Before COVID and having two kiddos, I taught a class at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond called “The Nuts & Bolts of Freelancing.” In the three-hour workshop writers learned how to launch a freelance career. And although I covered everything from refining story ideas to negotiating your pay, the main focus of the class was pitching stories.

As a freelancer, pitching stories to editors can be time consuming and emotionally draining, especially if you spend hours researching and writing the pitch only to hear crickets after sending it out. Writers don’t get paid for the time and energy they spend crafting story queries, so sometimes a pitch honestly can end up being a total waste of time. Have I been there? Plenty of times. “But what does a successful pitch look like?” you may wonder. “And how do I land it somewhere grand?” Gather round, friends. I shall tell you.

In the past 12 years I have freelanced in many capacities — freelancing on the side with full-time journalism and marketing jobs, freelancing part-time with a part-time marketing job, and then when I was 30 I moved to freelance writing full time. It wasn’t until I became self-employed that I realized the importance of writing great pitches, because well, my livelihood depended on it. In this time I have written a lot of pitches. A lot of them have been bad. Bad as in not getting a response from editors. And bad as in getting a response from editors where I face-palm and feel totally embarrassed. (I promise to write a post where I publish my most embarrassing pitches. It will be a roast!) It’s all those bad pitches — that big ol’ pile of rejects — that has helped me figure out how to write the good ones that get responses from editors and, in turn, assignments.

Writing for The New York Times has long been a dream of mine — specifically writing for the Travel section. The summer of my sophomore year at Boston University I read William Zinsser’s “On Writing Well,” and was especially inspired by the chapter on travel writing. It planted a seed. Was that seed going to sprout? At the time it seemed like a long shot. But 14 years later, it sure did.

In January 2020 I connected with the travel editors at The Times, and sent them five pitches. They responded saying they liked the following idea, which I tailored to their “5 places” column.

Two months after I sent this pitch, COVID took hold in the U.S., and life as we knew it dramatically changed. People stopped leaving their houses, and in turn, traveling for pleasure ceased. The Times stopped publishing a print Travel section and those editors shifted their attention to launching and managing the At Home section, a sort of pandemic survival guide for everyone hunkering down at home.

So, my story idea that got a positive response from editors now no longer mattered. My big break wasn’t going to happen after all. Did I give up? (Do you know me? I’m persistent.) Fast-forward to June 2021. I saw that The Times‘ Travel section was coming back and reached back out to editors. I emailed them reminding them that they liked my pitch and told them that my husband and I were going to be back in that neck of the woods very soon. Would they be interested in me writing the story? Well, they darn tootin’ were. Almost three months later, in September, they responded to my email, and assigned me the story.

I was 9 months pregnant and wrote the story based on my travels along the Blue Ridge Parkway from the past decade, specifically focusing on the trips my husband and I have taken during the fall. It was a quick turnaround and I was worried that my daughter was going to be born during the back-and-forth editing process. Thank goodness she wasn’t. The story was published in early October, a week before my daughter was born and in time for readers to feel inspired to plan an autumnal road trip. Read the story here.

My pitch was a winner for the following reasons:

1. I knew the Travel section well, as I read it weekly for the past few years. Because of my familiarity with the section, I knew what kind of columns existed and stories ran. I could very easily tailor a pitch to this section of the paper.
2. My idea was relevant. While COVID has disrupted travel, people are embracing road trips. This pitch was timely for the fall season and for how people travel safely during COVID times.
3. I wrote the pitch like I’d write the story. I kept the tone conversational, but also informative.
4. I followed up (freelancer rule #1). For this piece I followed up once in July 2020. And then crafted a new email with the same pitch in June 2021. I was persistent, but not bothersome.

There are other things that I think made this query successful, like using bullet points for brevity and easy reading, suggesting a run date, linking to attractions, etc. But most of all, it was my familiarity with the subject that landed the pitch. If you know what you’re talking about, you can write the story.

This was the last story I wrote before going on maternity leave; and while I’m planning on plugging back into work in February, I’m not quite sure what exactly my bread and butter will be. Will I keep doing what I’m doing? Will I take on something new? That’s the beauty of freelancing — the constant transformation. I love it. Not quite sure what’s in store, but I’m open to anything.

xo, marissa

Richmond Magazine’s biblical Sourcebook is out now. When I was an editor at the mag, I remember the daunting task of helping put together this beast of a book. I got to work on it right as we moved to town, and it was a great way for me to get to know the River City.  The glossy showcases everything you need to know about living and working in Richmond from the city’s great attractions and distractions to school and business news, along with living and dining tidbits. In this issue I wrote a little piece on outdoor living and the trend of homeowners investing more in their backyards and patios. Go out and grab yo’self a copy now, and happy reading! xo, marissa

In the January/February issue of R•Home magazine I wrote about Richmond’s restaurants. But rather than focusing on the food, I wrote about the beautiful design that goes into some of our city’s fabulous eateries. We also included a sidebar on how to get the look at home. Read the story here.

Along with writing a restaurant design feature on Shagbark, Laura Lee’s, and Belle & James, I had the pleasure of interviewing Evan and Kristy Cotter, owners of the gift shop Dear Neighbor, for the magazine’s Favorites column. If you haven’t made it to their new Church Hill boutique, it’s worth a visit. Happy reading! xo, marissa

To welcome the New Year, R•Home magazine’s January/February issue features our annual Hot List, the top 10 innovators in Richmond’s design scene. We cherry-picked the coolest people, places and things that you should keep your eye on in 2014, ranging from the beautification of the Arts District, the Leigh Street Armory’s transformation into the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, and artists like potter Tasha McKelvey. We also feature two eclectic West End homes, brunch recipes by The Magpie, a Q&A with co-author of The Kinfolk Table Rebecca Parker Payne, and much more. You can buy a copy at Urban Farmhouse locations, Martin’s stores, as well as the Barnes & Noble at Libbie Place. Happy 2014! cheers, marissa

Afar / Vanity Fair / Elle Decor / Marie Claire / Sweet Paul / Anthology /
House Beautiful / Bon Appetit / The Local Palate / USA Today’s Modern Woman /
Southbound / Conde Nast Traveler / National Geographic Traveler

Colleen Oakley wrote “What you can learn from your neat-freak friends” in the March 2013 issue of Ladies Home Journal. I shared one of my obsessive-compuslive ticks with Colleen and she included it in her story under the subhed “financial scanner.” Loose papers really drive me nuts.

I’m excited to say that I’ve accepted an editorial job with Richmond Magazine and will be starting on Monday. I will be an associate editor with the city magazine and will also be the managing editor of its home magazine, R*Home. Absolutely thrilled about the job! With the home magazine I will get to combine my passion for writing with my love of art, architecture and design. At one point I was accepted and enrolled in architecture school, but long story short, chose journalism. Very excited that my future job combines both my loves.

I wrote this week’s cover story for C-Ville Weekly on the phenomenon of mommy blogging. While living in Charlottesville the story was assigned to me as one of my freelance projects. I found it interesting to write as a young woman and writer who is always looking for older female role models, especially those who are mothers.

Mommy bloggers are not new — they have been around for nearly a decade. But, the point of my story was to see if now (almost a decade later) the genre has been tarnished. In the story I take a look at four Charlottesville mommy bloggers and inject my opinion (yes, journalists do that). Be sure to read the story here. Also, be sure to leave a comment. It’s generated a lot of commentary. Not sure if most of it is local to Charlottesville or from elsewhere. But, it’s great to see such a heated debate.