Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts. cover art

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts.

By: Estelle Erasmus
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 Want to get published or land a book deal? Join TEDx speaker and author Estelle Erasmus for smart writing tips, publishing insights, and behind-the-scenes advice for fiction writers, memoirists, and authors at every stage. Winner of the 2025 Podcast of the Year (Education) from the American Writing Awards, Freelance Writing Direct is your go-to podcast for writing tips, publishing advice, and insider strategies to help you get published—whether in essays, memoir, fiction, books, or journalism. Hosted by Estelle Erasmus—award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, NYU writing professor, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers)—this show blends writing craft, career strategy, and behind-the-scenes publishing insight. Each week, Estelle shares short, practical episodes full of: Writing tips for essays, memoir, and books Pitch strategies that get editors' attention Publishing advice from agents and bestselling authors Solo episodes, coaching episodes and candid conversations with industry insiders Whether you're just starting your freelance writing journey or aiming for your next book deal, you'll find actionable tools, story prompts, and the momentum you need to grow your writing career. Listeners often ask: *How do I get published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, or WIRED? *What writing tips will make my voice stand out? *How do I find an agent or land a book deal? *What do editors actually want? *How do I shape my personal story for publication? You're in the right place. It's time to elevate your writing—with Freelance Writing Direct. 🎙️ About Estelle Erasmus Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, TEDx speaker, and author of Writing That Gets Noticed. She's a Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest, an adjunct writing professor at NYU, and the former editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Estelle's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, AARP, Next Avenue, and The Independent, among 150+ other outlets. She is also the host of Freelance Writing Direct, named the 2025 Podcast of the Year in the Education category by the American Writing Awards. Learn more: estelleserasmus.com Newsletter: estelleserasmus.substack.com Social: @EstelleSErasmus on Instagram, X, Threads, and LinkedIn2022 Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Development Personal Success
Episodes
  • #181 From Ashram to Author: Finding the Transformative Thread in a Near Cult Memoir with Blair Glaser

    #181 From Ashram to Author: Finding the Transformative Thread in a Near Cult Memoir with Blair Glaser
    Mar 5 2026
    What happens when a story that could be told as trauma is instead shaped as triumph? Blair Glaser joins Estelle Erasmus to discuss her journey from a Catskills ashram in the 1990s to published author, and how she turned her time in a spiritual organization into her memoir, This Incredible Longing: Finding Myself in a Near Cult Experience. Rather than writing a simple escape narrative, she explores spiritual longing, group dynamics, depression, leadership, and the unexpected skills she developed inside a restrictive system. Instead of focusing solely on abuse and escape, Blair takes a nuanced approach, examining how that experience helped her find her voice, build professional skills, and ultimately claim her self worth. This episode is essential listening for memoir writers wrestling with how to structure layered stories, navigate family fallout, and uncover the thematic thread that elevates personal experience into crafted memoir. In this episode: Why her memoir rejects the typical "cult survivor" narrative and how she found unexpected gifts within a harmful experience [02:55] The rookie mistake many memoirists make and how she corrected it in revision [12:05] How the ashram taught her to rise through the ranks, create transformational programs, and become a writer, even while struggling with depression [16:00] Why she defines spiritual awakening as "a kind of madness" that rarely makes sense to the people around you [25:25] How to write about depression and suicidal ideation without deadening the reader [27:00] Why writing from therapeutic distance made revisiting trauma feel reflective, even sweet, rather than painful [27:20] Her best advice for writers who do not have journals to draw from [28:15] The family fallout that followed publication and why she chose authentic storytelling over protection [30:00] How indie publisher Heliotrope Books cha Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AofD5lloQ_E About Blair: Blair Glaser is a writer and leadership consultant whose essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, People Magazine, Longreads, Oldster, Quartz, HuffPost, Inside Higher Ed, and others, as well as in literary magazines such as Brevity, Dorothy Parker's Ashes, In Short, and The Mantlepiece. She's read stories live at events such as Writer's Read, Generation Women, and The Woodstock Bookfest. Her debut memoir, This Incredible Longing, was published by Heliotrope in February 2026. She lives with her husband and dog-ter, Vanna White, in Venice Beach, CA. More can be found at www.blairglaser.com. Connect with Blair: Website: https://www.blairglaser.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blair_glaser/ Book: This Incredible Longing: Finding Myself in a Near Cult Experience: https://www.blairglaser.com/books Get More From Estelle Private Small-Group Memoir Class — Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email me at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: Why Your Memoir Draft Still Feels Flat: And How To Fix Ithttps://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/why-your-memoir-draft-still-feels Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpcWmjpzSIQ Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." https://www.amazon.com/Writing-That-Gets-Noticed-Storyteller/dp/1608688364 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast/ About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. An adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Follow Estelle: • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus https://instagram.com/EstelleSErasmus • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus https://www.tiktok.com/@estelleserasmus • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus https://x.com/EstelleSErasmus • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    36 mins
  • #180 Unlearning Childhood Lessons and Reinventing a Memoir with Anna Rollins

    #180 Unlearning Childhood Lessons and Reinventing a Memoir with Anna Rollins
    Feb 26 2026
    What does it take to unlearn the messages you were raised with and reshape them into a publishable memoir? In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus chats with Anna Rollins about the internal and structural shifts that reshaped her debut memoir, Famished. Anna reveals how expanding the scope of her manuscript, incorporating reporting, and strengthening her platform repositioned the project and led to multiple offers. They also explore how diet culture and evangelical purity culture shaped the 1990s media landscape, and what it means to critically reexamine the messages women absorbed about appetite, obedience, and ambition. Estelle reflects on her own experience crafting magazine cover lines that reinforced those narratives, and what it means to revisit that era from a different vantage point. In This Episode: • How purity culture shaped her early beliefs about body, faith, and obedience [2:34] • How questioning those inherited ideas reshaped both her identity and the structure of her memoir [4:19] • How writing during the pandemic helped her quiet marketplace anxiety [23:00] • How nearly 100 rejections pushed her to rethink and expand the manuscript [23:03] • The unconventional way she landed her agent [27:16] • The interview question she learned from Estelle that consistently yielded stronger quotes [26:39] • How publishing 50+ essays built her platform, even with only 500 Instagram followers [28:32] • How that reinvention ultimately led to multiple offers [28:48] • Why some of the strongest sections emerged when she stopped writing for the audience and started writing to discover and play [29:53] About Anna: Anna Rollins is the author of Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl. Her groundbreaking debut memoir examines the rhyming scripts of diet culture and evangelical purity culture, both of which direct women to fear their own bodies and appetites. Her writing has appeared in outlets like The New York Times, Slate, Electric Literature, Literary Hub, Joyland, and more. She's an award-winning instructor who taught English in higher education for nearly 15 years and a 2025 West Virginia Creative Network Literary Arts Fellow. A lifelong Appalachian, she lives with her husband in West Virginia where they're raising their three small children. Follow her on Substack and Instagram @annajrollins. Connect with Anna: Website: https://www.annajrollins.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annajrollins/?hl=en Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/224466981-famished Estelle's Substack feature on Anna https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/writers-that-get-noticed-anna-rollins?utm_source=publication-search Get More From Estelle Upcoming Webinar with Writer's Digest: Amplifying the Echo Effect in Memoir and Essays, February 26th, 1:00-2:30 pm ET If you want to understand how patterns, callbacks, and emotional echoes can deepen your work, join me for this brand new interactive craft webinar. Learn more and register here. https://writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/amplifying-the-echo-effect-in-memoir-and-essays Private Small-Group Memoir Class — January and March are sold out. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email me at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: On Craft, Revision, and the Paragraph You Almost Cut https://estelleserasmus.substack.com Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpcWmjpzSIQ Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." https://www.amazon.com/Writing-That-Gets-Noticed-Storyteller/dp/1608688364 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast/ About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. An adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines. Follow Estelle: • Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus https://instagram.com/EstelleSErasmus • TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus https://www.tiktok.com/@estelleserasmus • Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus https://twitter.com/EstelleSErasmus • BlueSky: @estelleserasmus.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/estelleserasmus.bsky.social
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    32 mins
  • #179 Writing from the Scar: Conscious Craft Choices with Jocelyn Jane Cox

    #179 Writing from the Scar: Conscious Craft Choices with Jocelyn Jane Cox
    Feb 19 2026
    What do you do when your son's first birthday party becomes the same day you lose your mother? In this episode, Estelle Erasmus sits down with Jocelyn Jane Cox, author of Motion Dazzle, the award-winning memoir that follows a single day when celebration and grief collided. It's a day that would forever contain both darkness and light, joy and devastating loss. Here's what makes this conversation essential for writers: Jocelyn shares the conscious craft choices behind weaving seemingly unrelated threads—competitive figure skating, caregiving, dating disasters, and new motherhood—into a cohesive narrative anchored by a powerful central metaphor. She waited seven years to write it. She revised it 14 times. She made the bold choice not to name her mother until the final pages. And when traditional publishing didn't align, she pivoted to small presses and received two offers. If you're wrestling with how to structure a memoir, wondering when you're ready to write about grief, or trying to figure out how to braid multiple timelines into one story, this episode offers a clear, honest look at how it can be done with intention. This conversation also echoes themes from my recent piece in Electric Literature, "9 Memoirs about Dating, Desire, and Reclamation,"where I highlight nine memoirists exploring dating, desire, reclamation, love, loss, and identity in bold, personal ways. https://electricliterature.com/9-memoirs-about-dating-desire-and-reclamation/ In this episode: Why writing to her son (not to publishers) freed her to finish the first draft [3:23] How cutting 13,000 words strengthened her manuscript [8:12] The craft decision to use a single-day structure (like in Mrs. Dalloway) [9:25] How she turned the metaphor of "motion dazzle"—a zebra's survival mechanism—into the beating heart of her memoir [14:33] What she learned working with Estelle on a pivotal essay [24:48] The truth about writing essays to tighten your book (and build your platform) [29:12] Why she queried exactly 25 agents before recognizing her book was meant for a small press [30:35]\ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ljvor7U4icc About Jocelyn: Jocelyn Jane Cox is the author of Motion Dazzle: A Memoir of Motherhood, Loss, and Skating on Thin Ice (Vine Leaves Press, 2025), winner of the American Writing Awards in Best New Nonfiction. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (fiction) from Sarah Lawrence College and has published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Newsweek, Slate, Writers Digest, and numerous literary magazines. Her fiction and nonfiction have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She lives with her husband and son near Nyack, NY and works as a book coach, memoir teacher, and college essay coach. Connect with Jocelyn: Website: https://www.jocelynjanecox.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jocelynjanecoxwriter/?hl=en Motion Dazzle: A Memoir of Motherhood, Loss, and Skating on Thin Ice: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238249565-motion-dazzle Get More From Estelle NEW: My next free Editor on Call event in collaboration with NYU is open for registration.I'm delighted to be in conversation with Susan Dabbar, Publisher and Editor in Chief of PROVOKEDmagazine, about what makes a pitch stand out and how to position your work for publication there. Sign up here: Upcoming Webinar with Writer's Digest: Amplifying the Echo Effect in Memoir and Essays, February 26th, 1:00-2:30 pm ET If you want to understand how patterns, callbacks, and emotional echoes can deepen your work, join me for this brand new interactive craft webinar. Learn more and register here. https://writersdigestuniversity.mykajabi.com/amplifying-the-echo-effect-in-memoir-and-essays Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Discover how to beat writer's block, shape a powerful narrative, pitch editors, and walk away with a ready-to-publish essay or memoir pages. https://www.sps.nyu.edu/courses/WRIT1-CE9800-writing-about-your-life-through-memoir-essays-and-articles.html Private Small-Group Memoir Class — January and March are sold out. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email me at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list. Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: On Craft, Revision, and the Paragraph You Almost Cut https://estelleserasmus.substack.com Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide. Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpcWmjpzSIQ Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." https://www.amazon.com/Writing-That-Gets-Noticed-Storyteller/dp/1608688364 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards) https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast/ About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author ...
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    34 mins
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