It’s not often that bloggers from around the world spend time together. The amazing thing about this online interview is that these two bloggers from across the hemispheres have met because of our blogging. Before we did, my teddy bear, Manny traveled with Carol, her beaver, Justin Beaver, and her husband all over Europe and Australia, then went on a cruise with her daughter before returning to us. Carol sent us tons of pictures for Manny’s Travel Blog. Justin Beaver has a travel blog, The Adventures of Justin Beaver.
Welcome Travel Blogger, Carol Sherritt
Hi Carol,
Before we start, I want to say congratulations. As a travel blogger, you’ve just recently had a travel article published in “Queensland Smart Farmer Magazine.” I’m excited for you. We’ve been blogging friends now for about five years. It’s been such a privilege to me to know you. I have a few questions to give a new travel blogger a feel for what they are getting into when they start to blog.
C. At the beginning of 2012, I completed a five-week course on travel writing through the Australian Writers’ Centre. I decided to start a travel blog as a way of putting into practice the techniques and skills I learned in the course. Since then, I’ve had travel stories published on the Wyndham Travel website and HitchHikersHandbook.com and in the Fernwood Members’ Magazine’ The current story in Queensland Smart Farmer magazine is my third for them, and another story will be included in the July issue
M. That’s wonderful, Carol. I know being a travel blogger published in travel magazines fulfills a dream you had before you ever started to blog.
Tell us about your blogs.
C. My main blog is The Eternal Traveller, which features stories about our travels in Australia and around the world. I also write The Adventures of Justin Beaver, which is a lighthearted look at travel from the point of view of Justin Beaver, Yodeling World Traveller.
M. We’ve had a lot of fun interacting with Justin Beaver over the years. Too bad he’s not here today to have an A+ interview as well. It was fun to see how people reacted to him in person. You’ve specialized as a travel blogger, and you have another blog as well. This next question is one that I struggled with so much as a new blogger.
How do you manage to maintain a regular, consistent schedule of blogging and work full time, and travel so much as well?
C. I aim to write one post a week for each blog, and sometimes I add an extra post for the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge as well. I work as a Primary School Teacher in Special Education, and we usually travel in school holidays. I enjoy quilting, baking, and growing roses as well as writing, and I often joke that if I could do everything all at once and not have to sleep, I would be able to achieve so much more. I even wrote a picture book manuscript about that idea!
M. We took the picture book class together. We both struggled “with the show don’t tell strategy.” Neither of us has pursued having any of our drafts published. There’s not enough time to do everything, and we make choices! Your photographs are fabulous, by the way.
What advice do you have about taking pictures and using them on your blog?
C. Use a good quality camera. I have a Panasonic Lumix TZ60, and I love it. It’s lightweight, and I can carry it all day around my neck. It has a quick response and some great features and settings. When we are on a road trip, I like taking photos while we are driving, and I put the camera on sports mode to reduce blurring and fuzzy pictures. It doesn’t always work, but I’ve got some fantastic photos that way. Before I use photos in my posts, I always reduce the size so that they will upload quickly. I used to add a watermark, but I don’t worry about that anymore. I only use just my best photos to enhance my story, and I don’t put too many photos in a post. And I always make sure my horizon is straight. I try to use my photos as much as possible, but sometimes my husband has taken the perfect picture which I can’t leave out. It’s often the one who gets the most comments, which pleases him greatly.
M. What are the best things and opportunities that have come your way that you would attribute to blogging?
C. The best thing I’ve done is meet up with you and Vince on Maui last January. We had a wonderful holiday and felt like we’d known you forever. It was such a privilege to meet you and your friends in a beautiful setting.
C. Another wonderful opportunity which came about through blogging was a caving adventure in Western Australia. We had to wear overalls and helmets with torches on the front, and we went into a cave that is not open to the general public. There are no boardwalks or tracks through the cave. We had to clamber over rocks and crawl through narrow tunnels. It was an amazing experience, and I wrote about it in this story.
M. What advice do you have for a new travel blogger?
C. It’s exciting when you first start writing to look at your stats and see how many views and followers you have. But it takes time to build an audience and the best way to do that is by producing quality writing and positive stories.
C. Beware, blogging is addictive, but it is worth the effort. I have made friends all around the world, and we have been lucky enough to meet up with several international bloggers on our travels. After four years of writing and blogging, I am still constantly amazed and thrilled that people all over the world, who don’t know me, enjoy my writing and come back for more.
Readers, It’s Your Turn
If you enjoyed this post, please forward it to your buddies.
Thanks again for joining us here at Always Write for a cup of coffee and a great interview with our guest blogger, Carol Sherritt. Don’t forget to give her blog a peek! 🙂 To be a guest on Always Write or read other interviews, contact me at tchistorygal@gmail.com.
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Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
21 responses to “Always Write Interview Series: The Eternal Traveler How to Get Published As a Travel Blogger”
[…] How to Get Published as a Travel Blogger – Carol Sherritt […]
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I love the format and variety on your blog–well done!
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Thank you so much, Henry. I had a web developer help me tweak it so that it looks more uniform. The company is ARRC, and the name of the developer is Daniel Renteria.
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🙂 🙂 🙂
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You’ll be the first to know Marsha, you bet…how great that would be! 🙂
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Yeah!!! 🙂 It would be great! 🙂
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Wow…that’s amazing, how wonderful you got to do that! Hawaii is a place I’ve always wanted to go. Can you believe I lived in CA almost 20 years and never made it there? Determined to get there one of these days/ years though! California is in my blood and always will be and oh, God willin’ and the creek don’t rise, as ‘they’ say, I really hope to get back there and soon! Have a great day Marsha 🙂
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You too, Sherri. If you ever do get out here, you know you have to come see me! 🙂
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How lovely to meet your dear friend Carol and her travel blog experiences… and to think you’ve met too on such a fantastic holiday! It is a wonderful thing, I’ve met a few bloggers but not internationally – yet! Really enjoyed your interview, both questions and answers, thank you Marsha 🙂
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Thanks Sherri. She goes all over the world with her husband. They met us last year in Hawaii, and we had a blast together. It’s rare to be able to do that, but we did it. Hopefully some day you will get back to CA. 🙂
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Well you are just a sweety, and your posts are always so engaging, it’s hard to skip over your blog. 🙂 Really! ❤
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Awwww. Thank you so much, Debby. 🙂
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It’s been great to get to know Carol through her blogs. I think she was the first person ever to comment on my blog, and she still comments regularly. She’s a great encouragement. A nice article about her Marsha!
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Thank you. She is encouraging, isn’t she. I wrote this post when I first started this blog, and few commented or even saw it. So I updated it and posted it again. It takes a while to start up a new blog even if you’ve had a following on a former blog. When I decided to monetize, I started Always Write, but I was torn about what to do with my other blog. I decided to keep it because it was my first love. I’m glad I did. 🙂
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🙂 How lovely. It’s funny how we can remember our earliest blogging friends here. 🙂
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It’s easy when they are still close friends! 🙂 Carol is adorable. She likes everything on all the social media and comments on every post, just like you do. It’s all I can do to get them written, and she’s already liked them. No wonder I love you both. 🙂
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Lovely to learn about Carol and for her to share her great experience in travel writing. 🙂
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You would love her. She was one of my first great blogging friends. 🙂
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A really interesting post! Before I heard of blogging many years ago, I had toyed with the idea of being a travel writer. I had no clue about it, bought a couple books I never read, then blogging began. I think travel bloggers have got to have some world wide experience, which I don’t have! Good luck with your mailing list!
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You and Carol would be great friends. You should visit her blog and get acquainted. Like you, she’s a teacher, and very good at everything she does. She loves adventure. Thanks. I have one more sign up! 🙂
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4.5
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