Hey everyone,
The first time I ran the 30 Days, 30 Queries course, it was a bit of an experiment. I had been sending 30 pitches a month for years by this point and when I told readers of this newsletter (all of you!) that this is how I landed so much work, I was surprised to find that no one else was doing this.
So many writers wanted to know why I did it, how I was able to do it so quickly, and what made editors respond. Writers insisted I teach this, so I put together a free challenge, and when that still wasn’t enough, I launched the 30 Days, 30 Queries course.
Here’s something I wrote for my students at the end of those first and second sessions that I want to share with you today:
Some of you may remember when you first joined 30 Days, 30 Queries. I know at least two dozen of you who personally wrote to me to say you’d sent maybe two or three pitches before you arrived to the course. Many of you are now regular writers for The New York Times, National Geographic, The Guardian, and many other top publications. Many of you now make a good income writing for publications where you earlier believed this to be impossible. Many of you have credits that you could not have dreamed of. And they are now commonplace for you.
Do you know what changed from that first day when you nervously sent out your first pitch and now?
You saw other people doing it, sometimes with ease, sometimes with frustration, but noticed that no matter what, they were doing it.
All that advice from gurus about how it’s impossible to send so many pitches? You could SEE that it was wrong.
People in this group, the high achievers, the winners, the professionals, were just getting on with it. People in this group? We talk about sending 30, 40, 50 pitches when work is low. We don’t give up. We fight harder.
Just like that, you elevated. Your mindset changed. Suddenly, it wasn’t about the industry being tough. Suddenly, you understood that it was about the numbers, about getting better, about being consistent. All things that were in your control. And you took control.
You were, dare I say, empowered.
I’d like you to remember that feeling the next time you’re offered low pay, the next time an editor is snarky in her rejection, the next time someone wants you to write something that offends your sensibilities.
Remember that you are always in control.
It is time for us, as a community, to elevate again. Yes, you can make six figures. Yes, you can negotiate contracts. Yes, you can simultaneously submit. Yes, you can turn down work. Yes, you can control the way in which your words are used. Because they are your words.
But remember, we’re not going to get there individually or as a group if we’re still working from a place of disempowerment.
What changed from your first pitch to the last one you just sent was your mindset, the way you understood what was possible.
Want to get to the next level in your writing career and business? Change your understanding, once again, of what is possible.
Cheers,
Natasha