March 2024 Newsletter
Sawasdee from Koh Phangan, Thailand!
I’ve officially been nomadic for a month after 5+ years of having a home base. More on my travels below!
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If you’d like to work with me, I offer consultations where I workshop pitches and allow writers to pick my brain about the industry: LolaAnnMendez.com/Consultation
In MarchI wrote 12 articles (about 11,000 words) which is the closest I’ve gotten this year to my goal of invoicing for $5K a month. Of the stories written this month eight were commissioned pitches and four were assignments. I sent 28 pitches this month—one was commissioned, one is being considered, six were rejected, and 20 are pending a response.
My portfolio can be viewed at any time at LolaAnnMendez.com. In March, I had nine articles published. I made my debut in Pink Ticket Travel. I have upcoming pieces in new-to-me publications including Oceania Cruises Magazine.
These are my pieces that were published this month. Each image is clickable so you are able read the story.
I always post my calls for sources on Twitter.com/LolaAnnaMendez. Newsletter subscribers are privy to the first look at my current work. PR folks (and individuals, when relevant) are welcome to send pitches for the stories on which I’m currently working. I’m open to PR pitches and suggestions.
March was a busy month of full-time travel and visiting a new country — my 87th — The Maldives! I went with Avani, which was fantastic, and my review for UPROXX has already been published (linked above). I spent the remainder of the month in Thailand. I rented a storage unit in Bangkok as I’ll be in and out of Thailand’s capital city over the next few months between trips. I’ve spent the last three weeks visiting new-to-me Thai islands. It’s been wonderful to travel slowly and to get to spend time in nature. I spent about a week in Koh Tao snorkeling every day and I’m currently about halfway through a yoga retreat in Koh Phangan. I’ve loved both islands and am eager to return.
I’ve just received my tourist visa for the Kingdom of Bhutan which I’ll be visiting next week. It’ll be my 88th country and is a place I’ve long dreamed of visiting. The rest of April is a bit up in the air as I’ve been invited on loads of press trips. I think I’ll be returning to The Maldives with a luxury resort and then going to Dubai on a press trip as well. In between trips I hope to visit other islands in Thailand — I’m open to suggestions! I’m thinking of Koh Mak and maybe Pattaya (I know it has a bad rep), but as I’ll only have about a week for each destination it makes sense not to stray too far from Bangkok as it took me over 12 hours to get to Koh Tao.
I’m very open to press trips in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific in the coming months and am especially keen to visit and write about The Philippines, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Madagascar, Namibia, Zambia, Seychelles, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Senegal, Nigeria, Oman, Iran, Georgia, Pakistan, Mongolia, and more!