I’m honored to have met many talented authors from social media and I’m especially delighted when I read an Indie author. That’s why I asked Margie Miklas, experienced and award-wining travel writer, blogger and author to do a guest editorial for you.

Marge and I have not met in person but I’ve come to know her a little from online interactions through Twitter and Facebook. Margie and I shared – and share – a love of Italy (those who know me, know I lived there for several years while I was in the military), a love of good Italian wines and food, and love of travel. When I found out that Margie had Italian roots, traveled to Italy often and wrote about her adventures, well, as has been said, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” We also share a love of photography.

Margie has written two books about her adventures (see below), is an award-winning travel blogger and just recently published a beautiful, coffee table book full of the most gorgeous photographs of Italy you might imagine. She offers perspective, detail,  and her love and enthusiasm for Italy ooze from her.

But she is like the rest of us, too, in that she is learning her way through the publishing quagmire and all the oddities that go with becoming an Indie author. Unlike so many of us, however, Margie has been successful. So I wanted her to talk to you about her journey and experiences.  Thank you, Margie, for honoring me with a visit and I look forward to reading about your continuing adventures!

Margie, take it away…

Some Thoughts on Becoming a Travel Writer

by Margie Miklas

I am honored that my friend and award-winning author, Sherry Rentschler, has invited me to guest post on her brand new site. Thank you so much Sherry. I really appreciate this opportunity.

I believe we can do many things in our lives, no matter the age we might be. A year ago I retired from a satisfying career as a critical-care nurse, and I love the fact that I now have more time to devote to my passions. If you are familiar with my blog or my books, you know that Italy is very close to my heart. I can never seem to get enough of Bella Italia, and I travel there as often as I the opportunity arises. So, of course, writing about my Italy experiences and all things Italian is my passion in life.

I had no idea writing limericks as a child, and creating and editing headlines for our high school newspaper, would foreshadow my future as a travel blogger and a published author. My letters to the editor and my satirical hospital newsletters I wrote were just warm-ups, I guess.

Five years ago I started a travel blog because I wanted a way for my family and friends to be able to follow me while I traveled through Italy alone for three months. The blog was a great way to detail my adventures in word and photos. I found that I enjoyed the comments left by my readers, and the engagement created a way for me to feel connected while I was traveling solo.

Social media was also a way to update my friends, and at that time, Facebook was it. I had no idea about Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. Since then, it has become another story, and an important one as far as networking and engaging others with similar interests. But that is another entire post.

After I returned from Italy, I realized that I had a lot more to say, and I decided to write a book based on my travel blog. And that led to a second book, and a third.

I think what determines a writer’s success is passion. When he or she writes from the heart and writes about something for which he or she feels a connection, that is passion. In my earlier writing days, before my blog, I wrote many articles for various online websites, basically content mills, and was happy to be paid a small sum for each article. Some of what I wrote about was related to health and the medical field. When I wrote about travel, and especially about Italy, I felt much more enthused. Frankly, I think the writing was better too, because my heart was in it. So my advice to writers is to write about what moves you. I enjoy reading stories from writers when they write about a personal experience. I find these stories to be inspiring and I have since followed these writers’ blogs and ordered their books.

Another aspect of my writing encompasses photography. I have always enjoyed capturing my experiences with my camera, and have posted thousands of photos on my blog. But in a book comprised mostly of text, photos do not look that great at all, especially in self-published books like my first two. The paper does not do justice to the photos and the formatting frequently gets messed up, with photos not aligned properly and a multitude of other problems.

That is why I was so thrilled to discover a printing company in Canada that made it possible for me to publish a photography book. It has been a dream of mine for more than ten years, and I must thank Sherry for her continued encouragement to finally make it happen. I needed to be assured that the printing quality would be high enough and that the cost could be maintained at an affordable rate. The answer is offset printing, which is different from print-on-demand. With offset printing I had to purchase a large quantity of books upfront, to enable the printing cost per book to be reduced to an affordable sale price.

The other aspect of this is that I needed to teach myself how to work with Adobe InDesign, since I had to format the book and lay out every photo on every page. I learned a lot during this time and the printing company offered wonderful technical support during the process. So if anyone believes the old saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” I am here to tell you that is a myth. If you are determined and want something badly enough, you will make it happen.

As someone wrote in a review of my first book, “determination and open-mindedness will allow you to have experiences far beyond your expectations. Age does not matter.” The message is empowering and I would encourage all writers to make this part of your process. I remind myself of this on a daily basis.

–Margie Miklas Margie is an American writer and photographer with a passion for Italy. She writes the blog, margieinitaly. Follow her on Twitter, FaceBook , Instagram, and Pinterest. She is the author of the award-winning book, Memoirs of a Solo Traveler – My Love Affair with Italy and also My Love Affair with Sicily and the recently released Colors of Naples and the Amalfi Coast.