Last quarter was busy, and it included a trip to London to attend the Stanford Dolman Travel Writing Awards. I was a judge on the Travel Book of the Year panel. I had a live interview with Colin Thubron, Monisha Rajesh, and Tharik Hussain at Stanfords in Covent Garden the night before the awards.
I’m not someone who likes to gather in groups (a pre-pandemic inclination), but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good to meet people, rub shoulders with other writers, and talk about books and ideas. Having a sense of community is important, which is perhaps why I lean on my Twitter community so much in the absence of a real travel literature community here in Central Florida.
I’ve booked my tickets (on airline miles, thank you very much) for Bolivia and India this fall, with another, shorter trip in mind between the two.
These are work/research trips, not holidays, and I’m considering doing pop-up newsletters while I’m abroad to hold me accountable. Though, I’ll be traveling light, without a computer, and in places without reliable internet (the Andes and the Himalaya), so I’ll need to think harder about the idea’s feasibility and whether I can pull it off. More on this soon.
I’ve been thinking about what I’ll do with Travel Writing World while I’m away.
A part of me wants to line up interviews and schedule them out ahead of time, but another part of me is resisting the urge to create “content” just for the sake of creating “content” and keeping a schedule. I’ve found my interviews and interview prep have been cutting into the time I’ve set aside for trip reading and research. I’ve thought: “Heck. This is my podcast. I’m not beholden to anyone else. Why am I stressing over a schedule I set myself?”
“In every cry of every Man, […] The mind-forg’d manacles I hear,” says Blake.
In other news, I’ve scaled back my Postcards newsletter from weekly to monthly emails.
Why? I skipped a few weeks in March as I was in London. I didn’t want to burden myself with another newsletter project when I had more urgent projects to deal with. Simply put, I didn’t feel like editing and posting another batch of photos when I faced with the option of meeting writers in London. And, when I got back, I got caught in a research wormhole.
Anyway, I’ll send out a new email postcard on the 15th of each month beginning April. Once a month seems more manageable.
But this got me thinking: creative work often involves rhythm, method, and habit. And I’m not sure creativity should be constrained or forced. Sure, I understand that urge to “show up and do the work” whether they feel like it or not — to do the work consistently. But, if you’re like me and have too many creative projects swirling around upstairs, setting priorities is not only helpful but necessary… especially when those priorities are other creative projects.
Anyway, dear friends, time to wrap up.
Q1 was fun and productive (see the first three Genius Loci newsletters of 2022 to see what we made).
Q2 will be similar, I’m sure.
The picture becomes less clear after that. But you may see a slight change in the type of work I do in Q3 and Q4 as I am off on sabbatical. If so, rest assure that it will be temporary.
— Jeremy