My life has been pretty full lately. A little too full. But in case you were wondering what I looked forward to most in the course of my work week (aside from the moment when the lights go out and my head hits the pillow), I thought I’d share with you one of my latest projects.
LoveMom is a new mommyblog on YourTango, a web magazine featuring content and love and relationships, and the place where I work as Assistant Editor three days a week. Last month, our VP of Content and Branded Media asked me to launch and manage a mom blog on the site. She wanted it up by Mother’s Day. I launched a week in advance, and learned a lot in the process: how to go about choosing a brand name, designing a logo, hiring writers and setting up a production schedule/editorial calendar, reaching out to other sites regarding content partnerships, etc. At the moment, I’m figuring out how to set my monthly traffic goals for the rest of the year. You know. Stuff I never really worried about so much here at Freelancedom.
All of this is a ton of fun (and makes me feel quite powerful), but my favorite part of this whole endeavor is the fact that I’m blogging for LoveMom, too, about my efforts to get pregnant. Last week, I blogged about whether or not there was actually a perfect time to get pregnant. This coming week, I’ll be blogging about my sex life. (Doesn’t it always come back to that?) Or maybe my issues with depression. We’ll see. All in good time.
I’m also feeling sort of proud of myself for getting such fabulous content from a number of other writers. Here are my favorite pieces so far:
- 3 Zen Ways To Keep Connected After Having Kids
- When It Comes To Parenting, Does One Size Fit All?
- How To Be A Mother, A Wife–And Yourself
- How To Fight In Front Of Your Children
And here’s an excerpt of my piece:
I tossed my last pack of birth control pills into the garbage and carefully lined up bottles of prenatal vitamins and folic acid pills. “So, are we officially trying now?” my husband Michael asked.
“Not yet,” I said, even though I was itching to get started. But…
Public knowledge indicates that there is never a perfect time to get pregnant. There will always be bills. Lack of space. Job instability. Michael and I figured that we could at least plan for nearly perfect. So, for the past three years, we held off. We waited for our careers to take off and become more lucrative. We waited to feel more secure in our marriage (my chronic depression and PMDD used to have me trying to divorce the poor man almost monthly). We waited to build up some more savings, so that we could upgrade from our one-bedroom condo to a three-bedroom house.
You can read more here.
Love, love, love it!! We’re in a very similar place as you and Michael, so I will be following LoveMom closely. Congrats on the launch!
Hi! I really like your blog and try to check it at least once a week. I’ve never commented before. I wanted to submit a piece to YourTango. Do you have any suggestions for writing my pitch letter? Also, do you think all freelancers/writers applying for magazine jobs should have websites? Thanks a lot!
-Desiree
Thanks Maggie – Launching and running this new blog — not to mention writing for it — has been so much fun!
Hey there Desiree – It’s good to meet another reader. 🙂 In answer to your questions:
1. I generally point people with query letter questions to this older post of mine:
http://www.freelancedom.com/2008/09/29/how-to-write-your-way-into-the-best-darn-jobs-ever/
As far as YourTango goes, you can always send your pitch to me via steph at yourtango dot com, and I can forward it along to the relevant editor. We don’t typically take blog pitches, but we do take essay pitches (and essays can run anywhere from 500 to 2,500 words, on average).
2. As to your second question, I know that there are wildly varying opinions out there on whether or not a writer needs a website, but I’ll give you my personal opinion. As someone who manages YT’s internship program, and who also hires writers for our mom blog, I’m always surprised — and a bit turned off — if a writer doesn’t have a web presence, for the following reasons:
1. An online portfolio, or even just a blog, makes it easy to show off your clips and/or writing ability.
2. A web presence shows that you’re keeping up with changes in the publishing industry. As loyal as I am to print publishing, it’s undeniable that most everything is moving to the web. And if you’re pitching to an online-only publication, showing that you’re web-savvy can be even more important.
3. A blog shows that you have a built-in audience. Editors love this, because it could mean more traffic for your piece if they agree to publish it. And when it comes to web mags, it’s all about the traffic,
Hope this helps!