How to Become a Travel Writer

A few years back a friend of mine took me out to eat with several recent college graduates. As soon as I was introduced as a novelist, the cheerful, sangria-fueled table stopped chattering as my new friends tried to digest exactly what that meant. “So…you…write…books.” It reminded me of one of the first questions I was asked at a reading after my first book came out: “What’s the difference between, like, fiction and a novel?” Since that rea…