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At the start of the year, I wrote about the 7 fearless things I am doing for my career in 2017 and exactly why I am signing up for the #52essays2017 challenge. I also committed to making 2017 my #yearofwriting… my theme for the year, if you will.
I’ve had a few small successes here and there: Mainly that I am now officially a contributor at Mom.me (yay!) and am getting serious about working on my memoir, Moscow Chica: How Growing Up Cuban and Russian Made Me an American.
But I also wanted to talk about what a writer’s life is really like… Mainly, I wanted to talk about the solid numbers.
So here’s the deal: Starting this month, I am going to get real and tell the truth about how my freelancing has gone this month. I’ll talk about what went well, what didn’t and what it all meant. So here goes!
What was published:
- I’m Cuban-American And Glad ‘Wet Foot, Dry Foot’ Is Being Repealed [The Establishment]
- 7 Things You Can Do for Your Writing Career in 2017 [Epic Freelancing]
- The Secret Shame Of The Mostly Healthy Eater [Dose]
- Why My Future Husband Won’t Be Hotter Than Me [Dose]
- Looking Back On My Favorite Interracial Love Story [Dose]
- Even Women in Jail Are Entitled to the Right to Choose [Mom.me]
- Heroic Grandpa Saves Toddler From Attempted Kidnapping [Mom.me]
- Woman in Labor Gets Dramatic Rescue on the Way to the Hospital [Mom.me]
- Single Mom Raped in Her Own Home With Toddler in Bed Next to Her [Mom.me]
- A Special-Needs Child Ingested Bleach at School. Who’s to Blame? [Mom.me]
- Why You Should Wait at Least a Year to Get Pregnant After This Surgery [Mom.me]
- Dad Does Amazing Photo Series on What Women’s Work Really Looks Like [Mom.me]
Some of these pieces were written before this month, and some were written more recently. Obviously, all of my Mom.me work is news stories and the repeal of “wet foot, dry foot” was recent too. But all in all, I also wanted to show what freelancing I did. Other than my part-time food editor job at Brit.co, here are the solid numbers:
How much I wrote: 16,475 words
How much I made: $1725*
*I am including two pieces that were accepted on spec (meaning that the editor wanted to see a full draft before they could finally say “yes”) that have been submitted but I haven’t officially heard back on. Also: This ONLY includes my freelance writing income.
Besides that, there’s also pitching… It’s what us writer have to do in order to write, yes? This month has been by FAR my most successful month of pitching and reaching out to new editors. To be honest, in 2016 I was feeling pretty cushy with my PT food editor gig and my contributing writer roles, and never looked to expand my resume.
Well, one of the things that I am doing for my writing career in 2017 is that I hired a writing coach. Her name is Mridu Khullar Relph and she runs TheInternationalFreelancer.com, and is basically FANTASTIC. The truth is that I needed a big kick to get my career to the next level, which is precisely why I hired her. It’s gone incredibly well so far! Here’s all of the numbers:
Pitches sent out in January: 27
Pitch rejections: 9
Pitch non-replies: 12
Pitch acceptances: 4
Pitch acceptances on spec: 2
Follow-ups with previous pitches: 5
Pitch rejections: 1
Pitch non-replies: 1
Pitch acceptances: 1
Pitch acceptances on spec: 2
I admit: The 27 pitches isn’t an exact number, primarily because one pitch went out on 6 simultaneous submissions and a couple of editors received more than one pitch from me in one email. But that’s basically it.
To be honest, considering that this is the FIRST month of my #yearofwriting and also the first year that I have been seriously going out there and pitching editors, I am feeling pretty good.
The one lesson I learned, for sure, is that there comes a time when you just have to get out there and do it. And I’m happy that I’m finally doing that!
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