Off Assignment

no heartbreak is too small to write about. Link in bio to sign up! 💔💔💔💔💔💔

Two illustrations made for wonderful @offassignment pieces for the column, Witching Hour ✏️✏️✏️ 7:24 p.m. in Tucson by Nikolai Ryan 6:12 a.m. in Shenzhen by Jingchu Sophia Zhang Thank you to Anya for the art direction!

after divorce and the death of a parent and estrangement and infertility and ambiguous loss and disenfranchised grief all in a few years I do think I’m a heartbreak master. And look at these gorgeous guests! Link in bio for this four week class through @offassignment 💔💔💔💔💔💔

Like it, share it, save it for when you need it. 🙌🏼 This week in my class, we were joined by New York Magazine’s The Cut editor Jen Ortiz to talk about what actually gets commissioned—and what gets passed on. This might surprise you but most pitches don’t get rejected because the writing is bad. They get rejected because the idea isn’t clear yet. Editors don’t have time to figure out what you’re trying to say. You have to do that work first. And it’s the hardest part. A pitch should answer these three things: What is your essay about? Why does it matter (especially now)? Who are you? I broke down 4 ways to strengthen your pitch— the same things many editors are looking for when they open your email. Comment ✂️ and I’ll send you more on how to get your essay ready for The Cut. #bindersfullofwomen #freelancewriter #personalessay #writer #writingtips

Shows this week!! As always — www.frank.radio to tune in.

If you’re working on an essay or thinking about pitching one, save this, share it, come back to it when you need it. This week, we had Oprah Daily editor Jennie Tung join our class and walk us through exactly what makes an essay land…and what makes it fall flat. What she shared was simple, but not always easy (swipe through to get her tips). We talked about the difference between a story and a perspective, why most pitches don’t get a yes (and why it’s rarely personal), and what editors are really looking for when they open your email. And if you want to go deeper, I’ll be teaching this course again. Send me a DM to get an alert when registration opens. ♥️ #writers #writersofinstagram #personalessay #freelancewriter #bindersfullofwomen

For the upcoming Writing Motherhood class this May from @offassignment , I’ve paired our four guest authors’ works with those of poets and visual artists. It has been a joy to read these works in tandem and to see how motherhood/mothering is approached across vastly different contexts, sensibilities, and aesthetics. These may be just books on a table, but they also feel like the most fascinating dinner conversation among writers and visual artists I wish I could attend, all of them pondering the figure of the mother. If you’re interested in being part of this generative conversation with our guest authors @quiaraalegria @jaztronomia @raijoy and @nglipson , I hope you’ll join us! Link in bio to register.

March so far! More events coming up for the last half of the month — stay tuned!

I’m so looking forward to joining @erikamorillo ’s Off Assignment WRITING MOTHERHOOD course as a guest author—along with @raijoy , @quiaraalegria , and @jaztronomia . ⭐️ Today, 2/25, is the last day to sign up at the early-bird rate if you’re interested, so hop to it! ⭐️ Link 🔗 to register below and in bio. Hope to see you there! /motherhood-26 . . #writingmotherhood #motherwriter #motherartist #motherhood #offassignment @offassignment @pinestatepublicity @chroniclebooks

If you’ve ever wanted to publish a personal essay in places like The New York Times, New York Magazine, Oprah Daily, or The Guardian—this is your chance to make that happen. I teamed up with @offassignment and some of my favorite editors to create a four-week generative course that walks you through shaping your lived experience into a publishable personal essay and shows you how to pitch it with confidence. Each week, we’ll be joined by guest editors who will tell you exactly what they look for, what makes them say yes, what makes them pass, and how you can stand out in an inbox full of pitches. This isn’t theory. It’s the real editorial process, from idea to pitch to publication. Writing for Magazines begins March 10. **This session sold out so send me a DM if you want to be notified of our next one! Link in bio + stories. #writers #writersofinstagram #personalessay #freelancewriter #bindersfullofwomen

My grandmother raised ten children. Every week, she dealt out a loaf of bread like a deck of cards, lining up slice after slice to make and freeze the bologna sandwiches they would eat. The older children stopped on their way home from school to buy milk or bread. In the mornings, the whole family ate breakfast seated on church pews. When I was a girl, I was fascinated by stories like this. I loved visiting historic house museums and learning how people did their laundry, churned butter, made horseshoes. I wanted to know how other lives actually worked. Eventually my interest in the everyday led me to my work as a curator at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum; to my interest in feminism, reproductive labor, and radical home economics; and even to write a book about Butts and the everyday shame so many of us have about our bodies. But in my career as a writer and radio producer, I have often felt how the extraordinary was valued over the ordinary. Once, an editor told me that if a pitch didn’t make her run down the hall screaming “Oh My God!,” it was never going to be accepted because no one would care. And yet, in my writing and teaching, I’ve found the opposite to be true. Drawing attention to the ordinary is both politically and aesthetically potent — a way to look at the overlooked and also connect to people across difference. Writing about dried leaves or an afternoon trip to the grocery store can make you a better writer and thinker about anything. In Writing the Mundane, I’ll help you hone your attention and curiosity. We’ll read great works of nonfiction about subjects as ordinary as having thumbs, choosing a mattress, or jumping in a lake. Together, we’ll practice finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, the transcendent in the mundane. We’ll also hear from some of my favorite writers whose work showcases the politics and beauty of the everyday: Ross Gay, Leslie Jamison, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Elisa Gabbert. Register at link in bio

I cannot wait for this! We’ll be digging into letting your queer freak flag fly in writing (turns out, there’s no right way to be queer!!!) I am so excited to be in convo with these literary luminaries. Get the early bird rate by applying by Feb. 16. Scholarships are also available! And yes, you can do this asynchronously…