No matter your passion, following it is sure to lead to a happier life. Travel writing, for many, is a way to combine a love for travel, learning, writing, and photography - and, possibly, make a living out of it. Since I am a beginning travel writer, I was excited to be able to talk to Malerie Yolen-Cohen, an experienced writer who turned her passion for travel into a career.

Mrs. Yolen-Cohen has written profiles and a religious column for a newspaper. Now a full time travel writer, she still considers herself a journalist, as she writes travel articles for magazines and newspapers. Mrs. Yolen-Cohen graduated with a psychology degree and a minor in journalism. However, she originally worked as a stockbroker. It was later that she began her writing career. “I love travel,” she said, “so I’ve gravitated toward that [travel writing] over the course of 15 years.” In 1998, she sold her first travel article to a magazine.

Here’s what Mrs. Yolen-Cohen had to say about travel writing, following her passion, and more…

Is travel writing your sole occupation?

Yes, now it is. I write for print newspapers and magazines. I also blog.

How do you monetize your writing?

For now, the blogging is not monetized. The blog I’m working on now is also a platform for travel guides. So that’s how I’m looking to monetize it. Through selling books.

Do you collaborate with other writers?

Yes. For my website Getaway Mavens, my partner is Sandra Foyt. And her blog is called Albany Kid. She knows a lot more about SEO, search engines, and blogging than I do, but she’s also a travel writer. So I write a lot of the content and she does a lot of the computer and technical stuff.

Do you have a favorite topic to write about?

I love New England. I like the fact that there’s mountains and water, there’s oceans. You can go boating, you can go skiing. It’s so varied and it’s all here, within a few hours of drive. My favorite topic is local offbeat travel. I think that there’s so much to see in this part of the United States, but certainly in the U.S. And even though I’ve written about international cities and other parts of the world, I still love the United States and I think that some of the most beautiful things are here. […] Ever since I was your age, even beforehand, I’ve loved traveling and telling people about the unusual things and the neat things to find.

What do you do when you have writers block?

It’s very rare that I have writer’s block. Only because I’m not making things up, I’m not writing fiction. I’m not being creative in that way. My type of writing, like all travel writers, is I go somewhere, and I take a lot of notes and I talk to a lot of people and I have experiences. I start transcribing my notes as soon as I get home and while I’m transcribing I’m also writing. Kind of polishing it up. So I’m always writing. It’s very difficult to be blocked when I have my notes in front of me and I know what I want to convey and what I want to say. Then, after I get that all down, then it’s just a matter of going back and reading it and seeing if it flows well, if it’s polished, if it sounds interesting, or if anything sounds confusing. I probably go through about 15 to 20 drafts. So I don’t just write it and then expect it to be done. I keep going over and over and over and over and I put it aside for a day or two days and then I look at it again. Sometimes perspective is the best thing. And rest. When you’re tired it’s hard to write.

How has choosing travel writing as a career affected your daily life?

It takes me out of the house more. When I was raising my kids it was very hard to do, unless I was doing family travel writing. A lot of times I would bring my children along with me and write about places that I go with them. […] I was doing a lot by phone and interviewing by phone. When I first started, there wasn’t a lot online. A lot was being done through snail mail and over the phone. So it was hard to collect information. But I also found that when I would talk to people or read brochures and that kind of thing, it never told the whole story. I’m an empty nester right now […] when the youngest one left for college, it was much easier for me to get up and go and be a travel writer.  But I know a lot of people with young children who are able to do it and they do family travel writing. I never did family travel writing as a niche, but there are people who are very successful at it.

What’s your least favorite thing about travel writing?

Well, sometimes when I have a deadline and I’m tired or I’m sick (which doesn’t happen often, but it has happened), it’s hard because you have to force yourself. And sometimes you force yourself to write and your writing is not optimum. So it’s not the best that it can be. It happens rarely but that’s what I consider the worst thing.

And what is your favorite thing about travel writing?

I meet great people. I meet people with the same passions I have for travel. I eat very well because a lot of the people have very good restaurants and are proud of their restaurants, so they invite writers who they want to impress. And, you know, it puts me in touch with people I wouldn’t ordinarily meet. I’m always impressed with the passion that people have, whether they’re opening up bed and breakfasts or a restaurant. Everybody has great stories to tell. Ultimately, travel writing is really about storytelling and the history of a place and the people who make that place home. I love those kinds of stories.

Where would you like to go that you haven’t been yet?

You know, I haven’t been to South America yet. And I have a lot of cousins in Brazil.  I’d like to go there and I’d like to go to Argentina. We’re going as a family to Peru later this year. So I would say South America and Iceland - I’ve never been there and I’d like to.

Mrs. Yolen-Cohen has also written a book entitled Stay on Route 6, available on Amazon, that follows Route 6 all the way from Massachusetts to California based on the month and a half road trip she took herself.
  

Thank you to Malerie Yolen-Cohen for taking the time to conduct this interview and share her insight on leading a passion-driven life.

Kathryn Blanco is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program

Photo courtesy of Maleri Yolen-Cohen