As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m a sucker for a great essay about how the author “got his start” as a writer.
Jeffrey Tayler told his origin story (to borrow a phrase from the world of comics) earlier this year on World Hum — Inspiration, Travel Writing and L’Esprit Frondeur — and one of my all-time favorite essays is Ian Frazier’s variation on the theme: Out of Ohio, which is behind an online paywall but is also available in The Best American Travel Writing 2006, as well as in Frazier’s essay collection, Gone to New York.
I know there are lots more. Anyone who’s been to the Book Passage writing conference has probably heard Tim Cahill talk about Rolling Stone’s founding of Outside Magazine — Cahill, being the only staffer at Rolling Stone who actually liked to go outside, became a key player there by default. And I seem to remember reading something by Jan Morris, once, about winding up at Everest Base Camp covering the Hillary expedition thanks to a similar default situation: Morris, a rookie newspaper writer, was the only reporter in the newsroom young and fit enough to make the trip.
Anyone else know of any travel writing “origin stories”? I’d love to see a link — or some clue about where to track them down in print — if so.
Eva Holland 
Update: Here’s another from Lonely Planet author Leif Pettersen.
Bill Bryson tells his origin story in the introduction to The Best American Travel Writing 2000. He was working at a newspaper copy desk in London and doing some random freelance articles when the editor of an in-flight magazine asked him to write a story about Copenhagen . . .
There’s this interview with Jon Krakauer about his start – http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0697/krakauer/interview.html
Doug – that rings a vague bell from when I read BATW 2000 a couple years back. I’ll have to look it up!
And Kristin – wow, great interview, surprisingly candid for being on a major publisher’s site, right? Thanks!