Often in our author business we feel like we are running to keep still. Life keeps throwing curve balls at bus and we seem to stagger from one crisis to the next, none of which we can control. During times of crisis, such as the recent global pandemic, everything is out of our control; or is it. Today I am chatting to Rebecca L. Weber who gives us top notch tips on how to overcome overwhelm and develop confidence.
Rebecca L. Weber Website
Often in our author business we feel like we are running to keep still. Life keeps throwing curve balls at bus and we seem to stagger from one crisis to the next, none of which we can control. During times of crisis, such as the recent global pandemic, everything is out of our control; or is it. Today I am chatting to Rebecca L. Weber who gives us top notch tips on how to overcome overwhelm and develop confidence.
Rebecca L. Weber Website
Hi, and welcome to the writing and marketing show brought to you by author Wendy H. Jones. This show does exactly what it says on the tin. it's jam packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news to help you with the business of writing. It's all wrapped up in one lively podcast. So it's time to get on with the show. And welcome to episode 159 of the writing and Marketing Show. Brought to you by author entrepreneur Wendy H. Jones. It's an absolute pleasure to have you with me here yet again, for episode 159. Today, we're going to be talking about running an author business during times of crisis. And I think that's something that we all need to be more aware of, after what's been happening in the world in the last three years. And what's been happening in the world today. Well, I know this doesn't relate directly to lead to to writing, but Flybe has gone into administration, and many people's flights have been cancelled. Now, why am I talking to you about this? Well, I think this is part of the economic situation in the world today, which affects us as writers, it also means that there'll be less competition and less flights available, if we want to go places for writers, conferences, retreats, all this sort of thing impact on our business. And I think that as part of it, that flight prices may start to go up. They're going up anyway, because of what's been happening in the world because of the price of energy, oil, fuel. So this is just going to add to it. So these are the sorts of things that we need to be aware of what's been happening in my life, while I've been extremely, extremely busy, writing, editing, and also writing for me, this is huge, because I've never done this before. I wrote a 45 minutes stage play. I had great fun doing it. But my goodness, that was right out of my comfort zone. And I did it for the Scottish association of writers competition. And I've entered it know whether I'll get anywhere, I don't know. But it was still fun. And today, it was still fun doing the actual play. And as I say, it took me right out of my comfort zone. Because I was learning new skills. And as authors, I think we need to do that. I think we need to push our boundaries, see what we're capable of. Now, I don't think I'm going to get anywhere in this competition. It's the first thing I've ever done with of this. But I do think that I will get good feedback. And that's what I'm interested in getting feedback for the actual for the actual piece that I've put in. I mean, I can see it here. Because it's anonymous, the whole thing's anonymous. And nobody will know who's entered what to be honest, because there are a lot of entries to this competition. But I'm looking forward to getting the feedback because I think I will just want it to try my hand at something different. And I'm always trying to move my writing skills forward. And anything that we do like that helps us to improve as writers. And I'm all for that. What else is happening? Well, I'm looking at my trip to the states later in the year. It's just a matter of looking at timescales, when I go and when I fly back, because it might be bookended by a couple of conferences. And that will dictate what I do and how long I'm out. Therefore, I'm gearing up for my trip to Israel. I can't wait. Although I am keeping a very close eye in the news because things seem a little erratic there at the moment, shall we say. But at the moment, I'm still planning on going and I'm very, very much looking forward to that little writing retreat, talking of writing retreats. I am starting a writing retreat on the publishing business with two friends of mine. It's going to be called or Scott publishing and retreats, and more on that soon. So what are we doing today? Well, as I said, we're going to be talking about writing and running your author business in times of crisis. And I'm going to be talking to Rebecca L. Weber, and she's a freelance journalist, writing coach and host of the writing coach podcast. She has covered social justice, the Environment, the Arts, travel, and more. For CNN, USA Today and the New York Times dwell and many other publications. She has helped her freelance writing clients break into dream publications like The New York Times The Guardian bustle, National Geographic travel, the BBC, The Washington Post Travel and Leisure and Al Jazeera. She Rebecca lives near penguin colony in Cape Town, South Africa and I'm not jealous at all.that she is living near penguin colony because I love penguins. But before we get on with a huge discussion about my love of penguins, let's get on with the show and hear from Rebecca. And we have Rebecca with us. Welcome, Rebecca. Hello. It's such a pleasure to be here. Oh, it's an absolute pleasure to have you here here in Scotland even though you're not really in Scotland, are you tell us where you are. I am in Cape Town in South Africa. So I am experiencing the complete opposite season right now. For me. It's a really warm day. I know I shouldn't complain, but it is a bit warm. I like the heat. I'm jealous. We should swap I'll get a bit of heat for a while and you can cool down for a while. Yeah, we should do that. Sounds like a plan. So you sitting comfortably and ready for me to interrogate I mean, interview you interview you. Yeah.
Rebecca L. Weber:Only the tiniest bit nervous. Hey, there's no need to be nervous. It's very gentle this show, you know, I don't I don't really, I may have been in the military. But I was a nurse. So I know how to be gentle. I don't know how to be rough. So we're alright.
Wendy Jones:So today, we're going to be talking about writing during times of crisis or writing and running your author business during times of crisis, I should say. So to set the scene so to speak, it might be worth discussing what would be considered a time of crisis? What does this mean to you? Yeah, well, I think it's a really good question. Because we do look at crises on so many different levels. And I really started thinking about this in 2020. We're all going through a similar mega crisis. And one of the definitions that I found that I really liked that really resonated for what I saw so many writers going through that year was the definition of crisis being a time when a difficult decision must be made. And I feel like that was a really useful one for trying to orient and give yourself direction because otherwise crisis can just seem so overwhelming. There's so much going on. And yeah, that there's some external circumstances, and yet, you still have the ability to make a make a choice, make a decision. Yeah, now that really sets the scene. And when really and truly a worldwide a global pandemic, is definitely a crisis, I would have thought because it was some major decisions to be made in everybody's lives. Not just personally, but professionally. Because our business structure as we know it, disappeared overnight.
Rebecca L. Weber:Yeah, yeah. I mean, for I can say for myself, it definitely happened to me. But for all the writers that I know, some people had a stronger year in 2020, some people saw things sort of collapse, but nobody had the same kind of year, like some years, or just like I was more or less like, last year, I feel like nobody had that year and 2020 even just speaking specifically about the writing, let alone everything else that was going on in the world. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I, I would never think that I would ever not write but my brain was fried for about three months. I couldn't write a word. You know, it was this is just your brains preoccupied with something different? Yeah, yeah.
Wendy Jones:And I think that takes us nicely on to the next question, which is writing during these times can rock us to the core.
Rebecca L. Weber:It's just so different. And it can undermine the foundations on which we build our author businesses. We were saying, I would be interested in your thoughts on this. Yeah, well, I think this comes again, to like the sort of the decision is that when there's a crisis going on, and it does, it obviously is different when, say, like, there's a pandemic going on, if you also had a health crisis in your own home or in your own body, you know, whether it was, you know, contracting long, COVID, or, you know, cancer or whatever, you know, there's so many levels at which this can impact people. I think that in terms of the foundations, right, that having that crisis going on, is the time really to, when possible to sort of pause and reflect and say, This is what's going on. There are a lot of things that are outside of my control, and just being able to say like, what are the things that I want to do? I know that for for a lot of people in 2020 became that moment of saying, Let me choose the path that I actually had been saying for a long time that I wanted to do but hadn't gotten around to like yourself, like us. It sounds like you had a period where you're like, I just can't write right now. But then you were able to reconnect. And I think for a lot of people coming back to something that could say, this is really what I want. That that is something that can be sort of a guiding light during a time of crisis.
Wendy Jones:Yeah, no, it's so true. It really is. And I mean, not only do they, you know, rock us and undermine our foundations, they can be completely overwhelming. And I think the pandemic was, that was overwhelming for everybody. There couldn't have been one person that wasn't affected by it. What advice would you give to anyone that's writer or running a small business, and would you give to them to overcome overwhelm.
Rebecca L. Weber:Well, I think the first thing is recognising what is actually causing the overwhelm. And it's very easy to say attribute to it's the pandemic or it's the financial, you know, recession or it's like I said, like, it might be like more personal, more localised crisis as well. And those external circumstances can have a big impact on us. But there's still this in between thing between what's going on whatever the circumstances are, and how it is that we think about them, you just asked me what meaning I gave to the definition of the crisis and sort of like how I interpret things that's going to that thought is going to be what is going to create our feeling of overwhelm. And so if we can separate that out enough to get that awareness, like, here's some external circumstance, here's how I'm thinking about and that thought, is creating overwhelm. If we can start to recognise that, that helps, we also if it's hard to pick out what the thought is, we might see ourselves doing something, we might have some kind of behaviour, which we can recognise, hey, when I'm overwhelmed, I sort of turn away from my writing to do this other thing, whatever it is, a lot of us have a go to write would be, you know, it could be so many different things. And if we can notice ourselves in any one of those parts of the cycle, then we can sort of start to get more and more awareness, I think very often the thoughts that lead to overwhelm circus, or see the circle around, some notion of this is out of my control, I can't do anything, I can't make a decision. They're very often related to confusion. And maybe not helplessness, but sort of in the direction maybe like, you know, sort of helpless adjacent. And then if we can recognise those, and again, sort of come back to recognising Well, I have this thought, this is causing me to feel this overwhelmed, it's causing me to not to do my work, that's not what I want, and be able to sort of pause and be able to start to work on what would be a more helpful or more useful thing to tell myself that elicits? Maybe not reading confidence, right? So it's unlikely you're going to go from like a, you know, being mired and overwhelmed to confidence overnight. But if we can, if we can just sort of lessen the overwhelm or reorient towards something that's more helpful, more practical, more useful than, then we can start to ease the pressure that overwhelm puts on to us and to our writing.
Wendy Jones:No, I would agree with that. Because going back to the pandemic, which is I mean, that's the one that we'd all anchoring to at the moment, that will change, because it will become less in the public psyche. But for the first I think, for the first least month or two months, everybody was just on the news 24/7. They were watching the news. And eventually you have to say I've got to step back from this because it's not doing me any good. And I think that you're saying that we need to step back and look at what is overwhelming and us and what can we do about it?
Rebecca L. Weber:Yeah, I mean, look in South Africa, we had hard lockdown. Like I said, it was second only to China, the initial lockdown, you couldn't leave your house, other than to buy food, or medical supplies. That was it. It I was on a WhatsApp group where we were told, you know, if you see your neighbour going out to what looks to be walking the dog or getting exercises, report them here. I mean, it was there were there were some extremely stressful situations. The the airport shut down, you know, it was it was it was it was, it was pretty intense. And so obviously, at those moments, I wasn't like, oh, well, this is all under my control. And like, these are just my thoughts. I mean, there's very in it very much in the middle. And so I think we also have to give ourselves a little bit of maybe a lot of, you know, sort of a scope and allow ourselves to say it's okay, that when we get caught up in overwhelm, that after the faculty may say, that's what happened. That's how I got caught up and be able to bring ourselves back. And still, there were moments, as you were saying that there are moments where you can say, let me turn this off, let me focus on something else, let me sometimes it's just as basic as like focusing on your breath, or on the fact that you have food in the house, or you've got running water, or you're able to do this one little thing that allows you to have some control over what's going on, making this one little decision to sit down and write for five minutes. I sometimes write for one minute, like a timed one minute bursts. Because it's it sort of interrupts that narrative of, I haven't written for a while I have nothing to say or you know, it's just like, well, I did write, I did write today, and I did put some words on the page, and that that little kind of decision can just sort of help adjust the level of the intensity sometimes.
Wendy Jones:No, that's great tip really. And we were talking about a little bit about it, but it's when we when we get overwhelmed, our confidence can often take a nosedive. Have you got any top tips for maintaining or building confidence?
Rebecca L. Weber:Yeah, well, like I said, like I don't think like one goes directly from like, a ten out of ten of overwhelmed with tiny amount of confidence. I can do like sort of you know that it's hard to experience both of those at the same time. But I do think that we can be very intentional about the kind of thing that we're trying to cultivate. And again, like you might be able to tap into more readily confidence on a lower scale or you might be you might find one area where you are confident, I just say to like, pay attention, observe what's going on. Same thing as before, in terms of, you know, what are you thinking that is eliciting that feeling, creating that feeling of confidence? And what do you do when you're feeling confident, so just sort of get more familiar with it. And I think it's, if you can identify those thoughts, those can be really useful things to practice and remind yourself of, I'm not personally a fan of telling yourself mantras that are not factually true or anything like that. But I think you can identify thought were like, this is true, this is accurate. And it makes me feel good to remind myself of this, that can be a really useful thought to remind yourself of, and that can be as simple as writing it out in your journal in the morning, before, you know for like a minute before you start writing, anything that will sort of orient you orient yourself towards the way in which you want to be feeling and the kinds of things, the kinds of emotions that would be useful for your writing, as well as for your marketing, and all the associated things that go along with your writing. If we can just sort of keep reminding yourself, this is the way that I want to be feeling. And here are the thoughts I can tell myself that helped me feel that way. And that can be really helpful. I found that to be really useful for myself.
Wendy Jones:It's good advice, actuall I want to talk about the fact you're a freelance journalist, and you pitch to editors. And even though we've come out the other side of the pandemic, so we're not quite as overwhelmed as we were. Although saying that in Britain, we're now going into some sort of global recession, apparently, currently the news this morning. So doom and gloom in the UK. So we've got something else to look forward to. My listeners are still going to be looking for publications to pitch to just want to narrow the focus and pinpoint which publications are suitable.
Rebecca L. Weber:Yeah, so I mean, I think that this is largely when you say suitable, it's, let's first define what is suitable for you, you know, if you were to identify what are the criteria that would describe your ideal readership, as well as your ideal editorial relationship, and that's where we start rather than saying, let's just think of, you know, the biggest name publications that we know, because oftentimes, that can be kind of limiting, or it can also our thoughts about that can be overwhelming, like, Oh, they're not ready for me, I'm not ready for them, that kind of thing. And so if we start to say, like, here, here are the kinds of things it might be the subject matter, it might be the pay rates, it might be the way in which they do their stories, it might be, you know, some people will be interested in a very large mainstream audience, some people will want a regional audience and people want, oh, I just want people who are really interested in this, you know, sort of obscure niche, because I want to talk to them at a high level, about the topic, any of those kinds of things, then help give us a guideline and framework for which publications or which sections are actually looking for. So I always encourage people to first think about who would your ideal client be, and in my mind, the ideal client can kind of include whichever one is most useful for you the actual publication, the individual editor, or the readers at the very end and think about, then once you start to identify that, then we cut out most options, and then we can start sort of diving down and looking for the individual publications that would fit those criteria?
Wendy Jones:No, that's good advice. Because let's face it, we'll all start out with I want to be in USA Today, or I want to be in the New York Times, or you know, like the Guardian, or you know, The Times of London, we all want to but there are other things as well. And I think we need to remember that. And we need to look at what it is we're pitching, and who's going to be interested in it. So yeah, that's great. So following on from this, what makes a good pitch to publication?
Rebecca L. Weber:Yeah. So I think that the the first thing is really, when you're able to identify which publication it is, which section is that you actually read it and get a sense of what it is they do, and how did they do it, so you can reverse engineer it. But sometimes people think, Well, I used to read that publication, I read the headlines of this publication where I'm saying actually read what's actually they're actually publishing now, you know, what, what are the stories are actually doing? Well, so many of the online publications these days will have a little cheat sheet, they'll say, here's what's most popular right now, those are pretty good indicators as to kind of things that the editor might be looking for. And then as you go through and you read that, then you start to think about, then you start to think about what are the topics that I'm interested in, I often like to already have an ongoing list of different kind of ideas that might be good for somebody and then you can sort of pick one out and start to develop it with that publication in mind. And the pitch itself ideally starts off with a paragraph or two. That really sounds like it could be the lead in the final piece, even though it's not the editor doesn't expect you to do all that work. But this is the best way to communicate that you understand their style, their tone, you understand who the audience is. And then below that, give a little bit of a description about how you'll approach it, and then tell them a little bit about why you're the one to do it, which is the are ready to apply, because you've already given them this great idea and showing that you understand what it is they're looking for. But that sort of just helps cement the ability to show them that you'll be able to deliver what it is that you're proposing up above.
Wendy Jones:Again, great advice. And I think the one about actually reading the publication is, you know, isn't a good one, because very often, we think, Oh, I read it years ago, you know, you don't, and also gives youan idea of the style. Because every publication has a different style, even the newspapers, you're not going to write in the same style of you're sending it to the sun, which is one end of the spectrum, to the times, which is the other end of the spectrum, you'll be using different language, you'll be using a different approach. So, yeah, I would agree it's reading it. You know, that's key.
Rebecca L. Weber:Yeah. Especially with those big publications that you just mentioned, the ones that we all are aware of, yeah, most people have read them in the past. I mean, obviously, they still have some subscribers. But I'm very often we have an idea in our head that sort of fixed about what we think that they want. And if you actually analyse that, you're like, oh, that's actually not the case. And a lot of places shifted their editorial focus in, you know, in these very recent years, during the pandemic, a lot of publications shifted and changed the kinds of stories that they were telling. And you just want to make sure that your current and the best guide is reading the publication itself. Yeah. Well, I think I'm gonna give you just an example for the sake of the readers, basically, little readers, listeners, listeners, I'm on a different thing. today. It's a podcast, I'm writing some novels based on a gentleman who was a real life gentleman who was enabled surgeon in the 19th century. So if I was pitching it to the mariners mirror, I'd be taking the this is the naval such, and this is what naval surgeon said, yeah. If I'm pitching it to the Scotsman, I'm going to say, this was a Scottish adventurer who went around the world. Yeah. If I'm pitching it to BBC History Magazine, I'm gonna be pitching at the 19th century life in the Royal Navy or something. So depending on your publication depends on how you do things differently. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you got it right there, this sort of the different angle, those, those would be called non competing publications, yeah, there'll be a few people that actually read more than one of them or read two, or all three of them. But for the most part, the way that they're positioning Eve, is is different enough, so that even if you had core elements, you can say that, technically speaking, this is the same story, you're going to write it in quite a different way for the different audiences. And that's also just a great way to be able to get the most bang for your buck, if the book is your time and energy, right. So you don't have to do all the research and all the reporting. With each one, you'll be able to sort of multi, multi purpose, that same research that you're doing. I like that that's a good idea. Thank you. Multi positioning, to multi purpose, you know, like, if you've done this one, you know, you read through these the same core documents, but you'll be able to refer them in different kinds of ways will be different bits that will be interesting to different audiences. Yeah. Yeah.
Wendy Jones:That got it straight in my mind for me. So it will get hopefully help to get it straight in the mind for the people that are listening as well. Yeah. So, how do you go about finding what the editors actually want? Because that can be a major part of a successful pitch?
Rebecca L. Weber:Yeah, so I mean, again, I think the best most straightforward way for most people is going to be actually just to start to analyse the publication. Sometimes an editor will talk about what it is that they they're wanting, you know, on YouTube, they might like, join a panel and say, here's what we're looking for the kind of stories like that exists. And you can also network with other writers to find out what's going on. I think, though, that for most people being able to actually shape their pitch to the publication in such a way that they are really clear that it's going to land is that that process of reading and understanding? One question I like to ask when I'm sort of reading an article and thinking I want to pitch this editor is as myself, if I were to have written this exact story, the way it is, what would I have needed to do? How would I actually I've come across this, how would I have found this idea? How would I found the people I was going to talk to how would I have identified the questions ask them, What would my actual process be for this publication? And it'll be quite different for different kinds of readerships or different styles or lengths of pieces. But that can give you a real insight into understanding how this publication does put their pieces together and the kind of things that they they want from people. I will just say that one of the things that you mentioned when you're talking about sort of historical things, is that for most publications, And certainly when you mentioned those big sort of news organisations, they want some kind of news or some kind of reason why is this relevant now? there are a handful of publications that do evergreen stories. But particularly as a freelancer, when you include a reason why it's relevant right now, that makes it much more saleable, in addition to being something that they're much more likely to publish quickly, as opposed to just having their inventory. This is also one of the things and that news, what could be different for each one of those different types of publications that you mentioned. And sometimes it's nice to actually have more than one. And so I know that it's very easy to say, you know, there's no news hook was something happened a couple 100 years ago, in your case, of course, one of the the hooks could be I have a book coming out about this, that can be that can be it as well. But there may be something else, you know, there may be some anniversary that's coming up, or you know, like it's a seasonal thing, if it has something to do with, I don't know, you know, the naval waters or something, you know, there's some like really important date, it can be those kinds of things as well, something that you can predict is going to happen. And then sometimes we just sort of get lucky like, oh, there's a person who's this historical figure, who is now being represented in a TV show, you can, you know, sort of bring bring in mention of that series. And you know, they're sort of in the popular imagination at the at the moment which they otherwise weren't before.
Wendy Jones:Excellent, thank you. That's good advice as well, I will take that on board. There's always something to do with medicine in the news. So, it would be, you know, important, whatever, but medicine is a good one, because there's always something about medicine. And so, what would be your top three takeaways from the session today? Or rather, should I say, what should be my readers, readers, listeners, I'm convinced for our listeners, top three top takeaways today?
Rebecca L. Weber:Yeah, well, I mean, I suppose that question is you in terms of what you think would be most useful, I would say that, I think being able to get comfortable with the overwhelm, being willing and able to examine it, not allowing it to sort of spin out and just, you know, sort of spiral and just say, okay, like, let me just notice, what am I telling myself, that seems to just proceed the feeling of overwhelm, or what am I doing after it happens, and if we can start to see it, that way, we can then also start to change the thoughts and, and work backwards. From there. In terms of competence, which you also asked about, I guess, in terms of, you know, we talked about, like, sort of being intentional and trying to, you know, focus on the things that we know are true about ourselves, that will lead to confidence. But in the case of say, in pitching or something else, that you're sort of, you know, it seems harder to tap into the thoughts that are creating confidence, you can also go for something a little lower on the, on the ladder, if you will, something like competence, or, you know, capability or sometimes even just courage, like, you know, I don't feel confident to do this, but I can summon my bravery or, you know, I can, I can do that that's like, within my you know, and so that if we can just get to that place where we feel capable, sometimes that's great. And then that actually, oftentimes does lead to confidence later on, that can be a natural pathway. And yeah, and I guess the other thing is just like in terms of crisis to recognise that, as you indicated, they come in cycles, they do shift in and out, crisis is not something that is actually something is always intense day to day, and that we have, even in the midst of things feeling really chaotic, that we do have that ability to make some small decisions and make small choices. And that can be in your notebook that can be in terms of connecting with, with your publisher that can be in terms of connecting with a reader on a very small scale, as well.
Wendy Jones:Excellent, great takeaways. So, you're also a writing coach. So, can you tell us about this?
Rebecca L. Weber:Yeah, so I work with people, largely, we've already covered two of the main things that we work on. I work with people who are trying to get some next level in their writing career, and very often that is focusing on pitching and learning how to break into their dream publications. Or maybe they're already writing for those publications that they really want to, but they're sort of once off. They don't have them as sustainable, ongoing clients. And we sort of try to build that trajectory. So we focus very often on those external pitching skills, but then also on the mindset that goes along with it, because it's one thing to know, here's how to pitch here's what to do, but I can't get myself to do it. Right. And so I think of it as being sort of like learning to ride a bike by watching YouTube, like, you can have the theory but you actually also have to be willing to get out there and to wobble and fall. And so the mindset skills really come in and sort of work hand in hand with the actual writing and with the publishing as it is.
Wendy Jones:So, my final question. It's always the same. Where would my listeners find out more about you and your work?
Rebecca L. Weber:Yeah, the best place is on my website, which is www.rebeccalweber.com
Wendy Jones:Excellent. Well, I shall put that link in the show notes. And I would like to say thank you very much, Rebecca. I have learned so much today. Oh, thank you so much was really a pleasure talking with you. Oh, it was a pleasure having you with me here in Scotland, even if it was only virtually. So I know you're busy. And thank you. And I hope you have a great day.
Rebecca L. Weber:Wonderful. Thank you so much. I hope you do as well.
Wendy Jones:That brings us to the end of another show. It was really good to have you on the show with me today. I'm Wendy H Jones. And you can find me at Wendy H jones.com. You can also find me on Patreon where you can support me for as little as $3 a month which is less than the price of a tea or coffee. You go to patreon.com forward slash Wendy H Jones. I'm also Wendy H Jones on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Dang, thank you for joining me today and I hope you found it both useful and interesting. Join me next week when I will have another cracking guest for you. Until then, have a good week. And keep writing. keep reading and keep learning