I have something new here for you
And just like that, Friday arrived with the 15th edition of Missed Pitches.
Something new has arrived!
Beginning today, this newsletter will include TWO additional sections that you might find helpful in your freelance journey:
5 editorial contacts
1 featured #FreelanceTwitter of the Week
I have given a lot of thought to the feedback you all gave me a few weeks ago and I’ve determined that the subscribers of this newsletter are better served when they are given the resources to pitch and the opportunities to network.
In addition to all the goodies you’ve already been getting, these two sections will become a permanent part of this newsletter. Tell your friends about it on Twitter!
Again, use this Google Form to submit your rejected pitches. Give me a follow on Twitter at @MissedPitches for updates and shout-outs. Read the previous edition here. // rungomez
Contents:
A shot in the dark (by Marcia Heller)
In these women’s world, getting pregnant is a crime (by Ko Lyn Cheang)
Who says women can’t play poker? (by Greta Rainbow)
Three Queens: A bedtime love story (by Vanessa McGrady)
Surviving “coronaphobia” by gardening (by PJ Heller)
Editorial contacts
Best of freelance Twitter
Freelance opportunities
Writing jobs
NOTE: The following rejected story pitches have been lightly edited for space and clarity.
A shot in the dark (by Marcia Heller, nzedpj@gmail.com)
What does it take today to win the COVID-19 inoculation lottery? My tactics for getting the vaccine did not involve lying, cheating, bribes, cajoling or anything otherwise dishonest or unethical. But I still managed to get a jab in my arm despite not being 75 or a front-line responder.
I have a personal essay about the challenges of tracking down and finally getting a Covid-19 vaccination, what I call “a shot in the dark.”
In these women’s world, getting pregnant is a crime (by Ko Lyn Cheang, kolyn.cheang@yale.edu)
Annisa, a now 38-year-old Indonesian domestic worker in Singapore, discovered she had committed a crime when her pregnancy test turned up positive.
The Singapore government bans its 261,800 female foreign domestic workers from getting pregnant and from marrying a Singaporean without government approval. Domestic workers who breach these prohibitions will have their work permit cancelled, be deported, and be possibly barred from working in the country again. This would be the first story, to my knowledge, that examines in rich narrative detail the impact of the pregnancy ban on individual women’s lives. Although it focuses on Singapore, the plight of reproductive restrictions and lack of maternity leave is common to other countries in Asia and Africa that heavily rely on female migrant labor including the UAE and Malaysia.
This piece will primarily focus on three women's stories to demonstrate a more universal phenomenon—how domestic workers in Singapore have their romantic and child-bearing aspirations curtailed by this harsh immigration and labor policy.
This 6000-word investigation examines the pregnancy restriction through the lens of Annisa’s whirlwind romance with a Singaporean man and her struggle to hide the pregnancy from her employer, the Singaporean government, and even her family, in a desperate bid to keep her lucrative foreign job. I situate this policy within the long, fraught history of eugenics policy enacted by Singapore's ruling People's Action Party government.
Who says women can’t play poker? (by Greta Rainbow, greta.rainbow@gmail.com)
I’ve moved on from baking and the Neapolitan Novels because my lockdown pod has a new hobby to hone: poker.
There are very few women who play the notoriously seedy sport, pro or for fun. But there’s no reason why, in the year 2021, we shouldn’t be tossing chips and bluffing with low cards, too. Actually, it’d be pretty badass to deliberately practice the relatively simple game, so that when the casinos open again we can take a seat at the table.
I want to write a culture opinion piece on why poker is historically male-dominated and why it’s so much fun to play in that space as a gang of girls. The style is also phenomenal—the point is to distract your opponents, so we take poker night as an opportunity to wear veiled cowboy hats, plunging v-necks and, of course, the darkest of shades. (JJ Liu is an icon.) Optional but recommended: play with vintage pin-up cards and sip martinis.
Three Queens: A bedtime love story (by Vanessa McGrady, vanessa@vanessamcgrady.com)
This is a personal essay and non-traditional love story. It’s about pandemic dating as a single mother and exploring the idea of availability and unavailability woven into the story of nearly going mad trying to find the right mattress.
Surviving “coronaphobia” by gardening (by PJ Heller, pj@photoreporters.com)
Coronavirus pandemic advice: Wash your hands often. Wear a face mask. Socially distance. Get vaccinated. Garden.
Garden?
In a year of on-and-off-again stay-at-home orders, businesses forced to shutter and employees having to work from home, a tanking national and world economy and concerns about the food supply—not to mention the more than 27 million Americans testing positive for COVID-19 and 500,000-plus deaths from the disease in the U.S. as of February 2021—it’s little wonder that millions of people have turned to gardening to soothe their psyche.
Having a green thumb is widely seen as an antidote for what has been dubbed “coronaphobia” — anxiety and fear about catching the virus. I would like to suggest an article on the tremendous increase in gardening brought about by the coronavirus pandemic and why this has occurred.
Editorial Contacts
Civil Eats (Pitch Guide) - Pitch all things food and agriculture to pitches@civileats.com
HuffPost - Pitch first-person essays to Emily McCombs at Emily.McCombs@huffpost.com
Empire Magazine - Pitch newsy film stories to John Nugent at john@empiremagazine.com
Cosmopolitan UK - Pitch about queer friendships to Paisley Gilmour at paisley.gilmour@hearst.co.uk
Of/Scene Magazine - Pitch music story ideas to Zac at ofscenemagazine@gmail.com
The Breakdown Magazine - Pitch stories related to mental health to Hattie Gladwell hattie@the-breakdown.co.uk
Best of Freelance Twitter
NOTE: This space is dedicated to featuring one worthy Twitter account that provides an invaluable service to the freelance community.
⚡️ Follow Kaitlyn Arford on Twitter at @kaitarford for freelance writing opportunities that she retweets from publishers and editors looking for content.
Freelance Opportunities
via @mongabay (Feb 22): Mongabay is seeking pitches for a Special Reporting Project on bioenergy, reporters will take a sustained look at bioenergy like biomass and biofuels using a solutions journalism approach (Pitch Guide)
via @kyajbuller (Mar 2): I’m at my desk today and looking for first-person stories/opinion pieces for @aureliamagazine. £40 per article, we pay within a week, plus you’ll get to work with MEEE. Speak ur truths, I wanna hear it! Marginalised genders only. Email kya@aureliamagazine.com
via @syderature (Feb 23): Butterfly CALL FOR PITCHES Butterfly for @AdolescentUS, i'm currently looking for sex + love pitches. we pay! BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and disabled writers or writers with disabilities highly encourage to pitch at sydney@adolescentcontent.com
via @claramhogan (Mar 3): I'm looking for pitches for @thebolditalic from Bay Area folx around the one-year anniversary of the OG shelter-in-place on March 17 — personal essays + reported stories welcome. Pay is $200-300. Dm me or email info@thebolditalic.com
via @MalarkeyBooks (Mar 3): Happy @FairSmol! Happy to announce that we are looking for fiction to be included in our next anthology. Pay will be $50 and a contributor copy. (Pitch Guide)
Writing Jobs
Input Magazine is hiring a Part-Time News Writer - Remote
Clearlink is hiring a Staff Writer - Salt Lake City
The Charlotte Observer is hiring an Opinion Writer - North Carolina
Dark Veil Studios is hiring a Writer - Remote
Medaite is hiring a Sports Writer - New York, DC or Remote