About Colleen Friesen

I am a cappuccino and travel junkie. My writing is often a collection of ephemera, transitory images, random thoughts and events that happen wherever I find myself in the world.

Some people might just call me a bit ADHD in my rather random approach to life and my inability to sustain a focus in any given direction for too long. However, I prefer to think of it as more of a multi-displinary approach to life. Hence my work in mixed-media art, photography, jewelry-making, all of it…

I will share some of the secrets of the travel writing world, beginning with the promise that there will be no posts or ebooks for sale that promise you big bucks and beaches while you pursue the glam of being a paid travel writer. I apologise, but might I remind you of that story about there being no such thing as a free lunch?

I will likely muse on my Mennonite upbringing. All those hymns and funerals had a definite influence on how I view the world. My takeaway?

Live large. Choose your Adventure. You have a Best Before date that is quickly approaching.

But mostly, this is a place for me to write about whatever I am currently seeking or has inadvertantly come across my path; whether it’s a travel story, a new book, a film that’s caught my attention or something I’ve noticed here at home or while traveling.

If you’re looking for a very specific theme, best to look elsewhere. The theme on this site, and in my life, is Whatever Comes Up.

Here’s an interview that might explain more about my approach to writing and another more recent interview with HotelsCheap.org about becoming a travel writer.

Here’s a link to an article I did for Homemakers magazine called Mind Over Money. It provides a little more background. Here’s a rather embarrassingly kind article written by Laurie McConnell at Big Pacific Magazine.

I update this blog at least once a week. I figure that’s just about enough, though if I’m on a trip, I might keep going through the weekend or completely miss a few days. I am sometimes hosted by tourism boards and/or destinations, but the opinions are never vetted and always my own. I can smell an ‘infomercial’ from a mile away and figure any reader of this blog can do the same. My goal is to make sure that doesn’t happen here. I want to be ‘that person’; the one you go to for an honest opinion about a place.

I strive to be Internet-free on Sundays. It’s my day to fast from technology. I also choose to do nothing that looks like work – no laundry, no heavy lifting, no cleaning. Sundays are only for relaxation and fun. Turns out that Mennonite admonishment to rest on Sundays was a good idea.

Follow me on Twitter at: @ColleenFriesen

Visit me on Facebook (and please ‘friend’ or ‘follow’ ) me at: ColleenFriesen.Writer

Likewise, you can follow me on Instagram at: Friesentravels

Email me at: colleenfr@yahoo.com

Some of my writing can be found in these anthologies. To see other published pieces, please click on my ‘Article Links’ page…

And finally, I’ll wrap this up with this legalese;

Under national and international copyright law, I retain the sole and exclusive rights to this work, including, but not limited to, all writing and images. The contents of this site, whether in whole or in part, may not be downloaded, copied or used in any manner without the explicit permission of Colleen Friesen.