• Freelance Writing Direct: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, agents, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

  • By: Estelle Erasmus
  • Podcast

Freelance Writing Direct: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, agents, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

By: Estelle Erasmus
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  • Summary

  • Welcome to the Freelance Writing Direct podcast. Join Estelle Erasmus every week as she shares short, sound bite-filled podcasts, covering everything that the creative writer, freelance writer, and author needs to know to move forward in their creativity and career. Estelle will share how the sauce is made, with tips and tricks to give you a leg up in the marketplace. The podcast will also feature interviews with authors and writers who are generous with their own advice. Throughout the episodes, Estelle will evolve with the audience, as she listens to her guests, share pitches and essays, and offer writing and career prompts. If you want to learn how to get your work published and noticed you are in the right place. This show will provide answers to questions like: *How can I get started writing? *What are assigning editors in top publications looking for? *How can I find an agent? *What do publishers want? *What are writing craft tips I can implement right away to get published? *How can my pitches to editors make an impact? *What do bestselling authors recommend I do to improve my writing practice? *What craft tips do writing teachers recommend? *What are tips, tricks and strategies for getting my writing noticed? It’s time to build your craft with Freelance Writing Direct. Estelle can’t wait to read what you will be writing.
    2022
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Leadership Economics Personal Success
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Episodes
  • #104 How to Write a Memoir or Novel that is a Page Turner Featuring Wade Rouse aka Viola Shipman

    #104 How to Write a Memoir or Novel that is a Page Turner Featuring Wade Rouse aka Viola Shipman
    Sep 12 2024
    Wade Rouse is the USA TODAY, Publishers Weekly and #1 internationally bestselling author of 17 books, including five memoirs and 12 novels. His new novel, The Page Turner, will publish next spring from HarperCollins. Wade’s books have been translated into nearly 25 languages and have been bestsellers across the world. His novel, The Secret of Snow, was recently optioned for a TV movie by the producers of the popular Netflix series, Ginny & Georgia. He chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name to honor the working poor Ozarks seamstress whose sacrifices changed his family’s life and whose memory inspires his fiction. Wade’s books have been selected multiple times as Must-Reads by NBC’s Today Show as well as Michigan Notable Books of the Year. His memoirs and novels have been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today and on Chelsea Lately and chosen three times as Indie Next Picks by the nation’s independent booksellers. Wade was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards in Humor (he lost to Tina Fey) and was named by Writer’s Digest as “The #2 Writer, Dead or Alive, We’d Like to Have Drinks With” (Wade was sandwiched between Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson). Wade’s most recent novels were The Wishing Bridge and Famous in A Small Town, both instant national bestsellers as well as summer and winter book picks by Good Morning America, Reader’s Digest and Katie Couric. His most recent memoir, Magic Season, which detailed how the love of baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals was the only thing to bond him and his Ozarks father, was a Michigan Notable Book of the Year, a Barnes & Noble Father’s Day selection, a USA Today summer reading selection, and a Best Book of Summer by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Wade is a noted humorist, whose nonfiction has been selected as part of the American Library Association’s inaugural “Rainbow List” recognizing outstanding books with significant and authentic LGBTQIA+ content for readers. A former journalist, magazine writer and People reporter, his writing has appeared in a diverse range of publications and media, including Coastal Living, Time, All Things Considered, Good Housekeeping, Parade, Salon, Forbes, Writer’s Digest and Publisher’s Weekly. Wade earned his B.A. from Drury University and his master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. He divides his time between Saugatuck, Michigan, and Palm Springs, California, and is also an acclaimed writing teacher who has mentored numerous students to become published authors. Wade hosts the popular Facebook Live literary happy hour, “Wine & Words with Wade,” every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. EST on the Viola Shipman author page where he talks writing, inspiration and hope, takes readers on tours of the places that inspire his novels, throws costumed monthly office parties, and welcomes bestselling authors and publishing insiders. In this episode: Why he decided to use his grandmother’s name as his pen name [2:01] The key differences between writing memoir and fiction [5:46] Honing the art of structuring memoir and fiction [12:23] Writing with different POV’s and how it changes with his books [10:23] How his friendships and relationships with women impact his writing as a gay man [10:35] The way Wade made writing memoir less of an overwhelming process [15:45] How Wade’s background as a journalist informs his writing [16:17] Creating throughlines for his books [21:07] The #1 question that he asks himself when it comes to writing [25:38] Wade’s personal creative process for memoir and fiction [30:35] Dealing with imposter syndrome early in the process [31:57] The deeper reason behind why he writes books with positivity in a dystopian-focused publishing world [38:28] Advice for writers at any stage of their career [42:22] Connect with Wade: Website: https://waderouse.com Connect with Estelle: ​​FREE PITCHING GUIDE: Find out more about this episode at https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast. You also get a free pitching guide if you sign up for her newsletter. Sign up for Estelle’s Personal Essay Class for Writer’s Digest https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/writing-the-personal-essay-101-fundamentals Get Her Book Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published: https://rb.gy/5ihwp0 Order Her Audiobook: https://shorturl.at/4uG2P Sign up for her Substack https://estelleserasmus.substack.com (with craft advice and writing opportunities). Paid subscribers receive opportunities for pitch reviews, plus bonus clips from Freelance Writing Direct guests Sign up for Her Class at NYU Writing About Your Life Through Memoir, Essays and Articles https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/faculty/1068-estelle-erasmus.html Join her event at NYU on September 16th with Liz Elting, philanthropist and author...
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    50 mins
  • #103 Launching Into New Dimensions with Embodied Writing Featuring Jeannine Ouellette

    #103 Launching Into New Dimensions with Embodied Writing Featuring Jeannine Ouellette
    Sep 5 2024
    Jeannine Ouellette’s lyric memoir, The Part That Burns, was a 2021 Kirkus Best Indie Book and a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Award in Women’s Literature. She is also the author of the picture book, Mama Moon. Her literary essays and short fiction have appeared widely in anthologies and journals, including Narrative, North American Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Masters Review, Calyx, and many others. She holds an MFA in fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a Millay Colony for the Arts fellow and past juror. Her bestselling Substack, Writing in the Dark, is a passionate creative community for people who “do language,” where writing is part of a deeper, vaster conversation about how attention, curiosity, playfulness, and surprise provide a portal to the profound on the path to becoming, because talking about “how to write better” without that larger context is kind of boring. Ouellette teaches writing at the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and the University of Minnesota, where she also facilitates narrative health writing workshops for healthcare professionals and the public. She is working on a novel. In this episode: Finding her way into literary writing later in life [4:15] Creating art that blurs boundaries [7:20] Making magic with metaphor and the language of nature [9:34] Dealing with difficult childhood experiences through writing [9:51] Traversing the intersection of fiction and memoir [8:18] Using writing rules and constraints to build a world on the page [12:15] The workshop that broke Jeannine wide open [15:50] The risk of writing from the perspective of a child narrator [22:52] Writing about motherhood and being in one’s body [27:22] Jeannine’s story of the growth of her substack and advice for building a profitable digital newsletter [41:13] Connect with Jeannine: Substack Facebook Instagram X/Twitter Connect with Estelle: Watch Estelle’s episode #81 with Maggie Smith (mentioned in this episode). The Art of Shaping a Compelling Story https://estelleserasmus.com/81-the-art-of-shaping-a-compelling-story-featuring-maggie-smith/ ​​FREE PITCHING GUIDE: Find out more about this episode at https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast. You also get a free pitching guide if you sign up for her newsletter. Sign up for Estelle’s Personal Essay Class for Writer’s Digest https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/writing-the-personal-essay-101-fundamentals Get Her Book Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published: https://rb.gy/5ihwp0 Order Her Audiobook: https://shorturl.at/4uG2P Sign up for her Substack https://estelleserasmus.substack.com (with craft advice and writing opportunities). Paid subscribers receive opportunities for pitch reviews, plus bonus clips from Freelance Writing Direct guests Sign up for Her Class at NYU Writing About Your Life Through Memoir, Essays and Articles https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/faculty/1068-estelle-erasmus.html Join her event at NYU on September 16th with Liz Elting, philanthropist and author of Dream Big and Win: Imbuing Memoir into Your Non-Fiction Book: When How-To Advice Just Isn’t Enough for An Author https://events.nyu.edu/event/327539-imbuing-memoir-into-your-non-fiction-book-when?fbclid=IwY2xjawFEnWNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHayZ7DcHV5hE1dWDKx_7mxrzKunkeCmOLP5ncv5leyBYaYgN9nVARmaKGQ_aem_rc1K8aXMTNaDPdJ8t-QjCA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/EstelleSErasmus TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@EstelleSErasmus
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    50 mins
  • #102 Writing Scenes Shaped Around Sensory Experience Featuring Rona Maynard

    #102 Writing Scenes Shaped Around Sensory Experience Featuring Rona Maynard
    Aug 29 2024
    Rona Maynard found happiness at 65—a story she tells in her new memoir Starter Dog: My Path to Joy, Belonging and Loving This World. She first broke into print at 14 with a short story about bullying and still receives fan mail from teens who are reading it in class. Rona capped a stellar career in magazines with a decade at the helm of Chatelaine, Canada’s leading magazine for women. Her editor’s column won a loyal following. When she disclosed a struggle with depression, she helped kickstart a national conversation about mental health. After Chatelaine, Rona had to learn to unwind—and found that her best teacher was a rescue mutt who had received his basic training in a prison. She has been married more than 50 years and is a firm believer that road trips go better with a dog in the back seat. In This Episode: The important step Rona took while looking for her next chapter [3:19] How she tests the waters by sharing mini stories on Facebook [5:36] Giving your reader a reason to turn the page [7:48] Why beautiful writing isn’t enough [8:07] Living in the moment with a dog and how Rona applied that to her life [9:02] Inviting readers into the book with your sense of mission [10:12] Working as an editor-in-chief at Chatelaine and what that showed her about herself [11:20] Discovering what makes her day glow and finding purpose [13:01] Mining the conflict in your story [15:00] Rona’s advice for organizing your writing and effectively using tools like Scrivener [16:15] Writing your stories, even when the memories are hard [29:04] Why she doesn’t do the “vomit” draft [31:49] Connect with Rona Substack: https://ronamaynard.substack.com/ Website:http://www.ronamaynard.com Connect with Estelle: Sign up for Estelle’s September 5th free Zoom AMA with journalist Aly Walansky from 4:30-5:30 PM ET, where they will discuss pitching, publishing, grabbing an editor’s attention, working with editors, and getting noticed by pr people, and so much more. Email Estelle at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com with your question for the AMA and to secure your spot. Watch Estelle’s episode #99 with Aly Walansky https://estelleserasmus.com/99-notes-from-a-lifestyle-journalist-with-10k-substack-subscribers/ Watch Estelle’s episode #38 with Cheryl Strayed https://estelleserasmus.com/38-cheryl-strayed-on-writing-and-tiny-beautiful-things/ ​​FREE PITCHING GUIDE: Find out more about this episode at https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast. You also get a free pitching guide if you sign up for her newsletter. Sign up for Estelle’s Personal Essay Class for Writer’s Digest https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/writing-the-personal-essay-101-fundamentals See Estelle’s latest blog post with news https://estelleserasmus.com/a-few-pieces-of-exciting-news/ Get Her Book Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published: https://rb.gy/5ihwp0 Pre-Order Her Audiobook: https://shorturl.at/4uG2P Sign up for her Substack https://estelleserasmus.substack.com (with craft advice and writing opportunities). Paid subscribers receive opportunities for pitch reviews, plus bonus clips from Freelance Writing Direct guests Estelle’s latest substack post on Micro Memoir https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/if-you-are-writing-a-micro-memoir Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/EstelleSErasmus TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@EstelleSErasmus
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    35 mins

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