Writers’ Rough Drafts – Episode #57 With Tallie Gabriel

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Tallie Gabriel is a freelance writer, young adult author, musician, podcast producer, and occasional podcast host. With bylines on sites and publications like VICE, Considerable, Thrive, The Content Strategist, and The Freelancer, she also hosts an impressive client roster of freelance and social media clients through companies like Lighthouse Creative Group and Find a Way Media. 

Since February 2019, she has been exploring different ways to apply writing, sound, and creativity across mediums as a podcast producer and occasional host for Unthinkable Media. She continues this exploration by singing and playing cello in the indie folk band Cardboard Rocketship. Tallie is currently represented by literary agent Alyssa Jennette of Stonesong Literary Agency. 

What You’ll Learn About Writing This Week:

• What happens when you pitch potential clients or publications that might seem “random” on the surface
• What you should be doing with your writing if you aren’t regularly publishing somewhere
• Focusing on where you spend your energy
• Finding the right subjects and the right writing space that make you excited to write
• Getting out of a creative desert and embracing the creative binges
• Why you need to get back to foundations when you are creatively blocked (or why you may be creating the wrong content altogether)
• How to shift from writing flowery fiction meant for reading to conversational writing meant for listening

Mentioned in This Episode (Links and Resources!):

• Indeed.com
• Contently
• Jay Acunzo
• Lighthouse Creative Group
• “I Tried Being BFFs With an AI” (VICE article)
• VICE pitch guidelines
• “Burrata May Not Save the Country, But I’m Going to Keep Acting Like it Might” (Medium)
• “Why Tattoos” (Noteworthy)
• Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo (podcast)
• Ad Age

You Can Find More of Tallie and Her Writing (and Music!) On: 

• Her website, TallieGabriel.com
• Twitter, @talligator_
• Medium, @talliegabriel
• Her band’s page, Cardboard Rocketship

Tweetable Quotes From This Episode:

• The importance of researching the right publication for your pitch: “Because the idea was so specific, I wanted to know … if there was a place for this.” – @talligator_ on #WritersRoughDrafts
• “Sometimes you just need to write something, and you don’t really know why, and even if I’ll pitch this somewhere else later, for now I just need to write it, and I can put it [on Medium].” – @talligator_ on #WritersRoughDrafts
• “I have some guidelines I try to stick to. I try to give myself a semblance of a weekend, but sometimes I’m bad at that … but I find that the projects I do are things I’m actually interested in.” – @talligator_ on #WritersRoughDrafts
• Doing more of what excites you means that work doesn’t feel like work: “When I wake up and want to do so much of what I’m doing, that procrastination or reluctance to get started just isn’t there.” – @talligator_ on #WritersRoughDrafts
• On the helpfulness of writing an outline: “Sometimes just looking at a piece block by block, or bit by bit, helps for me … just saying ‘Okay, if I write this paragraph, I know where to go from there.’” – @talligator_ on #WritersRoughDrafts
• “If what you’re writing isn’t totally fueling the part of you that loves writing, just find ways to write the stuff you love anyway and try to make money doing that. Keep writing the stuff that made you excited to be a writer in the first place.” – @talligator_ on #WritersRoughDrafts