• 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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Economics Leadership Personal Success
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Episodes
  • #114 Spotlighting Sibling Friction in Fiction Featuring Betsy Lerner

    #114 Spotlighting Sibling Friction in Fiction Featuring Betsy Lerner
    Nov 21 2024

    Betsy Lerner is the author of the recently released novel, Shred Sisters (Grove Press, October 2024). She is also the author The Bridge Ladies, The Forest for the Trees and Food and Loathing. With Temple Grandin, she is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns and Abstractions. She received an MFA from Columbia University in Poetry where she was selected as one of PEN’s Emerging Writers. She also received the Tony Godwin Publishing Prize for Editors. After working as an editor for 15 years, she became an agent and is currently a partner with Dunow, Carlson and Lerner Literary Agency.

    • The surprising origin of the Shred Sisters and the reason a temporary title became so much more [3:51]

    • How Betsy’s life informed the book’s backstory and is reflected in multiple characters [7:16]

    • Writing a coming of age story with a twist [7:22]

    • The difference between writing fiction and nonfiction, and why Betsy enjoys this latest genre so much [7:57]

    • The value of good transitions to move the reader along and hook them into the story [10:46]

    • Betsy’s ‘acorn’ theory and how she dropped seeds throughout her book [15:22]

    • The key to structure and why many writers struggle with it [21:51]

    • What Betsy really thinks about the process of revision and why slowing down is essential [24:06]

    • The other side of her work, acting as a literary agent [25:01]

    • How Betsy ended up going viral on TikTok and becoming a book influencer [26:28]

    • Betsy’s dream for her book, and who she would cast in the movie [32:50]

    • Why a writer should never write for an audience [36:32]

    Connect with Betsy

    Photo Credit: Maryana Karayim

    Website: https://betsylerner.com

    TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@betsylerner

    The New York Times Book Review of Shred Sisters

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/books/review/shred-sisters-betsy-lerner.html

    Connect with Estelle Erasmus

    ​​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

    Sign up for Estelle’s NYU Classes

    https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/faculty/e/1068-estelle-erasmus.html

    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

    Follow Estelle:

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/EstelleSErasmus

    TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@EstelleSErasmus

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/EstelleSerasmus
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    39 mins
  • #113 Writing with Ambition Featuring Kristi Coulter

    #113 Writing with Ambition Featuring Kristi Coulter
    Nov 14 2024

    Kristi Coulter is the author of EXIT INTERVIEW: THE LIFE & DEATH OF MY AMBITIOUS CAREER, out now in paperback. Her previous book, the memoir-in-essays NOTHING GOOD CAN COME FROM THIS, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Kristi's work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Paris Review, Elle, Longreads, and many other publications. Her Substack newsletter, Loose Canon, offers personal and irreverent commentary on film and music. She is a former resident at Ragdale and the Mineral School and has taught writing at the University of Washington, University of Michigan, Hugo House, and the Work Room. Kristi lives in Seattle and Los Angeles.

    In this episode:

    • Picking the perfect title and a trick on how to do it [2:48]

    • Why Kristi wrote her book using the present tense and the challenges that imposed [6:27]

    • Deciding what to leave in and what to take out [12:42]

    • How Kristi incorporated historical context into her book to make a point without preaching to the reader [13:41]

    • Incorporating humor in memoir writing and playing with forms [18:34]

    • Finding the perfect equation between scene and summary [21:42]

    • Making the narrator relatable, not likable [23:29]

    • Kristi’s advice for aspiring Memoir Writers [27:52]

    • The benefits of writing chapters out of sequence [28:05]

    • Understanding the meaning of that first “Discovery Draft” [28:28]

    • Selling a book on proposal. What you need to know [30:56]

    • The art of writing a synopsis [32:36]

    • The impact Kristi’s book is having on women at Amazon and beyond [33:59]

    Connect with Kristi

    Instagram: https://instagram.com/kristi.c.coulter

    Threads: @kristiccoulter;

    Facebook:

    https://facebook.com/kristicoulter

    Podcast Guests Mentioned in This Episode

    #52 Claire Dederer

    https://estelleserasmus.com/a-conversation-with-claire-dederer-about-monsters/

    #101 Elissa Bassist

    https://estelleserasmus.com/101-the-makings-of-a-hysterical-story-featuring-elissa-bassist/



    Connect with Estelle Erasmus

    ​​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

    Sign up for Estelle’s NYU Classes

    https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/faculty/e/1068-estelle-erasmus.html

    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

    Follow Estelle:

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/EstelleSErasmus

    TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@EstelleSErasmus

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/EstelleSerasmus

    Show more Show less
    38 mins
  • #112 On Being Jewish Now Featuring Caroline Leavitt and Annabelle Gurwitch

    #112 On Being Jewish Now Featuring Caroline Leavitt and Annabelle Gurwitch
    Nov 7 2024
    Caroline Leavitt is the New York Times bestselling author of 13 novels, most recently Days of Wonder, which was a CBS/Mary Calvi bookclub pick, the recipient of a MidAtlantic Arts Foundation grant, and which was translated into Russia and has a shopping agreement for film. The co-founder of A Mighty Blaze, the book program begun the day of lockdown, she writes a column blog "Runs in the Family" for Psychology Today, and is a book critic for people and the recipient of a New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship. She teaches story structure for the novel at UCLA Writers Program Extension and works with private clients. Her work has appeared in the New York Times "Modern Love," New York Magazine, Salon, Lit Hub, The Millions and many anthologies. Annabelle Gurwitch is a New York Times Bestselling author, actress and activist whose most recent collection of essays "You're Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility" is a 2021 New York Times Favorite Book for Healthy Living, a Good Morning America Must Read and a finalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor Writing 2022. She's written for The New Yorker, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, and Hadassah amongst other publications. Her five books include the New York Times bestseller and Thurber Prize finalist "I See You Made an Effort." She's written and developed adaptations of her books for HBO, F/X, NBC, Lifetime networks. She's currently writing a film for the Hallmark Channel with Emmy winning tv producer Neena Beber based on "You're Leaving When?" for Andi MacDowell to star in. Annabelle has been chronicling living with stage iv lung cancer and inequities in healthcare in the New York Times and Washington Post since her out-of-the-blue diagnosis during covid. In this episode: Caroline Leavitt and Annabelle Gurwitch’s essays for the anthology [3:20] Caroline and Annabelle’s experiences with anti-Semitism [4:27] The impact of a children’s storyteller on Caroline’s understanding of what it means to be Jewish [8:16] The importance of art and storytelling in fostering empathy and understanding [12:41] The call of our ancestral DNA during this fraught moment [22:24] Advice for jewish writers navigating this challenging and important time in Jewish history [24:36] The power of three little words [29:09] Connect with Caroline Leavitt Twitter. @leavittnovelist Instagram https://www.instagram.com/carolineleavitt/ Threads https://www.threads.net/@carolineleavitt?hl=en Facebook https://www.facebook.com/carolineleavitt TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@carowriter99 Website: Https://www.carolineleavitt.com Connect with Annabelle Gurwitch photo credit jeff vespa Facebook https://www.facebook.com/annabellegurwitchauthor/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annabellegurwitch1/ X: https://x.com/lagurwitch?lang=en Website: https://www.annabellegurwitch.com/ About On Being Jewish Now Zibby Owens has edited a new anthology, which Zibby Books is publishing, called On Being Jewish Now: Reflections from Authors and Advocates. Profits will be donated to Artists Against Antisemitism, a 501(c)(3) founded by Alison Hammer that Zibby joined as a Founding Member after the attacks on October 7th, 2023. On Being Jewish Now (coming 10/1) is a collection of essays about what it means to be Jewish and how Jewish life has changed since October 7th. Zibby came up with the idea for this anthology in response to feeling powerless against the spread of antisemitism. “Writing — and reading — is how so many of us process and make sense of the world,” she said. And so Zibby thought, I’ll ask writers to reflect on what it means to be Jewish now. Seventy-five contributors came together in four weeks to share their stories of love, family, joy, fear, and pain, and the common threads that course through the Jewish people: resilience and humor. Contributors include Mark Feuerstein, Jill Zarin, Steve Leder, Joanna Rakoff, Amy Ephron, Lisa Barr, Annabelle Gurwitch, Daphne Merkin, Bradley Tusk, Sharon Brous, Jenny Mollen, Nicola Kraus, Caroline Leavitt, and many others. Among them: descendants of Holocaust survivors, several Israelis, and one author who lost a cousin in the war. There are men and women, multiple bookstore owners, several celebrities, and some female founders. One African American contributor shares his thoughts on being a Jewish Black man. The e-book and audiobook, narrated by the contributors, was published on October 1st, the trade paperback on November 1st. “This is about healing,” says Zibby. “About coping and connecting. In the only way I know how.” Zibby Owen’s episode #36 on Freelance Writing Direct https://estelleserasmus.com/36-zibby-owens-is-upending-the-publishing-world/ Connect with Estelle Erasmus ​​FREE PITCHING GUIDE: Find out more about this episode at https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast. You...
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    30 mins

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