It's been a hectic couple of months since I returned from Barbados and started life as a full-time freelance writer - good for the most part, but definitely a little crazy. I thought I'd post a few links and notes explaining what I've been up to, and where I'm headed next.

The adjustment has been harder than I expected, actually. Turns out I was better at squeezing large amounts of productivity into small allotments of time - churning out blog items from 5am to 7am before heading off to do the 9-to-5 thing at my day job, say - than I am at putting in a full day's writing work at the computer. So that side of things - discipline and time management in a lower-pressure situation than I'm used to - is a work in progress. Funnily enough, I was more productive during a week in New York City in late May (again, squeezing in hours at the computer in the mornings or evenings, or taking my laptop to Bryant Park after a lunch in Chinatown) than I had been in the previous week, alone in my Ottawa apartment.

Ah well. I'm sure it will come together soon. Besides, it would be worse to be a travel writer who can work at home but not on the road, than it is to be a travel writer who can get things done even in exciting places full of distractions, right? I mean, if I can work in NYC - one of my absolute favourite places in the world - then I can work anywhere, don't you think?

Good thing, because I'll be on the road again soon.

Originally, I was supposed to leave for New Orleans in early July, and spend almost all of July and August there. Unsurprisingly, though, plans have changed - I've pushed my departure back to mid-July, for a start, and will probably only wind up spending two or three weeks (at most) in the city - so my planned extended stay will have to wait for another time. Instead, in late July I'll go overland from NOLA to San Francisco, hopefully with some fun and exciting South Western stops along the way. And from San Francisco, I'll be flying to Beijing for a week (!!!), on a whirlwind tour that will mark my first press trip. I'll be guided/frog-marched to all the major area highlights - Great Wall, Forbidden City, Ming Tombs, etc, plus a bonus trip to the Athletes Village just as the Games get underway (!) - in five days flat. Remind me to plant some trees or buy some carbon offsets or something when I get back.

Post-Beijing, I'll hang in San Francisco for a bit, check out the Book Passage conference (the evening events are open to the public, FYI! if you're in the Bay area, you should swing by) and of course, hit the Matador party on August 16th! Then it's back to New Orleans, and home to Ottawa in early September, where I will crash on an assortment of couches until a wedding in early October.

And then, where next? Who knows!

Writing-wise, things have been coming together. As always, Matador has been a huge part of my progress - it was an email from Ross about the new Matador Network blogs that set the wheels in motion for me to quit my job and take the plunge into full-time writing, several months ahead of schedule. (If you haven't already checked out Matador Pulse, co-edited by Julie and me, please do!) But I have to admit, I did jump without a net - and without quite knowing how I was going to pay the bills. Since then, a few opportunities have come my way that have let me know I made the right call. For a start, I've more than doubled my blogging output at World Hum - look for up to 10 posts a week from me there - and have a few more features for them in the works as well. I've also been upgraded from blogger to 'contributing editor' there, and though I'm not sure what tangible change that entails, it makes me really, really happy!

Outside of blogging, most of my travel writing experience has come from my local paper, the Ottawa Citizen, and I've expanded my relationship with its travel editor recently. I'm working on a series of 'Daytripping' Q&A-style columns for the paper - part of the reason why I pushed my flight back, since I could hardly research them from Louisiana! - and the first one was published last week. (The Q&A was more clearly formatted in the print version...) The focus is on family-friendly, affordable fun for the most part, but I've been able to do some cool stuff - whitewater rafting, for one, and a scouring of a rural county for the best 'buy local' food outlets. (I put together some writing advice related to this experience in a Pulse post: Travel Writing: Think Local, Act Local.) I've also discovered the joys of syndication - the Citizen is part of a nationwide chain of newspapers, encompassing most of Canada's major dailies, and this story about the best English cathedral towns has made the rounds from coast to coast now. (Note that since media near-monopolies hold all the cards, freelancers don't get paid extra every time they re-print a story in another one of their papers - but it still makes for some nice padding on my resume.)

Meanwhile, my sideline as an amateur movie reviewer continues - my latest review is of The Decline of the American Empire, the prequel to the Oscar-winning The Barbarian Invasions, and may be of interest to those of you who've ever debated the state of Western civilization with me over at BNT. (Here's lookin' at you, Daniel! :P)

Alright, this is getting long, and I suppose for anyone who's made it this far you're all caught up on where I am, geographically and professionally. I gave up my apartment in Ottawa at the end of June, and I'm hanging out at my mom's place in the country until I fly to New Orleans. It's peaceful and sunny and adorably rural, but I'll look forward to starting out on my next big trip, and to blogging about my adventures from the road!