I’ve been prone to write State of the Unions in the past, so here’s another:

As many of you may have noticed, the blog has changed quite a bit since its inception in December of 2010. It started as a portfolio and turned into a travel blog, which at first was nothing more than my musings, slowly but surely becoming more professional and, consequently slash unfortunately, less creative. Writing that sentence annoys me in itself, so trust me when I say I wish things were different. But there’s a method to my madness, a scheme and a master plan behind everything that Wake and Wander was, is, and will become. In that sense, I can’t complain, and I promise the passion is still there.

That said, right now this site has to be a blog, a place for me to circulate my work, to facilitate other aspects of my business. The biggest reason for this is a good one: I’m busy. I wish every day could be more like this, but the reality of the situation is not feasible like it once was in the past, when I would post twice a day in a very candid way. That was necessary back then, but unfortunately it has taken a backseat to other types of writing that is more profitable. With the travel industry what it is today, it’s rare that pieces like this one – pieces this talkative – get published anymore. It’s five things this and ten things that, the best this and the untouched that.

This reason for this is two-fold: 1) Publications, especially those online, are less interested in building a relationship with readers and more interested in immediate attention, or in other words, more interested in short term than long term gains and 2) The Internet has allowed non-travelers to be travel writers.

In the past, you couldn’t write about Lisbon unless you’d been there and lived it. Today, you can log on and not only learn about but visually experience everything having to do with Lisbon. And when you have non-travelers writing about travel for publications that are looking to satisfy an audience they assess to be short on attention span, you get shallow, list-oriented articles. That’s not a judgement, just an assessment of reality in today’s world.

Because travel writers also have to pay bills, I’m as guilty as anyone and have had to adapt to this industry trend, and I don’t blame any writer for writing anything. I do wish I could make more time to get back to my roots, however, and perhaps a New Year’s resolution is just around the corner. But consider this an explanation for why you see more linked articles appearing on here than you did in the past. I also recently became the Assistant Editor of Conde Nast’s Jaunted, and I’ve been posting my articles here as a way to share them with those who might be unfamiliar with the site. It’s also a great way to share with you what I’ve been doing since I don’t always have the time to write fresh, original pieces for this site. In that sense, I hope you are enjoying them and please feel free to write me with any feedback or thoughts on the current state of the site. 

All right. With that in mind, more Lisbon coverage coming this week, and I just landed in Philadelphia, so stay tuned for stories from the City of Brotherly Love. A two-week trip to Hawaii will round out the month of November before a trip to Mexico kicks off December.