Sheila Scarborough has serious travel writing cred — especially in travel blogging circles. Her blog with the BootsnAll Travel Network, Family Travel Logue, has caught the attention of publications like Real Simple and The Guardian newspaper. The Telegraph newspaper called her blog on of the “world’s best travel blogs.” Sheila also blogs at the Perceptive Travel Blog and maintains her own website.

Just because I mentioned Sheila’s blogging credentials, though, don’t think that’s all she does. She’s written for National Geographic Traveler, Texas Highways, Transitions Abroad, CHOW.com and plenty of other publications. Even better, at least from our point of view, Sheila agreed to answer some questions about her career as a freelance travel writer. I’ve posted the Q and A below.

How did you get started in travel writing? What’s your background and education?

I did some writing about maritime topics during my almost 23 years of active duty in the Navy. I decided when I left the military that since I love to write and love to travel, I would combine the two. People make a living at that somehow, right? I have a very useful Plan II/liberal arts Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and a currently less-used Master’s in National Security Affairs and Strategic Studies from the US Naval War College.

Do you have a certain niche within travel writing that you cover? How did you wind up covering that niche?

I started out blogging about family travel, because it’s best to write about what you know, especially when you’re new (and everyone is an expert at something, even newbies.) My parents took me all over on their travels, and I do the same with my kids, who are 16 and 9. I signed up for a free traveler’s blog on the BootsnAll Travel Network because I thought it would give me a built-in audience so that someone besides me and my Mom would read my work. I found out about BootsnAll from an author at the Texas Book Festival, ironically.

What’s the biggest difference between writing about travel for an online market and for a print market?

• Online writing is more conversational (but that doesn’t mean it can be sloppy. It takes work to make it look easy.) You must be able to ruthlessly self-edit online, because there’s no one there to edit you. That’s why I like it, but the burden to produce my best work is entirely on me.
• Online work requires speed and the ability to not only see that something is a potential story or a blog post, but to know whether the story is better told through writing, or photos, or video or a combination. Then, you have to have the skills to execute any or all of those, get the story out there and know also how to market it so that people find your work.
• Online work lives forever, and can contain elements that extend the words even further if they’re well-described and tagged. For example, the photos and videos within a blog post can also reside on Flickr and YouTube, potentially reaching a wider audience, especially if you link all of them together. You’ve GOT to know how to link and tag effectively, so learn to think like a searching brain or search engine. You can pull people to your online work from so many different directions – links on Facebook, on Twitter, on LinkedIn, with StumbleUpon and Delicious.
• Print, if it is not also put online, comes out, looks pretty and then goes into the recycling bin to die. It doesn’t have the same long-term reach. Print articles that are put on the Web must also be made online-friendly, not simply copied/pasted from print to the Web using “shovelware.” I hate seeing a former print article stuck online without any links; what a waste of potential.

Do you prefer blogging about travel, or writing articles? Why?

I prefer blogging, no question. There are so many travel publications that I’d love to blog for rather than write print articles for, if only they’d pay me the same amounts. I prefer it because it’s more timely and more conversational, and I’m less constrained by word count problems. I’m tired of being told that a 1200 word assignment is now 400 words, thankyouverymuch. I’d rather craft three really good 400 word blog posts about a destination, really zero in on my topic instead of having to cut out great nuggets. I spent TIME in that town, dangit, so let me write about it! When I AM let loose to do a 1200-1500 word story, I do enjoy the longer flow, as long as the publication also puts the whole thing online.

How do you find new topics or ideas for articles and blog posts?

I carry an old-school notebook (used to be called a Steno pad.) It can survive being dropped and rained on, and it always boots up and never needs recharging. I write down everything; I keep a pad of paper and pen next to my bed and I swear I should keep them in the bathroom, too! Everything has bloggy potential if you pay attention. Notice details, and zero right in on them. There are seasonal topics (summer and the Thanksgiving holiday, amazingly, happen every year at the same time.) Wherever you go, you’re staying somewhere and eating somewhere and taking transportation somewhere and shopping somewhere, so write about it in an engaging manner. Write about whatever has you annoyed, frustrated or excited, because chances are, another traveler will have or has had the same experiences or concerns. Always ask yourself what your audience would find helpful to know, then provide it.

What’s the next step for you? How will you take your career even farther?

I want to teach travel and tourism organizations and Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus how to employ social media to reach potential customers. One-time workshops, a continuing client basis – I don’t care, I just want to show them how to find the people who might be interested in their destination. At the same time, I want to get a lot smarter about mobile technology and about travel-related apps for smartphones. Right now, potential visitors are driving through some CVBs bailiwick, scrolling their iPhone/BlackBerry/Google phone looking for information, and the CVB is busy tinkering with their Web site for the umpteenth time or printing brochures, instead of reaching that visitor. Makes me crazy.

If you could offer just one tip to aspiring travel writers, what would it be?

Go with who you are and what you know. If you are a woman under 30 living in a town, for example, then you have a certain perspective and knowledge base that some travel publication may be interested in tapping. If you are a man over 50 in the same town, you have a different perspective, but there’s a publication that wants your voice, too. Take the time to research lots of travel publications, online and print, and strongly consider pitching your very own backyard. My first successful national-level magazine pitch was about a backroad near where I lived in Florida, and I pitched a magazine that I’d subscribed to for years, so I knew it really well.