Hey everyone,
I don’t know about you, but I love to know the behind-the-scenes of any assignment, book deal, or movie and over the years, I’ve often thought about pulling back the curtain on my own projects.
This is helpful, I believe, not only for new writers but for established pros as well because we can all use a glimpse into someone else’s process and it helps us see that struggles and bottlenecks are normal for all of us, no matter how accomplished we may be.
So, starting this week, I’m going to start sharing much more detail on what goes on behind the scenes in my own projects and life. I hope it helps you see that you’re certainly not alone when it comes to things coming together at the last minute and the fear and panic that accompanies so much of what we do in the day to day.
Here then, is a diary of a recent story I reported on the Black Lives Matter protests and the advice protesters got from persecuted populations around the world. (Link to published story at the end.)
By the way, my Twitter profile got hacked and so I have a new one. For more behind-the-scenes sort of stuff, editors looking for pitches, or just general chitchat, you can follow me here: @tasharelph
Thursday, June 25: Editor emails to apologize for taking so long to respond (two weeks) and offers me an assignment for this story I’ve pitched. Since it’s your first time working with us this will be on spec, is that okay, she asks. I email editor back, remind her I’ve written for the publication before and that they’ve offered to fly me to different cities for an assignment all expenses paid, so uh… no?
Friday, June 26: Editor laughs, says “never mind the first-timer idea!” Says she wants the top of the story first so everyone can be on the same page about how it’ll read; I promise to get it to her by Thursday morning. Freak out that I won’t. Then shake my head at myself. Freaking out is still part of my process, even now.
Sunday, June 28: Spend 30 minutes quickly looking over my pitch and making a note of the things I need to cover in this piece as well as the people I’ll need to speak to. This story is very dependent on interviews so I need to know who I’m talking to because that will determine part of the direction I take.
Monday, June 29: Receive contract and freelance forms.
Tuesday, June 30: Incredibly annoyed at myself for leaving this so long. My story requires me to use Twitter to contact people and my account has been blocked by Twitter because of a hacking attempt and now I can’t log in or get access (or get them to respond to me). I’ve made a new profile, but been procrastinating on using it since it looks so bare and spammy. Still, I have a story due and I’ve waited far too long to contact people. Fingers crossed someone gets back to me quickly.
Wednesday, July 1: People get back to me. I send the top of the story to my editor a day early and sign the contract.
Thursday, July 2: Hear from editor—she’s happy with what I sent and has a minor tweak. Says she’s curious to see how the rest of it turns out.
Friday, July 3: Interviews done.
Monday, July 6: Interviews transcribed.
Tuesday, July 7: It’s going to take me an hour, at most two, to get this story written. So do I, like any normal person, take the first two hours of the day to get it done so that I can have the rest of the day to do whatever I like, stress-free? No, of course not. That would be sane. Instead, I waste my morning puttering about with all sorts of meaningless nonsense and then start panicking around mid-afternoon because OH, surprise, I haven’t filed my story! Finally send it through at 4:30 p.m. Happy. Relieved. Annoyed with self.
Thursday, July 9: Have spent the last 48 hours convinced that the editor hates my story, that I have forgotten how to write, that I am going to get an email telling me that the piece I submitted is not salvageable and they’re going to kill it. I’m hesistant to open the email from my editor when I get it in the evening because I’m so certain of all these things. Instead, she thanks for me for the story, says she’ll have a few comments for me tomorrow, and asks me where I’m mostly based now—she’d like to pass my name on to another editor who might also like to work with me. Oh.
Friday, July 10: Editor emails to say she’s had a chat with the other editor and he will be editing my story so he can get to know my work. This is exciting and thrilling, but also a little bit daunting. I Google new editor.
Wednesday, July 15: Haven’t heard anything from anyone so check in with editor to make sure I haven’t missed anything; he apologizes and promises to get back to me in the next day or two.
Thursday, July 16: Editor says piece is mostly good to go, but if there’s one more quote that we could add that brings the piece home, that would be excellent. He doesn’t want me to do any additional reporting, but I offer anyway—I know exactly what he wants and I agree that it would make the story stronger. Message someone I know to ask if we can speak.
Friday, July 17: Additional quote added, story sent off again. Quick back and forth with editor.
Tuesday, July 21: Final copy received. Final copy approved.
Wednesday, July 22: Story is now published, yay!
More tomorrow!
Cheers,
Natasha