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

  • Written by: Estelle Erasmus
  • Podcast

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

Written 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. Estelle Erasmus: an award-winning journalist, is the author of WRITING THAT GETS NOTICED (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers Magazine), a Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest, and host of the podcast Freelance Writing Direct. She is an adjunct instructor for NYU’s School of Professional Studies/Center for Publishing and Applied Liberal Arts, has written for over 150 publications, including The New York Times, Next Avenue/PBS, WIRED, The Independent,The Washington Post, and AARP: The Magazine, and was the editor-in-chief of five national publications. Find out more at estelleserasmus.com and follow her on Substack at https://estelleserasmus.substack.com and on social media: @EstelleSErasmus
    2022
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Economics Management & Leadership Personal Development Personal Success
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Episodes
  • 127. Finding Scientific Angles on Any Story with The Open Notebook’s Editor Siri Carpenter

    127. Finding Scientific Angles on Any Story with The Open Notebook’s Editor Siri Carpenter
    Feb 20 2025
    Siri Carpenter is an award-winning journalist and is co-founder, executive director, and editor-in-chief of The Open Notebook, a non-profit organization widely regarded as a leading source of training and educational materials for journalists who cover science. She is also the editor of the book The Craft of Science Writing. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Science, Discover, Scientific American, Science News, bioGraphic, and other publications. She is a past president of the National Association of Science Writers and was the 2023 winner of the Online News Association’s Community Award. She has a Ph.D. in social psychology from Yale University and lives in Madison, Wisconsin. In this episode: Siri shares the inspiration behind The Craft of Science Writing and what’s new in the expanded edition. [3:34] How the pandemic made everyone a science writer [4:34] The rise of science writing across all beats—why every journalist needs to understand and implement research and data. [5:05] How to craft compelling science stories without a science degree. [6:08] The dos and don’ts of pitching –pitching hygiene —plus how to sharpen your story angle. [9:30] How to write complex subjects in a reader-friendly way [13:48] The goal of the Open Notebook to make science writing accessible and offer training opportunities and free courses [27:17] Siri’s thoughts on AI [30:22] Submission info for The Open Notebook [34:37] Why understanding research, statistics, and expert interviews is essential for today’s writers. [37:16] Connect with Siri via The Open Notebook The Open Notebook https://www.theopennotebook.com Facebook https://www.facebook.com/theopennotebook Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-open-notebook/ BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/theopennotebook.bsky.social Sign up for Newsletter and free courses https://mailchi.mp/1b27e142c25a/theopennotebook Editor, The Craft of Science Writing SECOND, EXPANDED EDITION AVAILABLE NOW! Connect with Estelle Erasmus Estelle Erasmus: an award-winning journalist, is the author of WRITING THAT GETS NOTICED (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers Magazine), a Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest, and host of the podcast Freelance Writing Direct. She is an adjunct instructor for NYU’s School of Professional Studies/Center for Publishing and Applied Liberal Arts, has written for over 150 publications, including The New York Times, Next Avenue/PBS, WIRED, The Independent,The Washington Post, and AARP: The Magazine, and was the editor-in-chief of five national publications. Find out more at estelleserasmus.com and follow her on Substack at https://estelleserasmus.substack.com Her latest substack Post: My Predictions for Publishing in 2025 https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/my-predictions-for-publishing-for Apply to be on Freelance Writing Direct in a coaching episode: email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com and state three of the issues you are dealing with that you would like Estelle’s help with. ​​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 BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    42 mins
  • #126 Rocking Your Radiance In Work and Play Featuring Becca Powers

    #126 Rocking Your Radiance In Work and Play Featuring Becca Powers
    Feb 13 2025
    Becca Powers is a USA TODAY best-selling author, renowned keynote speaker, Fortune 500 sales executive, and visionary behind The Dragonfly Effect, which she leads as a transformative movement inspiring positive change and resilience. Through The Dragonfly Effect, Becca empowers high performers to embrace adaptability, growth, and impactful purpose. She has shared her inspiring journey from minimum-wage worker to award-winning Fortune 500 leader with organizations like Cisco, Dell, Carrier Global, and Royal Caribbean. Her insights have been featured in Business Insider, Newsweek, Forbes, USA TODAY, and more. Her books, A Return to Radiance and Harness Your Inner CEO, and her podcast, The emPOWERed Half Hour, deliver practical tools for personal and professional growth. Becca’s proprietary POWER Method teaches individuals the skills and tools to integrate career success with creative fulfillment, cultivating happier, healthier, and more impactful lives. Certified in Kundalini Yoga and trauma-awareness, Becca incorporates these healing practices to help clients overcome limiting beliefs and achieve new heights. Dedicated to philanthropy, she supports causes like the Alzheimer’s Association, Believe Ranch, and Feeding America. As a sought-after speaker, Becca’s transformative insights inspire audiences to join The Dragonfly Effect movement, to embrace and share qualities like resilience, adaptability, and purpose to elevate impact around the globe . She resides in South Florida with her firefighter husband, their blended family of four young adult children, two french bulldogs, and a pitbull mix. In this episode: The inspiration behind her book, A Return to Radiance [3:24] The underlying spiritual component of success [4:50] How witnessing her family member’s disconnect shaped her understanding of radiance. [6:13] Becca’s proprietary Power Method and how she used it as an acronym to structure the book. [9:41] Challenges Becca faced on when to go into teacher mode, and when to go into personal storytelling [12:29] Making each theme in her book digestible to the reader [16:46] Adding stories of transformation from Becca’s coaching clients into the book for another layer of expertise [19:08] What Becca means when she writes “bear hugging the uncomfortable.” [23:49] How Becca’s book melds the spiritual and the practical into an accessible package. [25:24] Connect with Becca Powers Website: https://www.beccapowers.com/ Connect with Estelle Erasmus Her latest substack Post: My Predictions for Publishing in 2025 https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/my-predictions-for-publishing-for Apply to be on Freelance Writing Direct in a coaching episode: email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com and state three of the issues you are dealing with that you would like Estelle’s help with. ​​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 BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    28 mins
  • #125 Parlaying Writing Into An Act of Reclamation Featuring Alyson Shelton

    #125 Parlaying Writing Into An Act of Reclamation Featuring Alyson Shelton
    Feb 6 2025
    Alyson Shelton writes about women across mediums + genres. In the film To Hold The Night she tackles a psychological thriller through fractured realities and self-invention. In her comic Reburn she centers a superpowered and mutli-faceted heroine, and in Eve of Understanding, the award winning feature she wrote and directed, the narrative delves into childhood secrets and their ongoing repercussions. She hosts a weekly Instagram Live series inspired by George Ella Lyon’s poem, Where I’m From, where she’s welcomed over 160 writers and creatives. And her own Where I’m From poem provides the spine for her memoir in essays, currently in revision. Her writing has been published widely at outlets including The New York Times, Ms., The Rumpus and more. She is thrilled to be a contributor to the essay collections, Broken Free: Writers on Estrangement (Forthcoming from Catapult in 2026) and Comics Lit Vol. 1 , to host her podcast, Fine Cut for Femme On Collective and to be co-founding a Sibling Loss community and co-editing an anthology entitled, The Loss of a Lifetime: Advice from Grieving Siblings on Loss, Love and Hope. You can learn more about her through her website, www.alysonshelton.com and her Instagram @byalysonshelton In this episode: The genesis of her Where I'm From poetry series, inspired by George Ella Lyon's poem [1:18] The importance of specificity when storytelling [8:05] How storytelling through poetry and fiction can clarify complex relationships and help heal and process childhood trauma [12:32] The difference between writing from the "scar" versus writing from the "wound" [16:19] A discussion of anticipatory grief when it comes to estrangement [13:01] Tips for writers on channeling difficult emotions into creative works [15:54] Alyson’s personal experience towards growth and self-acceptance [17:27] Advice for writers on how to have give themselves self-care while writing memoir [26:17] Connect with Alyson Shelton Website: https://www.alysonshelton.com Where I’m From Poems https://www.alysonshelton.com/where-im-from.html#/ Jeannine Ouellette’s episode referenced #103 Launching into New Dimensions with Embodied Writing https://estelleserasmus.com/103-launching-into-new-dimensions-with-embodied-writing/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwAksUboWwYOEM785ZQMpRw/videos Estelle’s Episode of Where I’m From #163 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiHBtSDWEpI Instagram https://instagram.com/byalysonshelton Connect with Estelle Erasmus Her latest substack Post: My Predictions for Publishing in 2025 https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/my-predictions-for-publishing-for Apply to be on Freelance Writing Direct in a coaching episode: email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com and state three of the issues you are dealing with that you would like Estelle’s help with. ​​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 BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    30 mins

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