The Clothesline is written by a real person: Me! I’m Vanessa Chiasson, a writer and business coach based in Ottawa, Canada. I write travel and human interest narratives primarily for North American print and online outlets and I love reading, birds, beach glass, lattes, and nachos. I’m scared of roosters, dislike olives, and I cannot wink. You can check out my coaching services here and follow me on Instagram and LinkedIn.
On Monday, I had a power day.
I know, I know. I’m not supposed to measure the meaning of life through metrics. Rest is a kind of productivity! Hustle is a dirty word! I believe all this, I really do. But sometimes you just need to GET. ER. DONE.
Hence, a power day. A deeply satisfying power day, a day that saw 15 pitches head out to editors.
15 is pretty darn impressive, I gotta say. And I want to tell you how I did it, because goodness knows I’m not going to write newsletters about the days when I managed to write half a pitch and then dissolved into tears because what fun is that?
Get yourself some espresso. Any writer who thinks this can be done on herbal tea is kidding themselves.
This is all about recycling. Recycle, recycle, recycle.
I never give up on my pitches and my story ideas. I know they’re good. I know I’m good. I know the industry is not so good right now. I never tell myself that something that’s been rejected 14 times isn’t worthy of publication. Because you know what? I got a VERY lucrative “YES” from Thrillist on this piece just a few months ago, on pitch number 15. Success isn’t about brilliance. It’s about stubbornness.
It really, REALLY helps if you’ve tracked your past pitches on a spreadsheet. This is the easiest way to quickly sort out and remember what pitches you’ve written but haven’t yet placed (especially if, like me, you might have a few dozen story ideas on the go at any one time).
It also really helps to subscribe to newsletters and job boards that share pitching info so you know what editors need what. You might not have anything for them at the moment, but if you add their info to your editor spreadsheet, you’re never wasting valuable time wondering who you can send things to. (Yep, I use a lot of spreadsheets. You should know this about me by now).
I adjust and customise my previously-rejected pitches but I don’t over think things. There is no point in hyper-editing one piece for 60 minutes when you can make solid edits in 30 and get two pitches out in the same amount of time.
More espresso.
I pitch the same story, with multiple different angles, again and again. Guess what? You’re probably gonna get assignments of 500-800 words. That is not enough to cover your week-long press trip to PEI. So one pitch is going to focus on the amazing female entrepreneurs at the farmers’ market and another is going to focus on how wine and spirits are now sold at the market.
Yes, I do sometimes do simultaneous submissions and I don’t really care that some publications frown upon this. I frown upon their dismal rates but you don’t see them changing anything, do you?
Mix it up to keep yourself motivated. I balance new pitches and recycled old ones, intimidating outlets and editors I know well, short term placements and long lead times, stories firmly in my wheelhouse and things that are a bit different for me. This keeps the flow going at a nice pace MUCH better than “ugh, my TENTH food pitch for a legacy publication that will probably never get back to me”.
I use imaginary deadlines as a form of motivation. Like “five minutes till lunch! What’s an old pitch I can easily update and send to a new editor?” Or “I’ve got an hour of silence. I’m gonna fill this time with new story research and I’m going to send this new idea out in exactly 60 minutes.” You can do a lot in a tiny amount of time and sometimes you need a lot of time to do what looks like very little. Mix it up. But impose arbitrary deadlines to keep yourself on track.
If I hear about an outlet that’s not a good fit for me but it is for someone else, I pass that along. The rising tide lifts all writers - and if I get stuck and need an editor’s email, I know someone in my circle has my back and can help me out (and thus I don’t get stuck in a rut for a lack of contact info.)
Make yourself accountable to someone, anyone. Tell your Instagram followers. Tell your neighbour. Tell your dog. “I’m gonna get at least a dozen pitches sent today. If I don’t give you a killer report at the end of the day, feel free to … (scold me, make me weed your garden, drool on my favourite pillow)” works A LOT better than “Today’s my pitching day. I’m gonna pitch.”
If you want to pitch more, write more, and EARN more, give the Ink & Income community a try. We have three accountability-focused coworking sessions a month, plus a monthly group coaching call and quarterly planning days. Membership in this supportive community is on sale now for about $37 a month. Join HERE.