writing tips | On My Canvas

How to Edit a Memoir: 39 Tips I Used to Edit My 5-Star Travel Memoir

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How to Edit a Memoir I am assuming you have the first draft of your memoir. I have written about writing the first draft of my travel memoir, sharing my experience. The main thing one needs to do to write the first draft is to write it. To not edit it, to not overthink it, …

writing about travel on the mountain in-the-mehli-forest-himachal himalayas

My Top Travel Writing Secrets I Probably Shouldn’t Share

I have been writing about travel for ~~two years now~~ eight years now (update 2025). When I started this blog, I wrote about personal growth and life inspiration. Because I travel constantly and relish writing about nature, people, and experiences, I began writing travel articles on On My Canvas. Now I’m an itinerant writer. (Some people also call me nomadic, though I think nomads lived in a primitive way and not with the current facilities of internet, maps, and transport.)

When I first ventured into travel writing, I panicked every time I put down my solo excursion tales and travel guides. I didn’t know how to write about traveling. I didn’t have the right tools. I remember telling my partner it would be a long time before I write good, relatable travel stories readers will enjoy. (my ideas about good writing.)

Even as a beginner travel writer, I wrote subjective articles such as why I travel and how can we stop ourselves from turning into the worst dictators (inspired by Cambodia). I have always preferred penning down personal travel memoirs rather than writing about the five things to do.

Some of my travel writings turned out to be good, and some bad. So while this piece on the love and hate relationship with India won accolades, I’m still ashamed of this Vietnam photo essay.

I continued writing about trips to Southeast Asia and South America. As I published frequently, I started getting a hang of travel writing.

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Three years ago when I quit my investment banking job to write, I was a beginner writer. ~~(I am still a new writer.)~~ Update August 2025: Now I can say I am not such a new writer. I am still learning though, even when I have published my first book.

MY FIRST BOOK

Journeys Beyond and Within...

IS HERE!

In my vivid narrative style (that readers love, ahem), I have told my most incredible adventures, including a nine-month solo trip to South America. In the candid book, the scoldings I got from home for not settling down and the fears and obstacles I faced, along with my career experiments, are laid bare. Witty and introspective, the memoir will make you laugh and inspire you to travel, rediscover home, and leap over the boundaries.

Sikkim Express: "Simple, free-flowing, but immensely evocative."

The Telegraph Online: "An introspective as well as an adventurous read."

Grab your copy now!

Amazon India Amazon USA Amazon UK Amazon Canada Amazon Australia Amazon Singapore

The memoir is available globally. Search for the title on your country's Amazon.

Or, read a chapter first. Claim your completely free First Chapter here.

At the beginning of my writing career, I decided to travel to Chile and teach English there. People say a new environment and immersive travel experiences inspire one to write.

The high-altitude Andean landscapes took my oxygen away. Chileans stared at me until I was gone from their view. My host mother fed me pyramids of bread and cheese. Spanish dumbfounded me. During the chaos, I managed to write most days.

In the past three years, I’ve written (almost) daily, published regularly on my blog, earned by writing for clients, published poems in a book, contributed to many Medium and other big and small publications, published stories in magazines, and become a top writer on Quora and a top Travel Writer on Medium. I felt confident enough to give my best blogging tips to beginner bloggers. [Update 2022: Four+ years on, I’ve more achievements to list. But the fact that I write daily remains the same. Update 2025: I write on most days, and now have had my blog, On My Canvas, for eight years.]

Has writing been easy?

Are you joking?

mixed colors to show struggle as new writer

My Journey as a New Writer

When I say a new writer, I mean someone who didn’t dare to make writing her life. Or to even think about earning money from her writings. Or to be able to imagine that her story or a poem might get published. Or to be able to say out loud that she is a writer.

But.

She has made writing her life, recently. She earns money from writing. Her day revolves around writing. Her poem got published. Sometimes she stammers that she is a writer.

Update 2025: Now she has her first book out, too.