Pitching is Scary, Not Pitching is Worse
How constant worry was more harmful to my writing life than send a few crappy pitches.
When you first start freelance writing, pitching is scary. You have to reach out to strangers and those strangers are in charge of bylines, money, and validation of your writing career. It feels like there’s a lot at stake, as if your career is on the line with every email.
This kind of pressure stops people from pitching at all. “What if I send out something bad and the editor blacklists me?!?!”
Thinking of the worst case scenario of a pitch is easy. The editor will hate it, they’ll laugh about it with their friends, I’ll embarrass myself with a bad idea, all come to mind.
But what’s the worst thing that will happen if you don’t pitch?
You can substitute pitch with “write,” “reach out,” “promote yourself,” or whatever other scary thing that’s haunting your brain at the moment. But really, what’s the worst thing that’ll happen if you don’t.
You’ll have unique answers, but for me, the worst case of not pitching is:
- I’ll be annoyed at myself that I didn’t try.
- I’ll wonder and worry about what’ll happen if I did try.
- I’ll beat myself up about missing another opportunity.
