Readers!
A few weeks ago, I did a Freelancing with Tim webinar about writing personal essays, and I said at the time that I didn’t do it as much anymore. Only after I wrapped up the seminar that a piece I’d be working on was in fact a personal essay, but a reported one, which is why I forgot to mention it.
But let’s talk about it now, because it ran while I was in Italy, in part about me being the descendant of Italian immigrants. This also addresses a comment I got during the webinar, that it’s easy for me to place essays because I’m good at it (thank you, commenter!) Sure! But that didn’t happen overnight. It goes back to before I became a full time freelance writer.
Let’s dig in.
The Story: “The hypocrites lobbying hate at Haitian immigrants are stomping on the American Dream,” for New Jersey Monitor, October 2, 2024
The Backstory: I started writing personal essays for The Minaret in 1998, my freshman year of college. They were not good, but that’s not surprising given I was 18 years old and was writing for a college newspaper that was mostly made up of volunteers at a school that, at the time, did not have a journalism program. I wrote about things that were happening to me as a new college student, and also started reporting news and features, and In the fall of my sophomore year, I became the commentary editor for that student newspaper, before switching over to features in the spring, then becoming the editor in chief the start of my junior year.
This meant that I was often writing the paper’s editorials, interrupted only by doing a study abroad at Oxford my spring semester of junior year, where I wrote a column that ran in both my home college newspaper and the Oxford Student. This mix gave me a lot of experience in writing both about myself, and also reported opinion pieces. My senior year, I won the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence student editorial writing award for Region 3, and was then also a finalist for the national award (not every regional winner goes onto be a finalist, so it was a big deal!)
When I started graduate school the summer after I graduated college, an editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s New Jersey section, which existed at the time, asked our class to write opinion pieces about a local controversy. They ran mine, and the editor reached out to me directly to ask me to keep submitting pieces to her, so by the time I became a full time freelancer a few years later, writing reported, personal essays was part of my repertoire. That has continued for the almost 20 years I’ve been doing this. Yes, I write straight personal essays, which are about something happening to me, but I like writing the reported pieces too. For example, in 2017, I wrote about what I was feeling after my first dog died in a straight personal essay. In 2023, after my second dog died, I wrote a reported piece about the rainbow bridge. It was still about my response to such a profound loss, but took a wider view of pet grief.
Last year, I wrote a reported essay for New Jersey Monitor about a stupid moving van survey that comes out every year that pretends to offer real data on where people are moving. It was based on me liking New Jersey, of course, but I also used Census, real estate, insurance, environmental and population studies data.
I knew the editor from his previous job, so the pitch was informal then. In September, he reached out to me on Twitter via a direct message asking me if I wanted to write about an opinion piece about a current news story, but I declined because I didn’t really have an opinion on it, and I suggested someone else who might be a better choice. He asked me if I had anything else I wanted to pitch, and I said sure let me think about it. I sent him a few ideas over Twitter, this being one of them, then followed up with a pitch. Why this topic? Because it’s brought together a lot of things going on in my life right now, and I thought maybe it could help a few people like myself who find themselves as profound odds with people we think should know better.
The Pitch: First, via twitter DM: “OR about how Italian Americans should not talk sh*t about immigrants considering WELL YOU KNOW.”
Second, via email: “So I want to do this – and yes I am Italian. In fact, [personal info redacted].
The Timeline
Twitter direct message exchange with editor: September 13, 2024
Emailed pitch: September 13, 2024
Follow up: September 17, 2024 (I only followed up so quickly because I knew I’d need time if I was going to write it before I left for Italy)
Assigned: September 17, 2024
Submitted: September 23, 2024
Publication Date: October 2, 2024
Paid: October 1, 2024
Yes, I was paid before it ran. What a lovely thing. The fee was also much higher than I’ve been quoted by any newspaper op-ed page. New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, and has publications around the country so if you might want to peek to see if they’re in your state in case you have an idea.
Also: like many people, I’m switching from Twitter to Bluesky. Twitter removing the block option means it’s not safe for me to continue to use the site (and no I’m not going to say more right now. Maybe in the future). I’m going to keep my profile up on Twitter for now because it’s how some editors reach me (and I know a lot of people still on there), but I may be making my account private shortly. If you’re thinking about coming over, it’s fun! I like it a lot. I don’t hold my breath when I check the site, which is a lovely thing. If you’d like to join us over at bluer skies, follow me here!
Recent Bylines
“The hypocrites lobbying hate at Haitian immigrants are stomping on the American Dream,” New Jersey Monitor
“How generative AI can revolutionize cybersecurity in community banking,” Independent Banker Magazine
“Aquaculture innovation award: Seaqure labs’ aquafeed ingredient made from fungi and food waste,” Responsible Seafood Advocate
“Upstream rising,” The Lawrentian
What I’m Reading
I’m in the middle of a 500+ page book so nothing to report right now!
What I’m Watching
- Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion. I watched this HBO documentary on my flight home. I had never heard of this brand, which exploited young women and girls, and is one of those awful fast fashion brands. This documentary is about the problem with both. I’ve been shopping second hand since high school, and documentaries like this make me shift more of my shopping over to that category.
- What We Do in the Shadows, season 5. Another in-flight choice: I re-watched the last season of this show about our lovable Staten Island vampires to refresh in time for a new season. I really didn’t like a decision they made at the end of the season, so we’ll se how it plays out.
- Victim/Suspect. If you’ve ever asked why a victim of sexual assault didn’t go to the police, watch this documentary. It’s about women who were pressured to recant their stories and, in many cases, charged with filing a false police report. I was furious watching it. You can also reader the reporting behind the documentary (and new revelations) here.
Nail Polish of the Week
I’m a sucker for a good movie tie in, so I picked up Ozitively Elphabea by OPI, which is part of their Wicked line. It’s a darker green than I thought based on what it looked like in the bottle, which isn’t a bad thing, but next year I might save this one for December.
Until next time!
Jen A. Miller
Notes from a Hired Pen ebook series
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