I've always enjoyed writing, but for the longest time I never thought about it as a career. I spent several years working retail and factory jobs before I decided that was not what I wanted out of life. I decided to go back to school. I went into journalism because I enjoy telling people's stories. The ability to combine my love of photography with my writing was also a plus. I have covered a little bit of everything: Cops and courts, commissions, people and sports. My first experience reporting for a real newspaper was with the Three Rivers Commercial-News in Three Rivers MI.
My first full time journalism job was for the Cody Enterprise (Cody, Wyoming). I have also been published in Mineral County Independent News (Hawthorne, Nevada), The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (Lubbock, Texas). In addition to the news writing experience, I have also done some specialty writing. I have been published several times in FTF Geocacher Magazine, a magazine that specializes in the hobby of geocaching. I have had multiple stories and photographs published in this magazine. I've also done some specialty pieces on outdoor retail for Outdoor Magazine based out of Santa Clara, California.
Currently, I am the Senior Staff Writer for the Austin, Texas-based Wide Open Media Group. I started off writing for Wide Open Spaces as a freelancer in 2015. I worked my way up from there to a better batch writer position. I was eventually hired on as a full-time staff writer. In 2022, I was promoted to Senior Staff Writer.
I also freelance on the side where I can with the South County News out of Vicksburg and Schoolcraft, Michigan. I do this more because I enjoy doing sports coverage for Vicksburg community schools than as an additional source of income though. I also cover education for Schoolcraft.
Aside from outdoor writing, I probably enjoy sports reporting more than anything else. I have experience covering high school level football (11 & 6 man), volleyball, wrestling, basketball, tennis, lacrosse, bowling, soccer, track and field, cross country, baseball, softball and golf. I also covered a North American 3 Hockey League team for a while. The NA3HL is an American Tier III junior ice hockey league.
See the below PDF files for story samples of hard news journalism. The first file is general writing from my time with the Three Rivers Commercial-News. The second is more sports-oriented things I wrote in Wyoming. The third is a mix of sports and general assignment writing.
My first full time journalism job was for the Cody Enterprise (Cody, Wyoming). I have also been published in Mineral County Independent News (Hawthorne, Nevada), The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (Lubbock, Texas). In addition to the news writing experience, I have also done some specialty writing. I have been published several times in FTF Geocacher Magazine, a magazine that specializes in the hobby of geocaching. I have had multiple stories and photographs published in this magazine. I've also done some specialty pieces on outdoor retail for Outdoor Magazine based out of Santa Clara, California.
Currently, I am the Senior Staff Writer for the Austin, Texas-based Wide Open Media Group. I started off writing for Wide Open Spaces as a freelancer in 2015. I worked my way up from there to a better batch writer position. I was eventually hired on as a full-time staff writer. In 2022, I was promoted to Senior Staff Writer.
I also freelance on the side where I can with the South County News out of Vicksburg and Schoolcraft, Michigan. I do this more because I enjoy doing sports coverage for Vicksburg community schools than as an additional source of income though. I also cover education for Schoolcraft.
Aside from outdoor writing, I probably enjoy sports reporting more than anything else. I have experience covering high school level football (11 & 6 man), volleyball, wrestling, basketball, tennis, lacrosse, bowling, soccer, track and field, cross country, baseball, softball and golf. I also covered a North American 3 Hockey League team for a while. The NA3HL is an American Tier III junior ice hockey league.
See the below PDF files for story samples of hard news journalism. The first file is general writing from my time with the Three Rivers Commercial-News. The second is more sports-oriented things I wrote in Wyoming. The third is a mix of sports and general assignment writing.
| travissmolastoryphotosamples.pdf |
| spotswritingtravissmola.pdf |
| storysamplestravissmola.pdf |
I've also included a gallery below of some of the direct journalism-related photos I have taken. Some of these were stand alone during my internship. Some I wrote stories for. Some of these were for freelance stories I've done.
Geocaching Youtube Channel
In January of 2019, I started a weekly geocaching YouTube channel to showcase my adventures in the GPS-themed hobby and to grow my video/photography skills.
