a diverse and exciting group and I hope I've made some friends for life. Bring on the reunion!
I am not exaggerating when I say that this weekend changed my life - you both gave me such a renewed sense of confidence and belief in myself, and created the most wonderful energy on the retreat. Your openness to share your knowledge and practical tips was incredible – this alongside your warmth and generosity of spirit. The detail in the workshops was next level, and I didn't want the weekend to end. Thank you so much, I am so excited for the future!
This retreat truly exceeded my expectations. Lottie and Steph are such a wealth of information. They are very generous and open with their answers to any questions you have. It was worth coming a long way from the US for this. They demystify the industry for a beginner like me.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend TTW Travel Writing Retreat. Such a lot of information for budding and early-career travel writers. Lottie and Steph have such a wealth of knowledge and are incredibly supportive. Thank you!
There are two types of goal
You need to understand the two different types of goals you can set. The simplest are outcome goals — where you have a specific target in mind. The thing to bear in mind is that there are external factors that might contribute to whether or not that's possible. For example, you might want to lose 10lbs by the end of January, but no matter how much you change with your eating habits or exercise, your own body, your metabolism, will dictate the outcome.
The other kind of goal is a process goal. This relies on a process that you are going to take. So, to continue with the exercise example, you might instead say “I’m going to commit to exercising three times a week for the rest of January.” That focuses not on the end result, but the actual journey to get there.
This also applies, of course, in a business context. You might have an outcome goal of earning £50,000, whereas a process goal would be “I’m going to pitch five articles a week.” Ideally, you should use the two goals together.
The reason it’s so important to understand the difference is because there are always going to be factors you can’t control.
What I do is have a bigger outcome goal with no timeframe attached, and then I break that up into smaller process goals to work on along the way.
Allow yourself some shorter goals, too
Aside from financial goals — such as “I want to earn X amount per year, or I want X percentage of my income to be from X revenue stream,” I don’t really have overarching annual goals. I usually forget about them and I find it hard to keep that momentum going.
So I set myself shorter goals, so either a 30-day goal or a 90-day goal because they are a bit more manageable. It goes back to the idea of goals becoming toxic — don’t let them tie you down and if something unforeseen happens, it is okay to change them or to even just let them go completely.
This is why I love process goals, because they do really make you think: “why am I actually doing this? Why do I really want to achieve this?” Because if you set yourself a goal of earning a certain amount of money, and then you find that actually the process of the work that goes into trying to reach that goal is something that doesn't mesh well with you, it might just be because that's just not who you are and that's not actually what you want. And that's absolutely fine.
Or if you set yourself a goal of starting a podcast, and then you start figuring out all the steps that it takes to do that and you realise you're really not interested in at all — perhaps it's just not your thing — again, that's fine. When you're forced to look at the actual steps you need to take, and if you think you're going to enjoy them, you get your answer right there — that that is the right goal for you.
Be specific with what you’re setting
If you’re setting outcome goals, you’ve got to be specific. Otherwise, you end up with the “yeah, but” problem, where you achieve your goal, but you continue to tell yourself you haven’t because you are holding yourself to too high a standard. For example, a goal of mine was to write for the New York Times, and I’ve achieved that goal. But I will tell myself “yeah, but, I didn't really achieve it because it's for the international edition.” Or, I might think “Sure, I got a front page byline but it was a co-author byline.”
Be really, really specific — especially if you have big goals that you think might be quite hard to achieve. Also be realistic and know that goals for prestige or status never feel as good as you think.
Start with what’s important to you
Presumably, if you're a travel writer, there are places that you want to go to that you haven't had a chance to go to yet. There are possibly different types of stories that you haven't had a chance to write about yet. You might focus on one aspect of the travel industry, but you're really interested in moving into another. It just starts with what you actually want.
Make complementary goals
It's best to avoid having different goals that are completely unrelated to each other. For example, in 2021, don’t try to launch a podcast and write a book and start a newsletter. Try to pick one thing and focus on that.
There’s no set number to the amount of goals you should or could set, but perhaps try to pick one big goal and then pick a manageable amount of little-and-often goals.
Assess the situation regularly
There’s not much point in setting these goals if you then just forget about them, or don't have a way to actually measure them and implement them.
I try to reflect on my work and do quite a deep dive into my business every quarter. That's when I dig into my financial data and see where I'm making my money, and I look at my different income streams to see how they're doing. And as part of that, I also go back and look at the goals I've set to see whether I’m on track or not.
A really great question to ask yourself is: “what is something that I just keep putting off?”
If you haven't done the thing, there is a reason why you're not doing it. And the reason can be as simple as it is just really boring and it's not that urgent. So if it's not done, or you’re just not interested in this thing, it's clearly not right for you.
You could try setting up a Google form where the questions you want to ask yourself are prewritten, and then schedule reminder emails to fill it out every month or however often you want to reflect.
Thanks so much for being a subscriber to Talking Travel Writing; we couldn’t have lasted so long without you. Want more travel writing tips to get your teeth into? Check out Meera Dattani’s webinar series on travel writing here — new webinars are coming in June, too, so keep an eye out here for announcements. Our online course has tonnes of tips on this topic; head to our Teachable shop here.