The Writing Coach Podcast with Rebecca L. Weber

What is your freelance writer business model? What are the skills you need to get you to the next point? Do you prefer to improve your weaknesses or your strengths? What skills are you actively devel…

It’s common for the lede to get buried in the draft (and sometimes final) article. 

In pitches, it can happen twofold: first there’s a tendency to take up a half a screen of nonessential small talk (…

Every three months marks a turn of seasons, and a refresh of the financial quarter. It’s the perfect time for an evaluation. 

Pausing to review and reflect on what’s actually happened allows you to p…

Freelancers often think of the editors who don’t want to assign them stories, and of readers who don’t want to read their stories and angles, when writing pitches.

I don’t mean the editors don’t want…

We all know we’re supposed to read a publication and tailor a pitch to their needs … but so many freelancers just cut and paste the same one-size-fits-none pitch and send it out to editor after edito…

If you’ know improving your pitch acceptance rate would uplevel your writing life, or you keep saying you want to work with me in Freelance Writer Bootcamp, but find the idea of filling in the applic…

I used to work at a homemade ice cream parlor. When someone came in and was unsure of what to order, I’d offer them a taste. 

If they wanted multiple tastes, that was fine, but they didn’t get mint c…

Ever wonder what “vulnerability” feels like? Try telling people you’re about to shop your book proposal when you’re worried maybe no one will ever buy said proposal. 

The proposal (or pitch, or post,…

Some freelancers say they’re writing for low paying, low circulating, low quality, or otherwise low satisfaction publications because they need to pay their dues.

If working this way was a sure route…

Whether you’re writing a short pitch or a lengthy feature, the urge to include more, more, more can be seductive. Succumb to this pull, and you’ll see productivity, speed, and quite possibly you and …

The past few weeks, I've been adjusting to a new morning routine.

Moving outside in the sunshine helps the body recalibrate to wake up earlier. But somehow the effort of actually putting on my socks …

If you’ve experienced something as difficult in the past, or know that a task is challenging for others, you may subconsciously make it harder for yourself because you believe the dominant narrative …

In the movie version of my writing life, there’s a scene where I walk up and down the aisle of an airplane watching strangers open the inflight magazine with the Bonnie Raitt cover story I wrote.

Tha…

Please don’t @ me, the title is correct. ;)

TK (or a similar place holder, eg “XX” or writing a NOTE IN ALL CAPS) is a practical tool to take to remind yourself that after the current drafting phase …

What’s the importance and impact of seeking out original stories that nobody else is doing?

In this conversation with freelance journalist Raymond Joseph, we examine how much a unique story and/or an…

Rebecca coaches a writer live who has worked on a number of pitches but keeps getting stuck in the same place.

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Table Mountain is the old school GPS. But here’s what happened when I got a teeny bit lost in Cape Town, and how I found my way home—and how it applies to reorienting and evaluating our writing goals…

My word of the year is flow. I began my inquiry asking, where do I already see this in my life? Where can I observe it when I’m writing, and when I’m not writing? What are the conditions that lead to…

Do you expect somebody (eg an editor, a source) or something (an idea, an interview) to make you feel excited about the story you’re going to pitch?

If so, you’d benefit from changing your relationsh…

When editors start saying YES YES YES to the ideas you send them, your freelance writing life becomes your own AND it becomes more collaborative.

Apply now to master the art of the pitch at www.Freel…