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The Wander Project is Dead.

By Josh Fulmer ⋅ June 28, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

The Wander Project is Dead.

And I’m really, really happy about it. In the several months that TWP has been up and running, I’ve reached one conclusion: I don’t want to keep a travel blog. It feels forced, and the idea of having to generate content for content’s sake is slightly nauseating. As an editor friend reminded me today: if you’re writing something you’re not 100% into, it’s simply not worth the effort in the end (unless,of course, you’re paying the bills- then it’s called a job). He also pointed out the flawed mechanics of the real-time travelogue: writing en route generally doesn’t result in one’s best work. Both are points I knew to be true.

If I’m honest, I was in danger of sacrificing the trip of a lifetime for the sake of the website I was growing to loathe. I jumped into the travel blogging scene with a certain amount of naive, newbie enthusiasm. I’m a journalist, so the writing would be no problem. And I’d take photos, lots of them, and they’d somehow be just as good as the ones my photographer friends have trained for years to execute. And video? Why not?! Sign me up… I’ve got a sweet pocket cam. It was going to be a one- man electronic magazine — I’d throw a crazy amount of media into cyberspace from the middle of nowhere just because it was theoretically possible.

But soon I was no longer excited about the trip—instead I was subconsciously dreading the work I’d have to get done along the way. I was already picturing myself toiling for hours at a wobbly table at a southeast Asian internet cafe, trying in vain to coax data through a dial-up connection that involved aluminum foil and rusty parts salvaged from a television antenna. Why? So that if enough people cared to read about what I had for lunch that day, perhaps someone would buy a sidebar advertisement for a few bucks?

And so it will work like this: If I experience something so fascinating on my trip that I feel compelled to share it with the world, my time is much better spent shopping it around to a magazine (I realize that this isn’t an option for everyone, it just happens to be one for me). I would much rather share the very best (or worst) parts of my trip in a way that I’m excited about than feel obligated to chronicle all of it. That’s what blogging feels like to me: an obligation. Print may be (sadly) dying, but for me, anyway, personal publishing is not yet the answer.

To the many travel bloggers who befriended me during the launch of The Wander Project: I wish you the best of luck. Those of you who manage to hammer out accounts of your travels while obsessing over unique visitors, outfoxing Google and working HTML magic are, for lack of a better description, freaking awesome. Or perhaps psychotic. But I mean that in the best way possible. Perhaps we’ll meet out there somewhere — you know—traveling.

I’m as excited about my trip as I’ve been in a while. Rather than conform to some weird, self-imposed, year-long editorial agenda, I’ll be traveling just to travel. There was a time, way back before cheap netbooks and ubiquitous wifi, when that was reason enough.

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Discussion

13 comments for “The Wander Project is Dead.”

I think I just fell a little bit in love with you. )

Sometimes forced is good. More often? Not so much. I will certainly miss this site – it’s been a favorite for me, if only to peer into your world and read your words. Good luck, old friend. Enjoy the trip, and maybe send along an email now and then.

Take care, and bon voyage!

Posted by Jena | June 28, 2010, 6:45 pm
I second Jena! A bit of awe and admiration mixed in. You’re certainly going THE opposite way everyone else is, and kudos to you for standing by what you want. Blogging serves as a vocal medium for me, but it’s not for every writer.

Definitely take care, and maybe we could meet up in person at some point!

Posted by Nomadic Chick | June 28, 2010, 6:57 pm
When/If you let this site expire you really should send this off as a guest post to other travel blogs, I think this is a really well expressed point of view that almost never gets any attention. Good luck with your travels, I’m sure you are going to have a much better time.

Posted by Dan - Voyagner | June 28, 2010, 7:07 pm
Blogging isn’t for everyone. It’s not for all writers, either. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

But don’t rule out never returning. You often have to hit your stride, find the style that works for you. I’ve been blogging nonstop since 2002, and I’ve gone through so many styles, even ending a very popular blog because I couldn’t stand the subject anymore (grammar). Now I love what I’m doing on Adventurous Kate. I work on it more or less constantly. (Don’t tell work.) So please don’t rule out blogging permanently.

I hope you have an amazing time on your trip and keep in touch somehow!

Posted by Adventurous Kate | June 28, 2010, 8:15 pm
I’ll miss TWP – it was certainly the most useful blog I read. But you do what you have to do… Just drop a line now and then to let us know you haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, please. Safe travels!

Posted by Jenny | June 28, 2010, 9:09 pm
Good on ya, Josh — do what feels right. I often wonder whether Kathryn and I will continue blogging while on the road. Our blog was meant to record our planning, preparing and packing for a our RTW trip. I always felt that we’d continue on with it once hitting the road, but that’s simply a decision that will have to be made once we’re faced with a departure date!

Posted by Daniel | June 28, 2010, 9:15 pm
wow good for you for making a tough decision, just because you can blog doesn’t mean you should. And as you have the magazine option it looks like a better fit for you as well.

Posted by ayngelina | June 29, 2010, 10:34 am
Two lessons:
1) Don’t start a Travel Blog unless you are travelling!
2) Follow your passion.
My advice is keep the blog alive until you are actually travelling and then just write about what you feel passionately about, to hell with ‘creating a blog’.

Posted by Graham Phoenix | June 29, 2010, 3:08 pm
[...] created a ‘Travel Blog’ before he started travelling. He has just posted that ‘The Wander Project is Dead‘. He does not find it interesting and worries about how it is going to affect his trip, he [...]

Posted by Earth Pilgrim | Lifestyle – June 2010 | June 29, 2010, 3:18 pm
Well I’m glad to hear that it’s wanderproject.com which is dead, and not the wander project itself

Interesting timing. I too have become slightly disillusioned with my own travel blog, and am planning on paring down to keeping a minimalist “state of affairs and yes mom I’m still alive pre web 2.0″ type of thing when I get on the road next month.
I don’t think I ever really figured out SEO or CSS/HTML, and more importantly, I realized that I have no drive at all to herd people to my site or to understand all the marketing and technological know-how required to run a site of high enough quality as to be worth anyone’s time (I hear you on the “content for content’s sake” also – I feel exactly the same way).

It’s the kind of thing that seemed like a good idea from afar, but became quite unappealing upon closer inspection. I’ll continue to enjoy reading other blogs, and post photos here and there for the benefit of friends and family… but I’m no future TBEXer

Best of luck on your journey. You must be taking off soon?

Posted by rebeccius | July 4, 2010, 1:47 am
Love your honesty, good luck my friend!

Posted by Candice | July 6, 2010, 11:32 am
[...] The Wander Project Is Dead. Just like that, a travel blog ends. Blogging isn’t for everyone — nor is it for all writers. [...]

Posted by Travel Blogs: Best of the Week (June 27-July 3, 2010) | Adventurous Kate | July 7, 2010, 12:06 pm
[...] announces he’s giving up on The Wander Project. He writes: “In the several months that The Wander Project has been up and running, I’ve reached one conclusion: I don’t want to keep a travel blog. It [...]

Posted by What We’re Reading: July 2, 2010 | Two Go Round-The-World | July 8, 2010, 9:52 pm

the wander project dispatches from over there

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