A Few Frequently asked Questions

Is travel guide writing a dream job? Close to it. It's never offered security but in the good times it has offered a decent fee, expenses, trave, autonomy, creativity and a challenge. What more could you ask for? For a while I had one of the best jobs in the business, creating illustrated travel guides for Dorling Kindersley.

Did you set out to be a travel writer? No. As so often happens, I stumbled into it as a career. I wanted to write books rather than articles for newspapers and magazines and as I was living in Spain, that became my subject. I updated a guide for Berlitz (spending more in petrol than I earned as a fee) and then landed a job as researcher for Charming Small Hotels Guides. What you've done tends to dictate what you are going to do, and I branded myself as a writer on Spain.

Have you any advice for a freelance journalist/writer starting out? Lot. I get emails every now and then from students who want to go to Spain to become writers. There are some dos and don'ts but every rule can be broken. I don't believe that journalistic training is as much use as it is cracked up to be: some things you have to find out the hard way. I do believe you need to be humble and persistent. I'm writing a book on practical advice for setting up and living as a freelance, if you'd like to order a copy in advance, let me know.

Which countries would you still like to visit? None specifically. I decided long ago that I would rather know a part of the world well rather than the whole world only partly. There are still a few corners of Spain I don't know, and France could keep a curious mind occupied for a lifetime.

Do you always know what you are talking about? In travel writing I often have to sum up a complex subject in a few words. If I'm working with a healthy budget for the project, I employ an expert. If not, I do the research myself. In all writing (and conservation, for that matter) I think the key is to know what you do not know and be honest about it. A jobbing writer plays the wise fool and tries to get an overview and express it in plain language.

What are you going to do next? I'd like to write a couple of books on Spain and France and tackle other non-fiction subjects, including politics - I have a lot more to say on the subject after writing Politipedia. I also want to write novels and plays, especially radio plays.

Last updated January 2008.
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