When I first started writing about nature, I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to focus on in my writing or what my voice was. I tried not to worry about it too much so that I could focus on improving the quality of my writing and tried to work out why I liked some bits of other people's nature writing and not others.
Over time my writing interests have become urban nature, citizen science and how to go about learning to identify plants and birds. I've tried to not be too fixed with a particular voice, adapting to the publication I'm writing for, but I always try really hard not to sound pompous or disparaging, as that annoys me in other people's writing.
The process of pitching ideas to publications has become more straightforward now I'm more choosy about what I want to write about, and it's also easier to propose an writing angle. Early on in my freelance life I was more scattergun with ideas, and even having the occasional pitch accepted for a topic I wasn't sure I'd be able to cover.
The other element of choosiness is about integrity and being able to sleep at night. There are some publications I wouldn't want to be associated with, regardless of what they paid me. It's just not worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment