Portrait of Travel Writer Claire Polders in Seoul
Interviews,  On Life,  On Writing and Art,  Wander, Wonder, Write

Travel Writer Profile

Travel writer Rolf Potts, whose book “The Vagabond’s Way” I recommend, interviewed me about my nomadic life and the challenges of writing while on the road. A quote:

“The more I travel, the more I want to write about what I experience day by day. I want to get my impressions on the page as soon as possible. But there are books to finish, deadlines to meet, emails to respond to, submissions to follow up on. I cannot afford to spend all my writing hours on a new piece. I’m still looking for a way to work on book-length projects with focus while braiding in the new insights I gain every day.”

Please head over to Rolf Potts’s website to read the entire travel writer profile. I speak about other travel writers I recommend and give some advice for authors.


For more about my traveling and writing, check out the interviews in:

  • Farsickness—interview by Megan Harlan
    On traveling, living abroad, and the meaning of place and water in my writing
  • Apparel for Authors interview by Marcelle Heath
    On the clothes I wear for author events
  • The Provincetown Independent interview by Susannah Elisabeth Fulcher
    On my life in Vietnam during the pandemic

A JOURNEY IS A GOOD PRETEXT TO SEEK CHANGE IN LIFE

“For many people, the decision to depart on a long-dreamed-of journey is tied in with life transition—not just the time-honored travel impetus of school graduation, but the end of an employment contract, the end of a relationship, or the beginning of a new sense of life purpose. At home, we spend so many hours trapped in routines and obligations—sitting at desks, sitting in traffic-clogged commutes, sitting in front of entertainment screens—that we lose track of who we are and who we might become. On the road, away from those routines and obligations, we can, at the very least, find perspective.

Hence, travel is not just a pretext to behold sights and have experiences you previously knew only in your imagination; it’s a chance to try out new versions of yourself as you come into a relationship with new places.”

From “The Vagabond’s Way” by Rolf Potts