WCP205 Everything you do matters with Allison B. Salerno

The Writing Coach Podcast with Rebecca L. Weber

Allison B. Salerno’s award-winning writing and audio production has been featured on Southern Foodways Alliance’s Gravy podcast, America’s Test Kitchen podcast, Proof, on local NPR stations, and in The Washington Post, Ms. magazine, and Columbia Journalism Review, among others. Allison’s audio news features have earned her two Georgia AP awards and a Gabby from the Georgia Association of Broadcasters. A former daily newspaper editor and writer, she has more than two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics. Allison now focuses her work primarily on finding the human stories behind food systems, agriculture and environmental issues. An inveterate traveler, she currently lives in Athens, Georgia.

We cover a lot of freelance ground in this episode, including:

• Finding a new home for a killed story
• Shaping stories for audio and print
• Discovering a story while hiking on the Appalachian Trail
• Starting with a single data point to develop a feature
• Getting into the Talent Network at the WashPo
• Quarterly goals
• Overreporting
• What’s the minimum I need to write this pitch?
• Suspend the stories you tell yourself about freelancing
• “Everything I do matters”
• Don’t minimize
• Being successful in your writing life while managing everything else in your life
• Remote reporting that reads like you were on the ground
• “I’m going to figure this out”
• Taking care of an elderly parent as a freelancer
• Advantage of being outside media centers
• Pitching at odd times

🔗 Mentioned in this episode:

Allison B. Salerno’s website: www.allisonbsalerno.com

Alllison B. Salerno on Instagram @Allisonbsalerno

How one Georgia veteran found healing in farming

Culinary school enrollment drops even as need soars at restaurants

The country’s longest-running prison publication faces censorship

WCP Bonus Year-end pitching

WCP 166 Archives, Vol. XI: Call for pitches

WCP 81: Remote reporting

WCP 1: What’s your problem?

🎁 Download my free guide on how to pitch freelance article ideas, “5 Proven Steps to Writing Queries that Sell.”

www.rebeccalweber.com/howtopitch

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❤️ Share the podcast with other writers via your social media accounts or email newsletter, or leave a comment on Rebecca’s Instagram @freelancewriterbootcamp

✏️ Work with me in Freelance Writer Bootcamp

Break into your dream publications and get paid well while covering stories that matter. Alumni of my group coaching program have used the proven Bootcamp processes to break into the New York Times, the Guardian, Bustle, Fodor’s, Ms., Nat Geo Travel, Al Jazeera, the BBC, and many more.

Apply today: www.FreelanceWriterBootcamp.com

📝 More info and complete show notes: www.rebeccalweber.com/podcast205