Travel research at the Blue Lagoon, Iceland
I started my travel writing career in 1995 writing features for newspapers nationwide, and had a regular travel column in the Pittsburgh Senior News for several years. My work appeared in magazines like Pennsylvania, Rock & Gem, Blue Ridge Country, and Backpacker in my early days.
In all, I’ve had more than 1,000 articles published and paid for over the course of my career, but I cut way back on pitching to print publications when I started writing guidebooks in 2001.
Between 2008 and 2011, I authored an Electronic Media column for each issue of the SATW Traveler, a bi-monthly newsletter available only to members of the Society of American Travel Writers.
In addition to those articles, I’ve had the following articles and photos published in recent years while juggling research for 2-3 books a year and projects for tourism promotion.
PRINT PUBLICATIONS
- Tracing Historic Hoofprints on Virginia’s Eastern Shore (AAA Tidewater Traveler, May 2016
- Celebrate the Outdoors (2016 Travel Guide to Florida)
- PHOTO: Tosohatchee Reserve (Backpacker, May 2015 page 71)
- Embrace the Wild (2015 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Discovering Florida – Itineraries (DK Publishing Eyewitness Guides, 2014)
- Bunking with Nature (2014 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Go Wild in Florida (2014 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Wakulla County: The Great Outdoors (2014 Travel Guide to Florida)
- PHOTO: Appalachian Trail Conservancy 2014 Calendar, April.
- PHOTO: Cover of Red Stick One (a novel)
- Family-Friendly Hiking Trails (Playground Magazine, Oct 2013)
- Take a Load Off: Hospitality in Hot Springs, NC (AT Journeys, Sep/Oct 2013)
- The Big O (Healthy Living, Sep 2013)
- Gettysburg: Monumental History (AT Journeys, Jul/Aug 2013)
- Unbridled Beauty: Mackinac Island (Ocala Style, May 2013)
- Ecotourism Delights (2013 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Northwest Florida: A Special Place in Time (2013 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Immersing in Nature: Filmmaker Elam Stoltzfus (VIRES, Winter 2012)
- A Beach Lover’s Paradise (2012 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Outdoor Treks (2012 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Northwest Florida: A Unique Sense of Place (2012 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Enjoying the Journey (Ocala Style, Oct 2011)
- Swamp Stomping on the Florida Trail (Your National Forests, Winter-Spring 2011)
- Great Hiking in Florida (2011 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Down by the Seashore (2011 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Northwest Florida: Explore Hidden Treasures (2011 Travel Guide to Florida)
- Eureka Springs: Victorian Whimsy in the Ozarks (Pilot Getaways, Jul/Aug 2009)
- Daytona Beach: Surf & Speed on the Atlantic (Pilot Getaways, May/Jun 2009)
- Wakulla County: The Wilderness Coast of Florida’s Panhandle (Pilot Getaways, Jan/Feb 2009)
- Ups and Downs (AAA Worth the Drive 2009)
- Cattle Drive (AAA Worth the Drive 2009)
- Forest Trail (AAA Worth the Drive 2010)
- Apalachicola: Eats, Arts, and Architecture on Florida’s Forgotten Coast (Pilot Getaways, Sep/Oct 2008)
- Retro Road Trippin’ on the Florida Panhandle (Interval World, Summer 2008)
- Franklin/Cashiers NC: Gems of the Blue Ridge (Pilot Getaways, Mar/Apr 2008)
- Madison: A Capital Suggestion (Pilot Getaways, Jan/Feb 2008)
- River Country (AAA Worth the Drive 2008)
- Suwannee Valley: Warm Up in Old Florida (Pilot Getaways, Nov/Dec 2007)
- Venice, Florida: Style by the Sea (Pilot Getaways May/Jun 2007)
- Michigan’s Keweenaw: Mines, Mountains, and Moose (Pilot Getaways May/Jun 2007)
- Grand Romance on Mackinac Island (Pilot Getaways, Sep/Oct 2006)
ONLINE
Florida Hikes – Founded in 2006, Florida’s top resource for outdoor recreation information, with more than 2.6 million impressions annually.
Trails & Travel – At the intersection of travel and the outdoors, follow the journeys that my husband John Keatley and I take. This is the Travel section of FloridaHikes.com, branded under its own URL in 2018.
Bindu Trips – Building on a base of app content brought over from the defunct Sutro Media apps, my contributions to Bindu Trips are itineraries for travel in Florida.
Natural North Florida – From December 2014 – May 2015 I was contracted to produce two blogs a month for VisitNaturalNorthFlorida.com. While the contract only required one image and a small amount of text per month, I took the opportunity to showcase rarely known features in the region with longer articles.
Buckettripper In 2011, I joined fellow SATW member Karen Berger in forming Buckettripper, an online magazine for experiential travel. We had top-notch contributors and have won numerous awards from SATW and NATJA since founding the site. The magazine closed in late 2017. The articles I contributed to it have been moved to Trails & Travel.
USDA Forest Service – Content, including articles and images, for Ocala National Forest (2009-2010) and National Forests in Florida (2011)
Triporati – Regular contributor to Triporati.com covering Florida destinations (2008-2011)
Visit Glades – Content, including articles, images, and video for Glades County Tourism (2009-2010)
Walking Down a Dream – Written content for Walking Down a Dream, photographer Bart Smith’s site on his National Scenic Trail journeys.
VISIT FLORIDA – More than 20 articles written on assignment for VISITFLORIDA.com, the top travel planning site in Florida (2006-2012)