Listen:
Have you built your career around reporting and service writing—but now feel called to write more personally? You’re not alone. Many seasoned writers reach a point where they want to tell their own stories. But how do you make that shift thoughtfully, and strategically?
In this live coaching episode of Freelance Writing Direct, I work with award-winning journalist Pamela M. McBride to unpack that question—and offer clear, actionable advice.
Pamela has written for Essence, Black Enterprise, Sisters from AARP, and more. She’s also the co-author of two books. Now she’s ready to step into more personal storytelling, and we walk through how to do that without sacrificing the strategy, structure, or editorial sensibility that made her so successful.
In This Episode
- How to strategically submit personal essays while preserving memoir material
- Finding the right throughline for your essays
- How to build a submission system and stay current with editors
- The benefits of writing micro memoirs like Tiny Love Stories
- Tips for pitching personal essays with compelling titles and angles
- Building a pitching system that works
- What to expect from editors today: the real talk on revision
Watch on YouTube
About Pamela
Pamela M. McBride is an award-winning freelance writer with hundreds of published articles on career management, leadership development, Diversity & Inclusion, military life, health and wellness, culture, and lifestyle topics. She is a contributing author to Sisters from AARP and her work has appeared in Essence Magazine, Black Enterprise Magazine, Upscale Magazine, Military Families Magazine, and Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps Times. Pamela co-authored The Mocha Manual to Military Life: A Savvy Guide for Wives, Girlfriends and Female Service Members and Work It Girl: The Black Woman’s Guide to Professional Success. She is an honoree at the 2025 Black Authors Festival, and serves on the Armed Services Arts Partnership Alumni Board.
Connect with Pamela
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Related Episodes:
#123 Christie Tate
#87 Joanna Rakoff
#116 Abigail Thomas
and #83
Coaching/Solo Episodes
#144 Elevate Your Voice, Expand Your Reach
#141 How AI is Disrupting Content
#115 Estelle’s Edge on Creating Notable Narratives
My Latest Article
- Read How to Use the Internet to Become Your Own Private Investigator (Next Avenue/PBS)
Classes
I have two more spots available for my September/October 6 week fiction Zoom class. Email freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for more info and put Zoom fiction class in the subject line.
Here is the link to Mapping Your Memoir: How to Find the Heart and Shape of Your Story, the webinar I am leading for Writer’s Digest on October 9th.
TEDx Talk
And if you haven’t yet—please watch my TEDx Talk:
🎥 How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond
In my Talk, I share how a chaotic moment with the beloved children’s character, Thomas the Tank Engine became the spark for my message on standing out—on the page and beyond, and share the successful tips and tricks and strategies I cover in my teaching guaranteed to get you noticed.
And check out episode #145 Where I talk about how to shape a TEDx Talk, in the first of several episodes related to my Talk
About Estelle
Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, author of Writing That Gets Noticed (named a “Best Book for Writers” by Poets & Writers), and host of Freelance Writing Direct—2025 Podcast of the Year (Education), American Writing Awards. A Contributing Editor for Writer’s Digest and adjunct instructor at NYU, she’s written for over 150 outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP: The Magazine, and has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines.
✨ Explore More:
📚 Writing That Gets Noticed – Buy the Book | Listen to the Audiobook
📬 Subscribe on Substack – Craft tips, pitch advice & exclusive podcast extras. Latest post Stop Counting Your Words. Start Shaping Your Story and How to Get Published in Cosmopolitan or Seventeen
🎧 Freelance Writing Direct – Interviews, insights & behind-the-scenes publishing tips
Follow Estelle:
📸 Instagram | 🎵 TikTok | 🐦 Twitter | 🌐 BlueSky
