Hello all,
This is just a note to say that I’m offering something new here at this Substack for paid subscribers.
On May 22nd I will be hosting a live zoom interview and question session for all paid subscribers with Peter Catapano, Senior Editor in the Opinion Section at the New York Times.
I will be interviewing Peter about all aspects of op-ed writing and pitching, and he will talk about his experience at the Times, and share his advice on writing opinion pieces and essays, the dos and don’ts of pitching, what editors look for in submissions, what makes a great op-ed or essay and other eternal mysteries. He will then answer your questions about any part of the process/ his career/ your own projects and ideas etc. (Don’t worry if you can’t make the date, I will also send out a recording of this conversation to all paid subscribers. )
Peter is an award winning editor who has worked at the Opinion section at the New York Times for close to 20 years, and commissioned over a thousand pieces from both illustrious names and complete unknowns. He is also a writer of essays and short fiction (including one of my favorite ever essays) and writes the delightful Substack Question Everything.
DATE: 22nd May, 12:30pm Eastern/ 9:30am Pacific
Sign up for a paid subscription (monthly or annual) to attend. Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested!
ALSO FORTHCOMING FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS: NONFICTION WRITING AND PITCHING CLINICS: DATES TO FOLLOW
Starting soon, I will be running a bi-weekly series of writing and pitching clinics over zoom. ( this means every-other-week not twice a week! I have to Google this every time).
If you have a paid subscription to I BLAME SOCIETY (monthly or annual) you can show up to these at any time and I will answer your questions and help you brainstorm your nonfiction writing project- book proposal, book, personal essay, memoir, op-ed, grocery list etc and answer your questions about it including- how do I find my main idea? How do I structure this? Where do I pitch it? How do I pitch it? Is this the right angle? Could I make it snappier? Why is this not working? How do I come up with a killer way to pitch my obscure novel in op-ed form to a major publication? Do I suck? Should I give up? (don’t worry- the answer to the last two will be no- I’m always nice.)
And at least for now, and until this becomes unmanageable, you can send me your work/ idea (up to 500 words) in advance and depending on how many I get, I will try to read it before the call and give feedback - though I can’t promise to get through all of them. And hopefully we can also discuss as a group and share support/ ideas/ feedback etc.
I have written for the New York Times, The Guardian, The Cut, the Huffington Post, Time Magazine and elsewhere as writing two books. My editing clients have placed pieces at The New York Times, The Atlantic, The LA Times, the SF Chronicle and more.
DATES TO FOLLOW
Sign up for a paid subscription at any time for access to any/ all of this. This can be monthly or annual- ($50 per year or $5 per month.) You can also cancel at any time (although obviously I would prefer you didn’t!)
Hope to see some of you there! And feel free to hit reply to this message. I love hearing from you. And come follow me over on Instagram for more updates.
I'm so excited about this, Ruth! Thank you for offering the live event. How do we RSVP? Do we RSVP?
Tiny detail:
'bi-weekly... ( this means every-other-week not twice a week! I have to Google this every time).
The word you want is 'fortnightly'.