Estelle

Would Love to Say Hello at AWP 2026 in Baltimore

Are you heading to AWP in Baltimore? Here’s where I’ll be, what I’m teaching, and how to navigate the literary and mainstream divide without burning out.… Read More

Building Resonance: The “Echo Effect” Webinar and a New Free Editor-on-Call Event

In this post, I share details about my Writer’s Digest webinar on the Echo Effect and a free NYU Editor-on-Call conversation with a top editor who pulls back the curtain on craft and submissions.… Read More

#179 Writing from the Scar: Conscious Craft Choices with Jocelyn Jane Cox 

Debut memoirist Jocelyn Jane Cox joins Freelance Writing Direct to unpack the conscious craft choices behind her award-winning memoir, from structuring it around a single day to revising it fourteen times, cutting 13,000 words, and navigating the traditional publishing landscape before finding the right small press home.… Read More

#178 From Viral Essay to Memoir Plus: Writing Longing into a Book Deal with Amanda McCracken

Freelance Writing Direct chats with author, Amanda McCracken about turning a viral essay into memoir plus, writing longing, getting an agent, building a platform, and the grit behind landing a book deal.… Read More

#177 The Power of Narrative Tension with Peter Mountford

Peter Mountford joins Freelance Writing Direct for a chat about narrative tension, moral pressure, revising earlier work with a teacher’s eye, and why a single charged moment can sometimes move readers more than an entire story arc.… Read More

#176 The Domino Effect of Plot: Writing Emotionally Complex Characters with Tova Mirvis

Freelance Writing Direct chats with Tova Mirvis about the slow burn of narrative tension, the emotional undercurrents that drive fiction forward, and the discipline required to revise toward clarity and depth.… Read More

#175 From Mews(es) to Manuscript: How Inspired by Cats Became an Illustrated Literary Book

Estelle Erasmus chats with Bob Eckstein and Nava Atlas about Inspired by Cats: Writers and Their Mews(es) and how a playful literary idea evolved into a fully realized illustrated book.… Read More

#174 Forgiveness Without Apologies. Writing a Mother-Daughter Memoir 

Estelle Erasmus chats with filmmaker and memoirist Gayle Kirschenbaum and her mother, Mildred Kirschenbaum, about Gayle’s mother-daughter memoir and the long arc of a relationship shaped by criticism, silence, and survival.… Read More

#173 Writing Flawed Female Characters in Noir Fiction with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Freelance Writing Direct chats with Writers on Writing’s Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about her move into noir, her collection Pool Fishing, and creating characters that linger long after the story ends.… Read More

#172 A Year in Motion: Writing, Teaching, and Publishing in Real Time 

Estelle Erasmus reflects on a year shaped by both loss and persistence, and what staying focused on the work made possible.… Read More

#171 Musings on Writing Through Uncertainty with Abigail Thomas

Freelance Writing Direct chats with legendary memoirist Abigail Thomas about trusting the unknown, finding shape in memory, and allowing surprise to guide your work.… Read More

#170 Braiding Cultural Context into Your Memoir with Melissa Fraterrigo 

Freelance Writing Direct chats with Melissa Fraterrigo, award winning author of The Perils of Girlhood, about growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, the fears that follow girls into adulthood, Judy Blume, Madonna, and how writing can open conversations we were never taught to have.… Read More