Simon Says... Did You Know Raleigh Drops A *Giant Acorn* For NYE?
Plus, a super-viral pet bed and a Valentine's Day sale.
Welcome to Simon Says, a weekly newsletter from Rachel Simon all about freelance life—from the inside scoop on just-published stories to advice on how to pitch to what it’s *really* like to leave a cozy full-time gig for the chaotic, unpredictable world of invoicing (jk, freelancing, but IYKYK).
Hi, friends! It’s officially 2022, and I, for one, am already exhausted. It’s hard to believe that just one week ago, I was on the couch watching a disturbing amount of TV and mainlining an equally disturbing number of Christmas cookies, and yet. Here we are!
(That said, while I’ve made the sad but necessary decision to bring my all-sugar diet to an end, I am still watching lots of TV, including Yellowjackets and Station Eleven and The Expanse, so talk to me if you have ~theories~).
Onward! Here’s this week’s newsletter:
Some Stories I Wrote Last Week
I didn’t have as many stories go live as usual, since it was the holidays and all, but there were still a few goodies!
Over on Vulture, I ranked the 18 most essential episodes of This is Us, a show I cannot stop watching despite many, many reasons to do so. I haven’t seen the premiere of the final season yet (it dropped last night), but I plan to later, and I will. Have. Thoughts.
For Daily Paws, I wrote about the Winnie the Pooh-themed cat bed that went viral last week because it is so damn cute. The honey pot!! I love it.
And finally, also for Daily Paws, I wrote up a very cute story of a guy trying to win over his girlfriend’s dog with homemade treats. Did it work?? Read to find out :)
The Inside Scoop
Each week, I’ll pick one story I’ve written (new or old, if needed) and explain how it got from pitch/assignment to publication. This week, it’s the Daily Paws story on the cat bed.
This story is the perfect example of how tricky freelancing can be—not because it was particularly hard to write (it’s about a cat bed, people) but because of how quick the turnaround was. On Monday morning, my DP editor saw that this bed was going mega-viral on Twitter, so she reached out to me first thing asking if I could write it up and deliver it in just a few hours, so it’d still be timely. I had some other stuff I was already working on that day, so I had to decide for myself if the perks (money, bylines) were worth the pains (changing up my schedule, working late). I decided they were, and spent the rest of the morning getting the story together by the deadline. That’s freelance life!
Other Work/Life Stuff Of Note
I held a Zoom open house for my Creative Nonfiction class with Gotham Writers Workshop earlier today, which was a lot of fun! I always love doing these, as they’re opportunities for new or just curious writers to test the waters and see if they like writing essays and features enough to sign on for a full class. My actual Creative Nonfiction class starting next week is full, but you can add your name to the wait list if you’re interested!
In non-work news, I spent New Year’s Eve with Kurt and a few close friends watching (on TV) the giant acorn drop in Raleigh. It was excellent.
Coming Up…
I still can’t share that exciting piece of news that I teased last week (sorry!), but I can tell you that I have several stories coming out this week and next, including a fun nostalgic piece that brought me wayyyy down memory lane.
Also, I’m starting to advertise my custom crossword puzzles for Valentine’s Day! Get yours for 10% off with the sale code VDAY22 over on Etsy.
Should that have been in the “Work/Life Updates” section instead? I don’t know. But it’s here, so deal with it.
Thanks as always for reading, friends!
-Rachel