『Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.』のカバーアート

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

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

著者： Estelle Erasmus
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概要

 Want to get published or land a book deal? Join TEDx speaker and author Estelle Erasmus for smart writing tips, publishing insights, and behind-the-scenes advice for fiction writers, memoirists, and authors at every stage. Winner of the 2025 Podcast of the Year (Education) from the American Writing Awards, Freelance Writing Direct is your go-to podcast for writing tips, publishing advice, and insider strategies to help you get published—whether in essays, memoir, fiction, books, or journalism. Hosted by Estelle Erasmus—award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, NYU writing professor, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers)—this show blends writing craft, career strategy, and behind-the-scenes publishing insight. Each week, Estelle shares short, practical episodes full of: Writing tips for essays, memoir, and books Pitch strategies that get editors' attention Publishing advice from agents and bestselling authors Solo episodes, coaching episodes and candid conversations with industry insiders Whether you're just starting your freelance writing journey or aiming for your next book deal, you'll find actionable tools, story prompts, and the momentum you need to grow your writing career. Listeners often ask: *How do I get published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, or WIRED? *What writing tips will make my voice stand out? *How do I find an agent or land a book deal? *What do editors actually want? *How do I shape my personal story for publication? You're in the right place. It's time to elevate your writing—with Freelance Writing Direct. 🎙️ About Estelle Erasmus Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She's a Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest, an adjunct writing professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Estelle's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, AARP, Next Avenue, and The Independent, among 150+ other outlets. She is also the host of Freelance Writing Direct, named the 2025 Podcast of the Year in the Education category by the American Writing Awards. Learn more: estelleserasmus.com Newsletter: estelleserasmus.substack.com Social: @EstelleSErasmus on Instagram, X, Threads, and LinkedIn2022 マネジメント・リーダーシップ リーダーシップ 個人的成功 経済学 自己啓発
エピソード
  • #178 From Viral Essay to Memoir Plus: Writing Longing into a Book Deal with Amanda McCracken

    #178 From Viral Essay to Memoir Plus: Writing Longing into a Book Deal with Amanda McCracken
    2026/02/12
    What does it take to turn a viral essay about longing into a deeply researched memoir and a book deal? For Amanda McCracken, it took 11 years, multiple agent rejections, a pandemic, creative platform-building, and an unwavering commitment to her story. In this episode, Estelle Erasmus sits down with Amanda McCracken, author of When Longing Becomes Your Lover: Breaking from Infatuation, Rejection, and Perfectionism to Find Authentic Love, a deeply researched memoir that blends personal narrative with journalism, psychology, and neuroscience. Amanda shares the behind-the-scenes reality of the publishing journey, from her 2013 viral New York Times essay to landing a book deal in 2024. She opens up about the structural challenges of writing memoir with research, the emotional work of cutting stories that "served their purpose," and how she built a compelling platform through her podcast The Longing Lab, her 2023 TED Talk, and strategic essay placements in Vogue, The Guardian, and The Washington Post. In This Episode How to turn a personal essay into a full book proposal and why timing matters [2:48] The real timeline of traditional publishing, from query to contract [4:35] Why perseverance, patience, and an athlete's mindset matter in the publishing journey [8:11] Why agents and editors wanted a "happy ending" and how Amanda navigated that [18:59] How to position your book in a competitive market without saying "there's nothing like it" [20:10] Smart platform-building strategies, including podcasts, TED Talks, and targeted essay placements [22:52] The power of giving yourself grace and focusing on what's fun during the book promotion process [25:02] How to structure a memoir that weaves personal story with deep research [25:19] Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4DTnoOVPzcM About Amanda: Amanda McCracken is a journalist passionate about experiences that highlight the intersection of wellness, travel, and relationships. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Vogue, National Geographic, Elle, NPR, Outside, ESPN, SELF,Runner's World, and many others. She published her first article about longing in 2013, which led to additional articles featuring personal anecdotes and deep research and interviews with the BBC and Katie Couric. She is now considered a "limerence expert" and intimacy advocate. Her 2023 TED Talk, "How Longing Keeps Us From Healthy Relationships," highlights how longing can become self-sabotaging and shares how to change our patterns of longing. McCracken is the author of When Longing Becomes Your Lover: Breaking Free from Infatuation, Rejection, and Perfectionism to Find Authentic Love. She is also a part-time university instructor, massage therapist, triathlon coach, and competitive athlete. Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, McCracken put down roots with her husband and daughter in Boulder, Colorado, after a trip around the world aboard the Peace Boat. Connect with Amanda www.amandajmccracken.com My book: When Longing Becomes Your Lover My podcast: The Longing Lab Watch my TEDx talk Read my NYT story on limerence Instagram: @amandajmccracken TikTok: @thelonginglab Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.mccracken.39 Get More From Estelle Upcoming Webinar with Writer's Digest: Amplifying the Echo Effect in Memoir and Essays, February 26th, 1:00-2:30 pm ET If you want to understand how patterns, callbacks, and emotional echoes can deepen your work, join me for this brand new interactive craft webinar. Learn more and register here. https://writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/amplifying-the-echo-effect-in-memoir-and-essays Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Discover how to beat writer's block, shape a powerful narrative, pitch editors, and walk away with a ready-to-publish essay or memoir pages. https://www.sps.nyu.edu/courses/WRIT1-CE9800-writing-about-your-life-through-memoir-essays-and-articles.html Private Small-Group Memoir Class — January and March are sold out. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email me at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: On Craft, Revision, and the Paragraph You Almost Cut https://estelleserasmus.substack.com Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpcWmjpzSIQ Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." https://www.amazon.com/Writing-That-Gets-Noticed-Storyteller/dp/1608688364 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast/ About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. An...
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    27 分
  • #177 The Power of Narrative Tension with Peter Mountford

    #177 The Power of Narrative Tension with Peter Mountford
    2026/02/05
    Great writing doesn't come from inventing drama. It comes from putting characters in situations where something meaningful is at stake. In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle talks with fiction writer and essayist Peter Mountford about his short story collection Detonator and the craft choices that make stories propulsive. Mountford discusses how place shapes his fiction, drawing from lived experience in Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Mexico, Scotland, and the U.S. He explains why many of the stories began as previously published pieces and how revising them later, with a teacher's eye, changed their emotional impact. This episode is for fiction and nonfiction writers who want their work to feel leaner, sharper, and more emotionally charged In this episode: How Detonator grew out of lived experience and real places [2:18] Guilt, death, sex, and humor as recurring narrative forces [15:24] The craft purpose of a nonfiction prologue in a fiction collection [15:55] How strong hooks give writers freedom to slow down later [19:19] Using secrets, requests, and moral pressure to create tension [21:06] Why "mini-scenes" often work better than full narratives [25:09] Revising previously published work with a teacher's eye [27:08] What makes Modern Love–style essays pitchable and effective [30:15] Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FvZLi7ehvdA About Peter: Peter Mountford is the author of the novels A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism (Washington State Book Award), The Dismal Science (NYT editor's choice), and his latest, a collection of short stories, Detonator (now out from Four Way Books). His work has appeared in the New York Times (Modern Love), Paris Review, Southern Review, The Atlantic, The Sun, Ploughshares, and Guernica. He teaches at University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe's MFA, and through Mountford Writing. Connect with Peter: Website: https://www.petermountford.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mountfordwriting/?hl=en Detonator: https://www.petermountford.com/detonator Coaching & Classes: https://www.mountfordwriting.com/ Modern Love Self Guided Class: https://www.mountfordwriting.com/how-to-write-a-new-york-times-modern-love-essay Get More from Estelle Upcoming Webinar with Writer's Digest: Amplifying the Echo Effect in Memoir and Essays, February 26th, 1:00-2:30 pm ET If you want to understand how patterns, callbacks, and emotional echoes can deepen your work, join me for this brand new interactive craft webinar. Learn more and register here. https://writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/amplifying-the-echo-effect-in-memoir-and-essays Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Discover how to beat writer's block, shape a powerful narrative, pitch editors, and walk away with a ready-to-publish essay or memoir pages. https://www.sps.nyu.edu/courses/WRIT1-CE9800-writing-about-your-life-through-memoir-essays-and-articles.html Private Small-Group Memoir Class — January and March are sold out. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email me at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: On Craft, Revision, and the Paragraph You Almost Cut https://estelleserasmus.substack.com Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpcWmjpzSIQ Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." https://www.amazon.com/Writing-That-Gets-Noticed-Storyteller/dp/1608688364 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast/ About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. An adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Follow Estelle: • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    42 分
  • #176 The Domino Effect of Plot: Writing Emotionally Complex Characters with Tova Mirvis

    #176 The Domino Effect of Plot: Writing Emotionally Complex Characters with Tova Mirvis
    2026/01/29
    Family loyalty can push ordinary people toward unimaginable choices. Estelle Erasmus chats with novelist and memoirist Tova Mirvis about her latest book, We Would Never, a gripping murder mystery inspired by a true crime case. While real events sparked the novel, the plot ultimately emerged from the emotional choices her characters make, with each decision setting off the next. Tova reveals that the real work happened on the inside, as she burrowed into the emotional lives of her characters: the anger, loyalty, fear, and love that drive people to extremes. In this episode: How a true crime case inspired We Would Never while leaving room for invention [3:02] Lessons from memoir writing applied to fiction [4:02] Crafting morally complex characters readers can still empathize with [6:38] Writing fiction as a mystery the reader wants to solve [7:05] The back-and-forth between character development and plot creation [8:59] Writing dialogue that escalates tension and reveals moral fault lines [16:24] Using empathy to explore difficult or morally ambiguous actions [19:45] The painstaking revision process and knowing when a novel is truly finished [20:49] Techniques for building suspense and pacing in emotionally charged narratives [29:22] Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/U0RPCcdmIVI About Tova: Tova Mirvis is the author, most recently, of the novel We Would Never which was published by Avid Reader Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Her memoir The Book of Separation was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and excerpted in the New York Times Modern Love Column. She is also the author of three prior novels, Visible City, The Outside World and The Ladies Auxiliary which was a national bestseller. Her essays have appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe Magazine, Real Simple and Psychology Today, and her fiction has been broadcast on NPR. Connect with Tova: We Would Never: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214151513-we-would-never Website: https://www.tovamirvis.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tovamirvis/ Get More from Estelle Upcoming Webinar with Writer's Digest: Amplifying the Echo Effect in Memoir and Essays, February 26th, 1:00-2:30 pm ET If you want to understand how patterns, callbacks, and emotional echoes can deepen your work, join me for this brand new interactive craft webinar. Learn more and register here. https://writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/amplifying-the-echo-effect-in-memoir-and-essays Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Discover how to beat writer's block, shape a powerful narrative, pitch editors, and walk away with a ready-to-publish essay or memoir pages. https://www.sps.nyu.edu/courses/WRIT1-CE9800-writing-about-your-life-through-memoir-essays-and-articles.html Private Small-Group Memoir Class — January and March are sold out. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email me at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: On Craft, Revision, and the Paragraph You Almost Cut https://estelleserasmus.substack.com Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpcWmjpzSIQ Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." https://www.amazon.com/Writing-That-Gets-Noticed-Storyteller/dp/1608688364 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast/ About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. An adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Follow Estelle: • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    32 分
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