Travel helps you fill out small details of your writing projects. These were some of ideas that I gathered while traveling. Some will be used in future projects.

1. From my trip, I absorbed many small details, which eased their way into my novella, Second Chances, a story about renewal and resurrection in life.

2. People are basically generous. As people opened up to me, I found everyone has a story.

3. I learned about haunted hotels in Galveston, Texas, which is an area of research I’d like to look into.

4. I learned about flood in Galveston, Texas, which killed over 8,000 people in 1908. I’d like to research this story more.

5. On cruise, I took classes in traveling around world safely, which cultivated my desire to travel around world.

6. I also took a class on feng shui, which I found to be useful as a fictional plotting tool. (Pronounced fung- schway, this is ancient Chinese art of manipulating and arranging your surroundings to attract positive life energy, or chi, so it can flow smoothly, unblocking any obstructions in your body and environment. Feng Shui evolved from theory that people are affected for better or worse by their surroundings.)

Most of all, since this trip, I discovered that travel not only broadens a writer’s horizons, it is a lucrative way to make money as a travel writer.

As a writer, how would you like to travel globe and find out how different cultures live? What if you could do this, stay in five-star hotels, and have an all-expense paid for trip? Moreover, what if you could get paid for writing articles about your travels? Wouldn’t it be nice to supplement your income as a novelist?

Bottom line. The largest journey is internal journey that you go on when you travel. I believe best writing should “Tell me something I don’t know.” Therefore, when you travel, you will encounter unknown. Some resources to help you sell articles, including travel articles are following:

1. Writer's Market -- this annual publication lists 8,000 or more (mostly North American) publications that buy articles -- travel and others.

2. Writers & Artists Yearbook -- A directory for writers, artists, playwrights, writers for film, radio, and television, designers, illustrators, and photographers. This is a good resource for British and European markets.

3. The Guardian Media Directory -- Also focuses on British and European markets, this listing contains over 10,000 contacts, from regional newspapers to publishing houses.

Some of you have asked, how do I get their address? Ask for it, and I don’t mean at end of conversation, because many times they won’t give it to you. For those of us in lease purchasing it is easy because our callers have to tell us their address in order for us to go and take a look at property.

For those of you running other types of businesses, you will need to take a long hard look at your telephone script and see how you can modify it to incorporate address as part of your script. Offer something so appealing they are asking you if you want their address so you can send them something!

For those of you that this won’t work for, tell them about your website, or that you would like to send them some special web only offers and see if you can get their address that way.

If all of these fail, invest in a cross checking service, where with your prospects telephone number, you can also gain access to their address!

Copyright 2005 DeFiore Enterprises