Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle

Welcome to new subscribers. First, an announcement: My first Substack Live in my new series Musings on Magazines: The Story Behind the Story was with former Chatelaine Editor-in-Chief Rona Maynard.  Here is the link to the video of our fun and fearless discussion:of our lives in magazines in the 90s and early aughts.  https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/live-with-estelle-erasmus-and-rona Sign u...

Welcome to new subscribers. First, an announcement: My first Substack Live in my new series Musings on Magazines: The Story Behind the Story was with former Chatelaine Editor-in-Chief Rona Maynard.  Here is the link to the video of our fun and fearless discussion:of our lives in magazines in the 90s and early aughts.  https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/live-with-estelle-erasmus-and-rona Sign u...

Welcome to new subscribers. First, an announcement: My first Substack Live will be with former Chatelaine Editor-in-Chief Rona Maynard on June 25 at 4 p.m. ET. Here is the link to the post: Musings on Magazines: The Story Behind the Story. https://estelleserasmus.substack.com/p/musings-on-magazines-the-story-behind Sign up and dive into the magazine archives with us to hear behind-the-scenes stori...

In this episode of  Freelance Writing Direct , Estelle Erasmus talks with acclaimed author Dionne Ford about her memoir Go Back and Get It , a powerful exploration of family history, ancestry, and identity. Dionne shares how journalistic research, personal reflection, and historical investigation came together to help her uncover the stories of her enslaved ancestors while examining themes that co...

What happens when you wake up one day dizzy and it never stops? In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus talks with acclaimed author Rachel Weaver about her powerful new memoir, Dizzy . Rachel shares how she navigated nearly two decades of chronic illness before finding relief, and how she transformed that experience into a compelling braided memoir that weaves together her yea...

Just in time for Pride month, in this heartfelt and often hilarious conversation, Estelle Erasmus talks with USA Today bestselling author Wade Rouse and his husband, Gary Edwards, about Wade's deeply personal new novel, That's What Friends Are For . After publishing bestselling novels under the pen name Viola Shipman, Wade shares why he felt compelled to write this story under his own name and how...

In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus speaks with  Carolyn Roy-Bornstein about restorative writing, burnout, and healing through storytelling.  Carolyn shares how writing became a lifeline after her son survived a devastating car accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury. She explains how journaling and narrative writing helped her process ambiguous grief, anger,...

How to Get Published in The Persistent with Features Editor Paula Derrow What makes a pitch stand out in today's crowded publishing landscape? And what exactly are editors looking for from writers right now? In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus speaks with writer and editor Paula Derrow, Features Editor at The Persistent, the feminist publication known for publishing voice-...

What makes readers care about flawed characters making questionable decisions? In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle Erasmus talks with bestselling author Vanessa Hua about her new novel Coyoteland and the craft behind creating emotionally layered fiction filled with tension, community, family dynamics, and difficult choices. They discuss: • Writing omniscient and multiple point-of-...

In this episode of  Freelance Writing Direct , Estelle Erasmus speaks with author Jacque Gorelick about her debut memoir Map of a Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Finding the Way Home , a powerful, braided narrative that weaves a present-day medical crisis with a deeply personal exploration of family, identity, estrangement, and belonging. Jacque shares the harrowing inciting incident at the cen...

Freelance Writing Direct chats with Tia Levings about writing a memoir of escape, and how strong scenes, structure, and editorial choices turn personal experience into a powerful narrative. Tia Levings is the New York Times bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife , a memoir about her escape from Christian patriarchy and high-control religious culture. She writes about religious trauma, evangelic...

In this episode, Estelle Erasmus talks with  Kerry Docherty , author of Selfish: Unlearning, Reclaiming, and Telling the Truth , about what it really takes to write a bold, emotionally honest memoir. They dive into: Why "selfish" is a loaded word for women and how to reclaim it Starting a memoir with rupture to hook the reader Using dreams, spirituality, and what Estelle calls the "echo effect" to...

In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct , Estelle Erasmus sits down with literary agent Sally Ekus , senior agent at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency , where she leads a boutique division specializing in cookbooks, lifestyle, and select nonfiction. With over 350 book deals under her belt and deep roots in the publishing world, Sally shares what truly makes a proposal stand out, how the indus...

The words people use tell you exactly who they are, if you know how to read them. Estelle Erasmus sits down with Jennie Young, a professor of rhetoric whose "Burn the Haystack" method and Facebook group sparked a powerful movement, now captured in her book Burn the Haystack . She flips the traditional dating narrative on its head, showing women how to find their "needle" by torching the men who ar...

What does the rise of authorpreneurship mean for writers today? In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct , Estelle Erasmus sits down with Regina Brooks, founder and CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency and president of the Association of American Literary Agents , to explore how publishing is shifting and what writers need to understand now. From what agents look for in submissions to how platfor...

What does it take to write about a life-altering trauma decades after it happened? In this episode, Estelle Erasmus chats with Mimi Nichter about the long arc from lived experience to the page, and what it means to revisit a moment of crisis with clarity. They talk about writing through memory, shaping a narrative around a defining event, and the emotional and craft challenges of telling a story t...

Ghostwriting isn't dead. It's just napping. The smart writers know exactly where to wake it up. It can be one of the most lucrative paths for writers, but not all ghostwriting opportunities are created equal. In this solo episode, Estelle Erasmus reveals which ghostwriting gigs are thriving in 2026 and which ones are quietly disappearing. If you've ever been curious about ghostwriting (or you're a...

Thinking about attending the AWP Conference and wondering how to prepare for it? With thousands of writers, panels, book fairs, and networking opportunities, AWP can feel both exciting, inspiring and a little overwhelming. That's why it helps to have a strategy. In this solo episode of Freelance Writing Direct, host Estelle Erasmus shares how she prepared for AWP, what it was like moderating her s...

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...

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...

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 e...

What does it take to turn a viral essay about longing into a deeply researched memoir and a book deal? For Amanda McCracken, it took 11 years, multiple agent rejections, a pandemic, creative platform-building, and an unwavering commitment to her story. In this episode, Estelle Erasmus sits down with Amanda McCracken, author of When Longing Becomes Your Lover: Breaking from Infatuation, Rejection,...

Great writing doesn't come from inventing drama. It comes from putting characters in situations where something meaningful is at stake. In this episode of Freelance Writing Direct, Estelle talks with fiction writer and essayist Peter Mountford about his short story collection Detonator and the craft choices that make stories propulsive. Mountford discusses how place shapes his fiction, drawing fro...

Family loyalty can push ordinary people toward unimaginable choices. Estelle Erasmus chats with novelist and memoirist Tova Mirvis about her latest book, We Would Never, a gripping murder mystery inspired by a true crime case. While real events sparked the novel, the plot ultimately emerged from the emotional choices her characters make, with each decision setting off the next. Tova reveals that t...

Did you know that cats have, in their feline way, shaped some of the greatest writing careers in literary history? Bob Eckstein and Nava Atlas join Estelle Erasmus to talk about their collaboration on Inspired by Cats: Writers and Their Mews(es), a visually rich book exploring the creative bond between writers and their feline companions. The conversation traces how the idea evolved from a shareab...