Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle

What are publishing leaders talking about, and what can writers learn from those conversations?

In this solo episode of Freelance Writing Direct, I share my takeaways from the 2026 AALA People of Publishing Conference in New York City, co-founded by Regina Brooks and Lynn Johnston. This event is sponsored and planned by the Association of American Literary Agents.

From women's leadership to publishing trends and the possibilities of "memoir plus," the day offered plenty to think about as both a writer and an editor. I also share what stood out to me about the relationships behind successful books and the sense of community that made this conference feel so welcoming.

In this episode, I cover:

• Lessons from women leading major publishing companies, including the value of paying attention to the people doing the work. • My Estelle's Edge on finding kind mentors, supporting other women, and knowing when to say no. • Takeaways from the trend presentation on adult fiction, audiobooks, and how publishers are engaging readers. • What came up in the narrative nonfiction roundtable about memoir and the additional threads that can broaden a personal story's appeal. • How agents and editors collaborate on a book's positioning, marketing, and an author's readiness for public attention. • Why meeting people in person and building relationships remain so valuable in a changing industry.

I also share a little about my own narrative nonfiction project, which weaves memoir, reporting, and cultural critique.

Additional Statistics and Resources from Circana's Trendspotting Presentation

• 27% of consumers planned to reduce screen time to support their wellness goals in 2026.
• 79% of adults ages 18 to 35 expected to attend more in-person events in 2026.

Resources:

• Circana: Turning the Page on 2026 Book Trends
• Eventbrite: 2026 Social Study, Reset to Real
• CivicScience: Americans Lean on a Diverse Mix of Comfort Media for Emotional Relief

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRpTf7fKZys

Join me on October 21 in New York City for the Women's Media Group panel "Memoir Plus: When Personal Stories Contain Multitudes" at Penguin Random House. I'll be moderating a conversation with Regina Brooks, Laura Carney, Hyeseung Song, and Bethany Saltman. Find info here.

And some exciting news: Freelance Writing Direct is a 2026 Signal Awards finalist in Education! I'd love your support in the Listener's Choice voting. Go here to vote. You can vote until October 15. Thank you so much!

Subscribe to Freelance Writing Direct, and follow me on Substack at estelleserasmus.substack.com for more writing advice and subscriber-only extras.

Before we get to the episode, I have news: Freelance Writing Direct is a Signal Awards finalist in Education! If the podcast has helped you with your writing, I'd love your vote for the Listener's Choice Award. Vote here by October 15. Thank you for cheering me on!

Now for today's episode:

What happens when the person selling the story starts questioning the story she's been sold?

In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, I talk with Lu Chekowsky, author of Don't Buy What I'm Selling: On Breaking Up with Advertising and Finally Learning to Love My Whole Fat Self, about advertising, ambition, body image, approval, and the stories we absorb about who we're supposed to be.

Lu shares how she turned decades inside the advertising industry into a deeply personal book that also examines the culture of selling, beauty, success, and self-worth.

In this episode:

• What advertising teaches us about desire and identity • The connection between ambition, approval, and self-worth • Blending memoir with cultural critique • Writing candidly about body image, grief, and family

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSsu2Vg3jIA

About Lu

Lu Chekowsky is a writer, Emmy Award-winning creative director, and author of Don't Buy What I'm Selling. Her career has included senior creative roles at Facebook, Comedy Central, MTV, and Wieden+Kennedy. For her complete bio go to https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast (see episode #211)

Link

Website: https://www.lchekowsky.com

Get More From Estelle Erasmus

*]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-WEB:621d64ba-6042-470a-b4fa-818f0a8de1e0-3" data-turn-id-container= "request-WEB:621d64ba-6042-470a-b4fa-818f0a8de1e0-3" data-testid= "conversation-turn-8" data-turn="assistant">

I'm teaching my eight-week NYU course, Write to Publish: How to Get Your Work in Print and Beyond, live online beginning October 13. You'll learn how to develop personal and reported essays, create a compelling story arc, pitch online and print publications, and revise your work. We'll also hear directly from visiting editors and authors, and explore a curated list of publication opportunities. Learn more and register here. Latest Substack post: Detail with a Pulse to Make Your Writing Sing. A great detail doesn't just describe a scene. It carries emotion, tension, character, or meaning. Here's how to find the one detail that makes a scene come alive. Plus, paid subscribers can send me up to three paragraphs for feedback. https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/detail-with-a-pulse-to-make-your.

Upcoming Writer's Digest Webinar Join me on October 29 for The First Five Pages: Making Your Memoir Impossible to Put Down, a live Writer's Digest webinar about creating an opening that captures readers, agents, and editors from the start. Register here: https://writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/the-first-five-pages

Meet Estelle at An Event

• Women's Media Group panel (NYC), Memoir Plus: When Personal Stories Contain Multitudes, October 21, 2026
• Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) ( Chicago), March 17-20, 2027 (I'm on a panel about AI)
• Artists Against Antisemitism Mifgash, New York, NY (info coming)

WatchEstelle's TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond

Order My BookWriting That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers."

Listen/WatchFreelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Signal Awards Finalist — Education; 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards)

About EstelleEstelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.

Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine.

Follow Estelle

Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Freelance Writing Direct, and share it with the writers in your life.

In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, I talk with bestselling author, podcaster, and Zibby Media founder Zibby Owens about her new memoir in essays, Between Chapters: How I Started Over, Took Some Chances, and Found the Plot.

Zibby shares how she sorted through approximately 500 pages of essays and found the structure that could hold stories about divorce, remarriage, motherhood, friendship, grief, Jewish activism, mental health, weight loss, and work. We discuss how she balanced humor with more painful material, why she asked her children for permission before including a hilarious parenting story, and how she approaches writing about the people she loves. Zibby also reflects on childhood shyness, her drive to create, and why it's never too late to reinvent yourself.

In This Episode

• Why she arranged the book to feel like a conversation with a friend
• Balancing funny, poignant, and painful stories
• Protecting loved ones while writing honestly
• How childhood shyness strengthened her powers of observation
• Finding purpose through work, books, and literary community
• Why reinvention happens one decision at a time

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wf_1O8O-vE

About Zibby Owens

ZIBBY OWENS is the bestselling author and editor of seven books including Between Chapters: How I Started Over, Took Some Chances, and Found the Plot, Blank: A Novel, Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature, and On Being Jewish Now: Reflections from Authors and Advocates, which has spent 29 weeks on the USA Today bestseller list. Zibby has interviewed more than 2,000 authors on her award-winning podcast Totally Booked with Zibby and weekly TV show Totally Booked on JBS. In 2021 she founded Zibby Media with the launch of boutique publishing house Zibby Publishing and unique year-round hosted retreats and events for book lovers. In 2023, she opened indie bookstore Zibby's Bookshop in Santa Monica, CA. A frequent speaker (repped by UTA), moderator, and broadcast guest, Zibby, dubbed "NYC's Most Powerful Book-fluencer" (Vulture) is known for highlighting the book industry's most anticipated new releases and emerging authors in "the Zibby-verse" (L.A. Times).

Links

Newsletter subscription: https://www.zibbyowens.com/subscribe

Substack: https://www.zibbyowens.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zibbyowens/

Zibby Media: https://zibbymedia.com

Podcast: Totally Booked: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/totally-booked-with-zibby/id1366633318

Get More From Estelle Erasmus

*]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-WEB:621d64ba-6042-470a-b4fa-818f0a8de1e0-3" data-turn-id-container= "request-WEB:621d64ba-6042-470a-b4fa-818f0a8de1e0-3" data-testid= "conversation-turn-8" data-turn="assistant">

I'm teaching my eight-week NYU course, Write to Publish: How to Get Your Work in Print and Beyond, live online beginning October 13. You'll learn how to develop personal and reported essays, find and interview experts, conduct research, create a compelling story arc, pitch online and print publications, and revise your work for maximum impact. We'll also cover what editors look for in pitches and submissions, and hear directly from them. You'll leave with polished work and practical skills for getting published. The course is part of NYU's Storytelling and Professional Writing and Communications certificates, but it can also be taken on its own. Learn more and register here. Latest Substack post: Detail with a Pulse to Make Your Writing Sing. A great detail doesn't just describe a scene. It carries emotion, tension, character, or meaning. Here's how to find the one detail that makes a scene come alive. Plus, paid subscribers can send me up to three paragraphs for feedback.https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/detail-with-a-pulse-to-make-your.

Upcoming Writer's Digest Webinar Join me on October 29 for The First Five Pages: Making Your Memoir Impossible to Put Down, a live Writer's Digest webinar about creating an opening that captures readers, agents, and editors from the start. Register here: https://writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/the-first-five-pages

Meet Estelle at An Event

• AALA's People of Publishing (NYC), September 30, 2026 (attending as press)
• Women's Media Group panel (NYC), Memoir Plus: When Personal Stories Contain Multitudes, October 21, 2026
• Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) ( Chicago), March 17-20, 2027

WatchEstelle's TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond

Order My BookWriting That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers."

Listen/WatchFreelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast

About EstelleEstelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.

Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine.

Follow Estelle

Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Freelance Writing Direct, and share it with the writers in your life.

In this solo episode from the Freelance Writing Direct archives, Estelle Erasmus breaks down real pitches to show what works, what doesn't, and how to make your ideas more compelling to editors.

You'll learn how to sharpen your hook, add the right details and research, show editors your access and expertise, and structure a pitch so they can immediately see how the story will come together. Estelle also shares examples from her own successful pitches and explains how small changes can make a big difference. Get more pitching advice and a Pitch Clinic chapter in her book Writing That Gets Noticed.

In this episode:

• How to find and strengthen the hook in your pitch
• Why specificity, research, and expert access matter
• What to include when you don't have perfectly matched clips
• How to structure a pitch so an editor can quickly see the story
• Ways to bring your voice and perspective onto the page

Get More From Estelle Erasmus

Latest Substack post: Detail with a Pulse to Make Your Writing Sing. A great detail doesn't just describe a scene. It carries emotion, tension, character, or meaning. Here's how to find the one detail that makes a scene come alive. Plus, paid subscribers can send me up to three paragraphs for feedback.https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/detail-with-a-pulse-to-make-your.

Upcoming Writer's Digest Webinar Join me on October 29 for The First Five Pages: Making Your Memoir Impossible to Put Down, a live Writer's Digest webinar about creating an opening that captures readers, agents, and editors from the start. Register here: https://writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/the-first-five-pages

Meet Estelle at An Event

• AALA's People of Publishing (NYC), September 30, 2026 (attending as press)
• Women's Media Group panel (NYC), Memoir Plus: When Personal Stories Contain Multitudes, October 21, 2026
• Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) ( Chicago), March 17-20, 2027

WatchEstelle's TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond

Order My BookWriting That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers."

Listen/WatchFreelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast

About EstelleEstelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.

Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine.

Follow Estelle

Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Freelance Writing Direct, and share it with the writers in your life.

In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, award-winning author and memoirist Cinelle Barnes joins me to talk about how A Way Home evolved from a Philippines travel memoir into a layered story of travel, family, identity, recovery, and finding home after she suffered, and recovered from a brain aneurysm.

We discuss how she braided different threads and timelines together, found connections between seemingly disparate parts of her story, and shaped a memoir that became more expansive than the book she originally planned to write, plus:

• Shaping a hybrid travel and medical memoir • Using emotion and sensory details to deepen scenes • Working with motifs, refrains, and circling back • A writing exercise that everyone can use to find connections in seemingly disparate elements in memoir • Moving from "I have to" to "I get to"

Watch on YouTube

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PlHxkTjzY1s&pp=0gcJCf4LAYcqIYzv

About Cinelle Barnes

Cinelle Barnes is the Philippine-born author of Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir, Malaya: Essays on Freedom, and A Way Home: A Memoir of Losing Yourself and the Beauty of Returning. She is also the editor of the New York Times "New and Noteworthy" A Measure of Belonging: Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South. Cinelle is a survivor of a brain aneurysm rupture and sits on the Brain Injury Leadership Council of South Carolina and the Hub City Press National Council, and is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the Sustainable Arts Fund, the Authors League Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, South Arts, the SC State Arts Commission, and the North American Travel Journalists Association, among others. She has served on the jury panels for several literary awards, including the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Memoir. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Coastal Living, Travel + Leisure, Oprah Daily, Newsweek, Southern Living, and Memoir Land, among others. Cinelle lives in Charleston, SC, with her husband, daughter, and cat.

Links

For information, visit www.cinellebarnes.com

Get More From Estelle Erasmus

Latest Substack post: Detail with a Pulse to Make Your Writing Sing. A great detail doesn't just describe a scene. It carries emotion, tension, character, or meaning. Here's how to find the one detail that makes a scene come alive. Plus, paid subscribers can send me up to three paragraphs for feedback.https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/detail-with-a-pulse-to-make-your.

Meet Estelle at An Event

• Editor-on-Call event with NYU, Electric Literature, September 16, 12:30-1:30 pm ET (virtual)
• AALA's People of Publishing (NYC), September 30, 2026 (attending as press)
• Women's Media Group panel (NYC), Memoir Plus: When Personal Stories Contain Multitudes, October 21, 2026
• Writer's Digest Webinar, The First Five Pages: Making Your Memoir Impossible to Put Down, October 29, 2026
• Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) ( Chicago), March 17-20, 2027

WatchEstelle's TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond

BookWriting That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers."

Listen/WatchFreelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast

About EstelleEstelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.

Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine.

Follow Estelle

Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Freelance Writing Direct, and share it with the writers in your life.

What makes humor work on the page? And how do you write about love after the meet-cute, when a relationship has lasted for decades?

In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, I talk with New York Times bestselling author Steven Rowley about his new novel, Take Me With You, a love story with a touch of science fiction that asks a fascinating question: If you had the chance to leave everything behind and explore the unknown, would you go?

We talk about how Steven builds a novel around an organizing question, why he prefers writing without a detailed outline, how he creates humor from character rather than jokes, and what writers can learn from using humor to explore serious subjects. We also discuss writing relationships that evolve over time and why life experience can be an asset for writers.

In this episode:

• How to find the central question that drives a novel
• Why Steven writes toward an ending without heavily outlining
• How humor can help writers get closer to emotional truth
• Why character-based humor has staying power
• How to differentiate characters and show them changing over time
• Why writers shouldn't worry if publishing success comes later in life

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJietLH7PfE

About Steven Rowley

Steven Rowley is the New York Times bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus, a Washington Post notable book; The Editor, named one of NPR's best books of 2019; The Guncle, a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist and winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor; and the instant USA Today bestsellers The Guncle Abroad and The Dogs of Venice. His fiction has been published in twenty languages. Originally from Portland, Maine, he is a graduate of Emerson College and lives in Palm Springs with his husband, writer Byron Lane, and their three rescue dogs.

Link

Website: https://www.stevenrowley.com

Get More From Estelle Erasmus

My latest Substack post is the Substack Live I did with Aliza Licht on DKNY PR GIRL, the magazine world we both knew, branding and reinvention, and her Substack serial novel Off the Record, which brings that era vividly back to life.

Private Small-Group Memoir/Essay Class My next six-week session beginning in September 2026 is sold out. Please email me to be added to the waiting list for the next session. Contact [email protected] for details.

Meet Estelle at An Event

• Editor-on-Call event with NYU, Electric Literature, September 16, 12;30-1:30 pm ET (virtual)
• AALA's, People of Publishing (NYC), September 30, 2026 (attending as press)
• Women's Media Group panel (NYC), Memoir Plus: When Personal Stories Contain Multitudes, October 21, 2026
• Writer's Digest Webinar, The First Five Pages: Making Your Memoir Impossible to Put Down, October 29, 2026
• Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) ( Chicago), March 17-20, 2027

WatchEstelle's TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond

BookWriting That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers."

Listen/WatchFreelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast

About EstelleEstelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.

Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine.

Follow Estelle

Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Freelance Writing Direct, and share it with the writers in your life.

What does it take to build a career in journalism when the media landscape keeps shifting?

In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus talks with her former NYU High School Academy student Abigail Meyers, a digital and multimedia storyteller whose work spans journalism, creative services, social media, advocacy, and political communications.

Abigail shares how an early interest in storytelling grew into reporting, writing, and multimedia work, and asks Estelle for advice on navigating freelance journalism today. They discuss how to craft stronger pitches, avoid burnout, pivot from one reporting beat to another, and use your existing expertise to open doors in new areas. Estelle also shares her perspective on AI as a brainstorming and research tool, why journalists still need to verify primary sources, and why an individual writer's voice remains so important.

In this episode:

• How to create a strong, focused pitch that gives an editor confidence in you
• Why research and familiarity with a publication matter before you pitch
• How to pivot from one reporting beat or specialty to another
• Why primary-source research and fact-checking are more important than ever
• How curiosity and resourcefulness can strengthen your reporting
• Why journalism skills translate far beyond traditional newsroom jobs
• How personal storytelling can become a powerful tool for advocacy
• How young journalists can build visibility, expertise, and a platform

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFTCa-bJayU

About Abigail Meyers

Abigail Meyers is a digital and multimedia storyteller passionate about highlighting diverse perspectives and amplifying marginalized communities through storytelling. She graduated with high honors from Simmons University, where she studied journalism and political science. Her experience spans local community news, national policy, academic research, creative writing, social media, graphic design, and creative services. She is also a Platinum Ambassador for the Arthritis Foundation, where she uses storytelling and advocacy to help bring attention to the experiences of people living with arthritis, including young people.

Links

Instagram: https://instagram.com/abigailmmedia

X: https://twitter.com/abigailmmedia

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/abigailmeyers3

Get More From Estelle Erasmus

My latest Substack post is the Substack Live I did with Aliza Licht on DKNY PR GIRL, the magazine world we both knew, branding and reinvention, and her Substack serial novel Off the Record, which brings that era vividly back to life.

My next Editor-on-Call event with NYU is on Wednesday, September 16, with Electric Literature Executive Editor and Publisher Denne Michele Norris. Sign up here: https://events.nyu.edu/event/400238-light-up-your-literary-life-with-electric-literatures

Private Small-Group Memoir/Essay Class My next six-week session beginning in September 2026 is sold out. Please email me to be added to the waiting list for the next session. Contact [email protected] for details.

Meet Estelle at An Event

• Editor-on-Call event with NYU, Electric Literature, September 16, 12;30-1:30 pm ET (virtual)
• AALA's, People of Publishing (NYC), September 30, 2026 (attending as press)
• Women's Media Group panel (NYC), October 21, 2026 (info coming)
• Writer's Digest Webinar, October 29 (virtual, info coming)
• Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) ( Chicago), March 17-20, 2027

WatchEstelle's TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond

BookWriting That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers."

Listen/WatchFreelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast

About EstelleEstelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.

Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine.

Follow Estelle

Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Freelance Writing Direct, and share it with the writers in your life.

Estelle Erasmus speaks with Hyeseung Song, author of Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl, about shaping nearly 40 years of life into a memoir, finding the right structure, and writing honestly about family, identity, and mental health. They also talked about how Hyeseung's life as an artist and painter informs the way she sees and writes the self.

In this episode:

• Structuring a memoir across decades
• Using chronology to create momentum
• Writing about family and identity
• Self-portraiture and writing the self
• The ethics of writing about loved ones

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYAjyA26P14&t=4s

About Hyeseung Song

Hyeseung Song is a first-generation Korean American painter, writer, and teacher and the author of Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl, a memoir about an Asian American woman's struggle with self-worth and mental illness. Docile was called "a savagely beautiful memoir" by David Henry Hwang and "a revelation" by Chloé Cooper Jones. The audiobook was named a Best of Apple title, and a Korean-language edition was released in 2025.

Raised in Texas, Song studied philosophy, languages, and creative writing at Princeton University. She pursued postgraduate studies in law and philosophy at Harvard before leaving to study painting in New York. Her paintings are held in private collections internationally. She was a nonfiction fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and is currently at work on a meta-memoir exploring the ethics of writing about other people, revision, and the failures of translation that emerged after her father's unexpected death following the publication of Docile.

LinksWebsite: https://hyeseung.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/hyeseungs

Get More From Estelle Erasmus

My latest Substack post is the Substack Live I did with Aliza Licht on DKNY PR GIRL, the magazine world we both knew, branding and reinvention, and her Substack serial novel Off the Record, which brings that era vividly back to life.

My next Editor-on-Call event with NYU is on Wednesday, September 16, with Electric Literature Executive Editor and Publisher Denne Michele Norris. Sign up here: https://events.nyu.edu/event/400238-light-up-your-literary-life-with-electric-literatures

Private Small-Group Memoir/Essay Class My next six-week session beginning in September 2026 is sold out. Please email me to be added to the waiting list for the next session. Contact [email protected] for details.

WatchEstelle's TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond

BookWriting That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers."

Listen/WatchFreelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast

About EstelleEstelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.

Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine.

Follow Estelle

Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Freelance Writing Direct, and share it with the writers in your life.

Award-winning screenwriter, storytelling coach, and developmental editor Michelle Tamara Cutler joins Estelle Erasmus to discuss the evolution of her forthcoming reported memoir, I Won't Let You Die Alone, and how she sold the book to Bloomsbury without an agent.

Michelle shares how a project that began with the death of her aunt transformed when caring for her aging mother gave the story a new urgency and changed the book she realized she needed to write. She discusses restructuring the project to braid memoir with research and interviews, developing a proposal that could make a strong business case for the book, and finding creative ways to demonstrate platform and reach.

In this episode:

• Why a strong book idea still needs a compelling reason for readers to care now
• What Michelle learned from years of querying before changing the project's framing
• How an A/B chapter structure helped her organize a complex nonfiction book
• What happens inside a publisher when an editor wants to acquire a book
• Creative ways writers can leverage alumni networks, workshops, media appearances, and other connections
• Why Michelle chose professional help to negotiate her deal rather than signing with an agent
• What she prioritized in the contract, including retaining film and television rights
• How thinking like an entrepreneur can help writers navigate a changing publishing landscape
• Why knowing exactly why you're telling a story can keep you connected to it over the long haul

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWspykrUOJI

About Michelle

Michelle Tamara Cutler is an award-winning screenwriter, storytelling coach, and developmental editor specializing in memoir and the adaptation of true stories. Her recent work centers on caring for her aging mother as an artist and expat, with essays published in literary and news outlets. She is currently writing I WON'T LET YOU DIE ALONE, a reported memoir from the trenches of modern elder caregiving, forthcoming from Bloomsbury. She holds an MFA in Film from NYU and a Diploma in Advanced Creative Writing (Nonfiction) from Cambridge. Michelle lives in Andalucía with her partner and their dog, Ragazzo.

Links Website: https://michellecutler.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/micky.cutler/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickytcutler/ Bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/michelletcutler.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtcutler/

Get More From Estelle Erasmus

My latest substack post is Musings on Magazines: The Behind-the-Scenes Tea From the Print Magazines You Loved to Read (and a Book Giveaway) https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/the-behind-the-scenes-tea-from-the

My next Editor-on-Call event with NYU is on Wednesday, September 16, with Electric Literature Executive Editor and Publisher Denne Michele Norris. Sign up here: https://events.nyu.edu/event/400238-light-up-your-literary-life-with-electric-literatures

Private Small-Group Memoir/Essay Class My next six-week session beginning in September 2026 is sold out. Please email me to be added to the waiting list for the next session. Contact [email protected] for details.

WatchEstelle's TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond

BookWriting That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers."

Listen/WatchFreelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast

About EstelleEstelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.

Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine.

Follow Estelle

Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Freelance Writing Direct, and share it with the writers in your life.

What happens when a personal challenge becomes a path back to yourself?

In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus talks with Kate Washington, author of Midstream: A Life Remade in 50 Swims, about how a challenge to swim in 50 natural bodies of water before turning 50 became a memoir about midlife, change, and self-rediscovery.

Kate shares how she blended personal narrative with nature writing, history, science, feminist thought, and literary criticism. She also discusses cutting 20,000 words, maintaining chronological momentum, using sensory detail, and writing candidly about divorce, family, and the life of the body.

Book Giveaway I'm giving away a copy of Midstream. Go to my Instagram (https://instagram.com/EstelleSErasmus) and leave the comment Midstream on the post for episode #203. Giveaway ends August 12. You must have an address in the Continental USA. Good luck!

In this episode:

• How Kate's 50 Dunks Challenge became the structure for Midstream
• How to weave research and cultural context into memoir without overwhelming the personal story
• How chronology, scene, and sensory detail can maintain narrative momentum
• How to decide what to cut when themes or events begin to repeat
• Why following your deepest curiosities can make a personal story more universal

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWsmXYYkjMQ&t=18s

About Kate

Kate Washington is the author of Midstream: A Life Remade in 50 Swims (Beacon Press, 2026) and Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America (Beacon Press, 2021). She is a frequent speaker on the systemic challenges facing family caregivers and a longtime freelance writer whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, TIME, HuffPost, Eater, and many other publications. Formerly the dining critic for the Sacramento Bee and associate food editor for Sunset Magazine, she holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and lives in Sacramento with her two daughters.

Links: Website: https://kawashington.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/washingtonkate Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katewashington Bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/washingtonkate.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katewashington

Get More From Estelle Erasmus

My latest substack post is Musings on Magazines: The Behind-the-Scenes Tea From the Print Magazines You Loved to Read (and a Book Giveaway) https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/the-behind-the-scenes-tea-from-the

My next Editor-on-Call event with NYU is on Wednesday, September 16, with Electric Literature Executive Editor and Publisher Denne Michele Norris. Sign up here: https://events.nyu.edu/event/400238-light-up-your-literary-life-with-electric-literatures

Private Small-Group Memoir/Essay Class My next six-week session beginning in September 2026 is sold out. Please email me to be added to the waiting list for the next session. Contact [email protected] for details.

WatchEstelle's TEDx Talk: How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond

BookWriting That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers."

Listen/WatchFreelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2026 Podcast of the Year, Business (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast

About EstelleEstelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She is the host, founder, and executive producer of Freelance Writing Direct, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines with a combined reach of 10 million readers.

Her work has appeared in more than 150 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine.

Follow Estelle

Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus Twitter/X: @EstelleSErasmus Bluesky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Freelance Writing Direct, and share it with the writers in your life.