Finally- I Can Say I am a Paid Travel Writer

One of my goals this year was to be published in a national magazine. I am not quite there yet, but a recent Disney article I wrote is featured on Travel and Leisure’s web site:

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/how-to-save-disney-vacation.

It’s a great honor to be featured and finally say I’m a paid writer; although, I won’t be retiring to Scottsdale any time soon.

If you haven’t tried pitching to magazines, let me tell you it’s brutal business. The competition is fierce. Many magazines won’t even review your work unless you have 3 previous articles nationally published. When you send your query, you are often waiting 3-4 months for it to be reviewed, and if it’s rejected you’ll never know. You just won’t hear anything. After sending about 30 queries, I heard from Travel and Leisure as well as got some interest from AAA Mid-South and possibly Costco Connection (It’s in a consideration pile for their home and garden issue. I won’t hold my breath).

After much thought, I decided that writing a book about customer service would make better use of my time. I stopped sending queries to magazines in September, hoping that Glamour would still come knocking on my door. After all, I must have sent them 3-4 story ideas. That is truly my dream magazine to be published in.

What is nice about my T&L  article is that it’s introduces many people to a way to save at Disney that isn’t well known. When you are a Disney Vacation Club Owner you have a considerable up-front investment ($20,000 isn’t out of the question) and also pay annual dues approaching $1000. It only makes sense for a select few who go to Disney routinely and always want to stay at a Deluxe resort. You can save some money buying into the club second-hand, but you won’t have use of the points for as long as you would otherwise. It will depend on how long the other person owned their membership.

By renting points from an owner, you are enjoying the perks of being a Disney guest and truly saving thousands of dollars over a week long trip. It seems too good to be true, but it really isn’t. You are paying the owner a premium to use their points, but it’s still a great deal. So great in fact, we’ve considered selling our membership and renting points instead.

I hope you will view my article and share it with your friends and family. Blackie, Cookie and J.J. are counting on you. If you have no idea who they are, read my last blog, “for the love of cats”. By the way, did you see the latest news on cats? Apparently, they really want to kill us:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/10/31/cat-lion-psychological-traits/74941388/