#GoBigOrStopPitching

Here I am, promoting blog writing, telling you how important it is to maintain a blog to keep your website relevant – and I haven’t posted on my own blog in (gulp) months. All I have to say is this: two moves, two new schools, no babysitter. Make of that what you will. While my personal promotion has suffered, my behind-the-scenes work has not. I’m still producing copious amounts of web content (especially for cosmetic dentists), and I still believe that every writer must #GoBigOrStopPitching.

Write It. Submit It. Expect Success.

I am far from an exhibitionist. Obviously, as a ghost blogger, I prefer to do behind-the-scenes work and still cash a check. Nevertheless, I am an admitted voyeur, which is what has drawn me to underground lifestyle topics. This interest in digging deep into the unusual has found me pitching to my pie-in-the-sky publication: Vanity Fair. Have I heard back from my editor of choice yet? No. Am I discouraged? No.

The hardest part of pitching the top of my byline bucket list wasn’t coming up with a topic, writing an eloquent pitch, or waiting for a response. The hardest part was pulling the goalie and hitting the “Send” button on my email. That is the scary place. That moment before you put yourself out there for the “world” to see.

Will they get my email? Am I sending my pitch to the right editor? Will I offend someone along the way? Most of all: Will they steal my freaking awesome idea and assign it to another writer? 

I would like to think that editors are editors because they have earned the right to be at the helm of a masthead, and not because they have done dirty to up-and-coming writers.

Write You Will

So for the newbies, there is hope. You can send a message to the editor of a long-time, niche magazine and get an enthusiastic yes. And that feeling will recapture the fan-girl squeal and joyous burst you experienced when you were assigned your very first print feature ages ago. (I was going to insert a link to my article about watching a woman get plastic surgery but that was pubbed in 2008 and, apparently, no longer lives on the internet. Sigh. It was a good one, too. I didn’t even need the smelling salts!).

Even though, at first, I had delusions of being the kind of freelance writer whose name could be found on every magazine rack in your local B&N or grocery store, the reality is that I’d rather eat and make a real living. While I may not often have the time or energy to pitch big, I’m always thinking and, every once in a while, I take a shot.

And, sometimes, I find myself hooked up with a really sweet editor who lands me bylines like this.