_Had a relaxing few days since Christmas? Great!

Were at least some of your Christmas photos taken with an eye to publication? If so, you're on your way to selling magazine or web articles and shorts related to the holidays in 2012.

For holiday pieces, think ahead. A year in advance, if necessary. For magazines especially, articles related to the holidays will be bought long before the tinsel hits the tree. The deadline for articles and photos may be in the middle of summer. Where do you get your Christmas photos in July? You don't. You take them now, and stow them away till you need them.

This goes for any holiday you might want to write about. If you always take a few good photos that aren't obviously personal to you, and store them in a well-labeled file, you'll have a selection of art to offer for any holiday article opportunity that comes your way.

Happy New Year, and much luck in writing for 2012!

If you love to travel and write, you probably want to make some money out of it. My first freelance articles were travel pieces, my favorite featuring a grinning Tunisian camel named Otto.

But how do you get started in travel writing?

Awhile back, I wrote a couple how to articles for Eurotrip.com (backpacking crowd) and Escape From America magazine (older crowd into real estate and retirment opportunities abroad, but also young and quirky readers). If you need inspiration and practical advice on turning your travels into money, check out the links below:

Travel Writing 101 from Eurotrip.com

Birth of a Freelance Travel Writer Abroad from Escape from America magazine