Why we're a little bit worried | Special offer | Jobs board

Lottie speaks candidly about her anxieties over lockdown lifting.

Before you panic: no, it’s not April already. March happened to be a five-Tuesday month, so we thought we’d treat all our subscribers to an extra free email. Here’s Lottie with a candid little op-ed and a look back at our most useful features…

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I’ve only told two people this in the last couple of months and there’s almost 2,000 of you, so please be kind: I’m nervous about lockdown ending and domestic travel opening up again. But probably not for the reasons most people are feeling anxious…

I’m not hugely worried about catching the virus (though I probably still could get it). I’m not necessarily worried about transmission rates and hospitalisations increasing, either (though I’m sure they probably will). I am anxious because I feel pressure. Pressure to be on. Pressure to be busy. Pressure to be successful.

As a travel writer who has spent the last year lamenting the lack of travel I feel like I should be embracing this new-found freedom and hitting the road and writing as much as I can. I feel like this is the moment I have — we all have — been waiting for. My career has felt a little paused for the last 12 months, so this is the time to pick it back up again and begin to thrive once more. But what if I can’t?

I’m worried that I won’t be able to find my feet properly again. Not only because I’m out of practice, but also because I’ve lost that momentum. It takes time to build up plans and pitches and commissions, and for the last six months or more we’ve been unable to do that. I was at a really good place with my work before this pandemic hit, and I’m worried I’ll look like a failure if I don’t go back to that level of activity.

Of course, there is nobody placing these expectations on myself except me. I am the only person who expects me to suddenly go back to travelling every other week and earning as much as I did in January 2020. I am also the only person examining my career moves with a magnifying glass and critiquing my business decisions. You lot don’t care. Twitter doesn’t care. Instagram doesn’t give a toss.

It is me and all my insecurities and the pressures of professional social media (hello, comparisonitis, my old friend) that make me feel this way and it’s ludicrous. It has to stop, and so I’ve been reading through the archives of this newsletter to remind me of what we have learned over the last six months. Here are a few posts that are helping me right now:

• This pep talk I gave myself (free) in August last year still rings true today. This line in particular: "so many of us in this industry present a picture of busyness to show just how successful we are – success breeds success, after all, and so the busier you look, the more work you get (or so goes the theory). I’m guilty of this, and some of you are probably too. But it’s not always to our advantage.”

• Our 2021 action plan (free) is probably the most practical column we’ve ever written and I will absolutely be putting some of these into practice.

• The new financial year tends to be when I make my business / career goals, so this piece on goal setting with Anna Codrea-Rado (paid) will be my bible for the next couple of weeks, plus this call-to-action (free) I gave us all in January.

• I will keep going back to this article (paid) on how to become a better travel writer as told by expert editors.

• Our very first edition of this newsletter offered a reminder that, as travel writers, we also have a responsibility to public health. It suddenly feels very relevant all over again. Here it is, free for all to read.

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Special offer ending 5 April: £40 annual subscriptions

This is a bonus free email for all subscribers. The paid version of our email has interviews with editors, tips from business and travel industry professionals and occasional calls for pitches directly from the publications themselves. Coming up, we’ve got interviews with Which? Travel’s Rory Boland and AFAR’s Tim Chester, so don’t miss out: become a paid subscriber now.

We’re offering 20% off annual subscriptions if you buy before 5th April, so lower your tax bill by investing in this newsletter and your travel writing career…

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Jobs board

Things are clearly looking up for travel publishers as the jobs market has sprung into action. A number of jobs are going at big name publications like The Times, Conde Nast Traveller and more. Here’s what we’ve found:

• Conde Nast Traveller want an Acting Creative Content Editor. No salary stated here but it asks for “considerable experience”.

• There are two jobs that’ll be shared across travel and some other departments at The Times. The first is a Social Media Journalist role with experience in travel desirable but not required.

• The second Times role is an SEO Journalist position. It doesn’t specify travel on the page, but we’ve been told it’s going to support the travel team.

• A third role at The Times & Sunday Times is specifically for the travel desk and it’s an exciting one. Senior Content Editor. You’ll need commissioning and editing experience in digital.

• A Content Writing job is going at Jack’s Flight Club, the email service that sends out mistake airfares and cheap deals to their subscribers. This one’s a remote role, yay!

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