When I was first introduced to the online travel community more than a year ago, I was confused as to why everyone expected me to start an amateur blog . Who would read it besides my mom? What would I write about? And WHAT was the purpose?
I’d been working in magazines since college, so writing just for kicks, for my new friends who I’d never met across the world, seemed a bit ridiculous. And self-published, free eBooks? Give me a break. It’s not that I looked down on all of it… I just didn’t get it. I was in a period of my life, after losing my job, where I wanted to slow down – not add extra projects that appeared to take a lot of time for little or no monetary profit. And so I stayed far away.
Twelve months later, I have changed my mind. In fact, not only do I think the amateur blogging universe is extremely important to the future of professional writing, but I also think that even journalism snobs should have a lot more respect for it. Here’s why.