FINDING FUN AGAIN Pitching

 

Have you lost the fun in writing? 

If your answer is yes, you are not alone. Tizzie Frankish is helping us to find fun again in this four part series. In this first week, she is finding fun in Pitching.

 

After completing my first ever story on a local writing course in 2013, the teacher suggested I try to get it published. So, as a naïve and very green writer, I joined an online writer’s forum to gather insight on this wild idea... but the forum was less about publishing, and more about the writer's plight - so many writers frustrated/disappointed/angry at their lack of ‘success’, with some questioning why they bothered to write at all. ‘For the love of it, surely?’ I thought at the time (I told you I was naïve!). 

Fast forward, ten years, seven manuscripts, two agents and two ‘No bite’ industry subs later- I TOTALLY understand those feelings and judging by the number of ‘I thought I’d be further in my writing career by now!’ and ‘I’m going to give up writing’ tweets in recent years, I’m not alone. When my second agent left the industry in February 2021, I was broken. I put down my pen, shut my laptop and vowed never to write again. This worked for a year, until... not writing started to feel A LOT harder than writing.

 

But I couldn’t return to the misery of writing for publication. So, if I wanted to write again, something had to change; how could I return to the heady (but less naive) days of writing for the love of it? Thus, ‘My Year of Finding the Fun Again!’ was conceived. I yearned to fall back in love with the creative process without focussing on the outcome (which often determined how I felt about myself and my work), and when the idea of pitching an article for a magazine was touted whilst walking, the Find the Fun Again challenge started in earnest...

 

Finding the Fun in... Pitching!

 

During my year of NOT WRITING, I signed up for a Pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in memory of a friend’s husband and in the middle of a million-mile practice walk, it was suggested I write an article about it. Me, pitch? To an actual magazine? Okaaaaaaay! So, I did what any writer worth their salt would do when starting to research... I googled ‘Pitching to Magazines’ (well, I had a crisis of confidence first and then I googled it) and signed up to a free pitching course by Amber Petty. It was the 101 of pitching, exploring everything from what to write about, where to pitch and how to write a speculative piece.

I learned that; our interests, experiences and specialist knowledge made great stories; pitches didn’t need to be perfect; they wouldn’t take years to write; and most of all, I had fun excavating the depths of my menopausal memory (this took some time). After the course, I wrote various pitches... some good, some bad and some downright ugly... but it didn’t matter because I was creating and writing AND enjoying EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

 

Emboldened by my excitement of ACTUALLY writing a pitch, I sent a couple off to magazines. ‘A narrative account of walking the Camino de Santiago’ (the good) ‘Why does midlife have to be a crisis?’ (the bad) and way too many uglies to share. I wasn’t expecting anything from these (it was more about completing the process from beginning to end), but the cherry on my pitching cake was this response from a walking magazine - “An article on the Camino sounds really interesting, and it looks like you’d be the person to write it for us! I like the idea of a narrative account combined with a section of essential how-to info." Although the article wasn’t eventually commissioned, I thanked the editor for their time and moved on.... after all, my year of Finding the Fun Again was all about the joy of the process and not the outcome. Right?

 

My second experience of pitching articles came in the form of this article. At the inception of my Finding the Fun idea, I pitched it to the W&P team, but the Imposter Syndrome was strong then and it’s only now I feel ready to write it. Don’t get me wrong, Imposter Syndrome is still whispering in my ear with every word I type, but I’m not listening; I’m too focussed on the enjoyment of writing and sharing my experience, so maybe you can find your own fun in pitching to magazines too. If you have any questions about this, please comment below and join me every Monday for the upcoming articles on Finding the Fun in... Proposals; Different types of fiction/non-fiction; Different forms of fiction.

 

Tips:

 

• If you would like to try pitching for magazines yourself there are lots of free courses available. The course I did with Amber Petty (https://www.amberpetty.com) was called ‘Start Pitching Now and get your First Byline.’ There are lots of pitching call-outs and tips in Amber's newsletter, which is also great source of creative opportunities.

 

• Using the #journorequest or #journosrequest on Twitter also filters up to date call outs for pitching opportunities.

 

• If you have an idea and want to write a feature for W& P you can pitch your ideas to editor@britishscbwi.org 

 

• Journo Resources: Advice, Jobs, Salaries, Pitching, Rates And More (https://www.journoresources.org.uk) is an info-packed, not for profit site with everything from job listings, pitch guidelines for individual magazines, and freelance rates.

 

• Don’t rule yourself out, before you have ruled yourself in. Have a go at pitching just for the fun of it (and please let me know how it goes) or apply pitching techniques to longer fiction ideas to drill down to the heart of your story or your core plot (synopsis writing, anyone?)

 

“Focus on the journey not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” ― Greg Anderson

 

*Header image - Shannon Ell

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Note from the Editor: I am so glad Tizzie didn't give into the imposter syndrome and she has written this series of articles for Words & Pictures. I don't know about you but I didn't even realise how much I needed to read it. Thank you Tizzie!

 

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After spending most of her time BC (Before Children) travelling and studying or travelling to study, Tizzie settled back in her hometown of Coventry (United Kingdom), with her partner and teenage sons. She has a 20-year career in education and currently works as a Specialist Support Tutor across two universities in the Midlands, where she coaches neurodiverse learners, and she gets a fascinating insight into all the subjects she hasn’t got around to studying (yet!). She has also guest-lectured on a creative writing degree, specialising in writing for children.